Report: Oakland A's Granted Permission by MLB to Move to San Jose

Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweeted this morning that the MLB is very much leaning towards allowing the Oakland A's to move to San Jose, overriding the San Francisco Giants' territorial rights to Santa Clara County that the team has had since the 1990's.

This is the potential first step of a two-step program in getting the A's to San Jose, as the team reportedly prefers.

Mayor of Oakland, Jean Quan, is adamant in her stance to keep the A's - and the Warriors for that matter - in Oakland, and even went as far as to propose a location for a future A's ballpark near Jack London Square along the water.

The City of San Jose has made great strides in securing a professional sports team in their city over the past few years. They bought land in downtown San Jose for over $25 million, and have offered it to the A's for just under $7 million - obviously settling for a loss now in return for a substantial gain in the future. This has caused an uproar among some groups in San Jose, which created several Anti-A's Ballpark movements in the city.

With the MLB reportedly allowing the A's to move to San Jose, the last step is a city vote of whether or not the area would like a professional baseball team.

The MLB's announcement of approval is set for February 2012, which should set up the San Jose vote for early Summer 2012.