Oakland Coliseum

The Oakland Athletics on Friday asked to remain in the Oakland Coliseum for five more years, in a proposed agreement that would delay the target for their move to San Jose until 2018. The A's lease at the Coliseum expires after this season. The team has waited almost four years for Commissioner Bud Selig to approve or reject the proposed move to San Jose. In a letter to the body that governs the Coliseum, A's owner Lew Wolff agreed to keep the team in Oakland for at least five years "regardless of the outcome of our efforts to obtain a new facility in the City of San Jose.

The Oakland Athletics will pay about $525,000 less in rent at the Oakland Coliseum this year and would save at least $13.4 million over the next 15 years under new lease revisions. Both the Oakland City Council and Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved the revised lease, which was announced Tuesday. It was the second revision in four years of the lease which runs through the 2004 baseball season but still contains escape clauses.

A draft agreement to return the Raiders to the Oakland Coliseum may be ready to send to the Los Angeles-based football team by Monday, Alameda County Supervisor Don Perata said. "After the Raiders review the negotiated agreement in this draft form, we'll be better able to see where we're going," he said. The Raiders' lease with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum expires after the 1991 season.

Bill Pecota became the first position player to pitch in a regular-season game in the New York Mets' 30-year history, working the eighth inning of the Pittsburgh Pirates' 19-2 victory Saturday. Pecota, an infielder, yielded a leadoff homer to Andy Van Slyke, then retired William Pennyfeather on a fly ball, Kevin Young on a grounder and Albert Martin on a pop up. The three batters who made the outs are rookies.

The tragic earthquake that jolted the Bay Area Tuesday has left the World Series in limbo. Could it be resumed? Should it be resumed? Where? Will structural damage rule out further play in Candlestick Park or the Oakland Coliseum? Does anybody have the stomach to play games while dead are being buried, injured treated and homeless cared for? Regardless, Tuesday was not the time for decisions to be made, but one possibility would be to move the Series out of the area.

Negotiations have been completed on a one-year agreement to send the Raiders back to Oakland if they are without their home field in Los Angeles this season, according to Don Perata, a member of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. But there is no indication the Raiders are ready to sign the agreement.

No criminal charges will be filed against Angel outfielder Luis Polonia, who was accused Thursday of assaulting a teen-ager before the Angels' game against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum. Sgt. Joe Readman of the Assault Division of the Oakland Police Dept. said Friday that after an investigation and compilation of reports from witnesses--including Angel Manager Doug Rader and catcher Lance Parrish--the district attorney's office declined to press charges.

Never mind the fact that NFL owners passed a resolution that will generate some of the necessary funding to put a state-of-the-art football facility in Inglewood. Forget the fact that the resolution also requires the Raiders to remain in the Los Angeles area over the next two seasons while the facility is under construction. There are still people in Oakland who refuse to give up on the Raiders.

The board overseeing the Oakland Coliseum has rejected plans for a privately financed Super Bowl in 2005, severely undercutting the city's bid to play host to the game. The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, which is in a protracted legal battle with the Raiders, cited legal and financial risks as it refused to endorse plans for the game. Oakland is competing with Miami and Jacksonville for the right to stage the 2005 game.

The Golden State Warriors issued the Oakland Coliseum an ultimatum to either build a new 20,000-seat arena by 1992 or lose the NBA team. "We'll be playing in a new arena in 1992, if not in Oakland, somewhere else," team President Daniel Finnane said. However, the Coliseum board has already agreed in principle to his demand, and a working draft of the proposal is being evaluated by city and county staff members, the Tribune of Oakland reported in today's editions.