As a group of maritime and trucking union leaders push for the Oakland Athletics to build elsewhere,
the A's are backing two bills in the state Legislature that would make it easier to construct a 34,000-seat ballpark at the waterfront Howard Terminal.
Meanwhile, A's President Dave Kaval said negotiations between the Major League Baseball franchise and the Port of Oakland for control of the site just north of Jack London Square — as well as between city and Alameda County officials for buying the site of the current Coliseum — could wrap up in the next month.
The team's hit-and-run plays come as a coalition of union and community leaders pressures the team to build its new ballpark in East Oakland. The group, calling itself the East Oakland Stadium Alliance, includes the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the Harbor Trucking Association and Pacific Merchant Shipping Association plans a Thursday morning event on the steps of Oakland City Hall, saying a new stadium in the same East Oakland area where the A's play today would provide jobs and strengthen neighborhoods.
Many of the groups in the coalition have spoken out about the A's plans for a private financed ballpark and ancillary development at and around Howard Terminal, where the team hopes to begin play in 2023. Those opponents say a ballpark could interrupt the flow of maritime traffic and disrupt worker training.