New parks in works for teams

WASHINGTON — Major League Baseball is confident the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays are moving closer to getting plans in place for new ballparks.

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has said the sport will consider expansion, but only after the A’s and Rays get new stadiums.

The A’s hoped to build in downtown Oakland near Lake Merritt on land owned by Laney College, but the Peralta Community College District’s board of trustees killed the project in December. The team is now considering building adjacent to its current home at the Oakland Coliseum or on the waterfront at the Howard Terminal, which is more distant to mass transit.

“I remain committed to the Oakland market, and it’s not out of some conceptual fealty to the notion of franchise stability,” Manfred said Tuesday at a meeting of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. “It is because I believe that there is not another market in the United States that has the upside potential that Oakland has, and I think we would regret leaving Oakland.”

The Rays revealed plans last week for a domed ballpark in the Ybor City area of Tampa, which would involve a move across the bay from their Tropicana Field home in St. Petersburg. The 30,842-seat stadium would be the smallest in the major leagues and is estimated to cost $892 million. Its roof would be translucent.

“I thought the design was innovative and well-suited to the Tampa Bay market,” Manfred said. “I think it was economically efficient.”