San Jose, CA – The city of San Jose filed an antitrust lawsuit against Major League Baseball on Tuesday over the decree that is preventing the Oakland Athletics from making the city their new home.
The lawsuit argues against the MLB's decree that the San Francisco Giants own the exclusive rights to the territory.
The Giants are refusing to relinquish those rights, therefore constituting unlawful restraint of trade.
There has been no progress after more than four years of attempting to move the A's to San Jose, with MLB commissioner Bud Selig persistently rebuffing city mayor Chuck Reed's efforts to move the process along.
The need for a new stadium became evident over the weekend when a sewage problem forced the A's and Seattle Mariners to use the same locker room after Sunday's game.
The 44-page complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose, stated, "For years, MLB has unlawfully conspired to control the location and relocation of major league men's professional baseball clubs under the guise of an 'antitrust exemption' applied to the business of baseball."
The Giants' territorial rights to the San Jose area originated in the early 1990s and after failing to secure voter approval to build a new ballpark in the South Bay area, they privately financed AT&T Park, the team's home in San Francisco since 2000.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.