(I knew it was going to come down to this sooner or later... If Selig doesn't move on this soon MLB is getting sued)

As the A's pursuit of a new stadium drags on, the city of San Jose is well aware that a lawsuit challenging Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption might be the next step.

"We've certainly thought about it," Mayor Chuck Reed said Thursday. "We're trying to let the commissioner work through the process. But it is an absurdly long time, there's no doubt about it."

Commissioner Bud Selig created a panel to look into the A's desire for a new stadium more than three years ago, but the territorial rights to San Jose belong to the Giants, who do not wish to negotiate them away. There has been no decision to change the territorial rights, and although the A's had wanted to put the issue on the agenda for the May owners meetings, they were dissuaded from doing so.

According to industry sources, because the A's withdrew their request to be on the agenda, there is some thought that a decision might be made, one way or the other, before the next owners meetings in August. That could not be confirmed with the commissioner's office, which continued a policy of not commenting on the matter except in formal news conferences.

Should the Giants lose the territorial rights, which came along with the team sale, they are likely to threaten a lawsuit. Should San Jose lose out, the nation's 10th-largest city might follow the same path as St. Petersburg, Fla., and challenge MLB's antitrust exemption.

In 1994, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that baseball's antitrust exemption does not extend to the sport's overall business, allowing the state attorney general to investigate whether owners conspired to prevent the Giants from moving to St. Petersburg. Two potential owners threatened potential antitrust lawsuits, and the following year owners voted to approve the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

"What the Giants are doing is very anti-competitive," Reed said. "They're trying to drive a competitor out of the market."

In addition, San Jose has a downtown site and city officials who back an A's stadium. "We have an opportunity here, and they are interfering with our opportunity," Reed said. "Whether or not that leads to litigation, I don't know. It's certainly an option, but we are trying to accommodate the commissioner."

Reed said the city will not explore any legal measures as long as A's owner Lew Wolff continues to oppose them.

"We can be as patient as Lew likes," he said. "It's the team owners' money, their investment."

Wolff is scheduled to meet with Clorox CEO Don Knauss on Friday. Knauss recently said at a news conference with city of Oakland officials that Clorox is working along with other East Bay companies to get a stadium built for the A's in Oakland, and he said they have identified a group of owners that would purchase the team to keep it in Oakland.

Wolff reiterated that the club is not for sale. A's officials have not appreciated Knauss' attempted involvement in what they see as their business, and they are expected to express that Friday.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/24/SPBU1ON7SE.DTL#ixzz1vt9MsN2U

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