Both the Atlanta and Miami factions were reputed to have posted the $25,000 application fee already, while the Oakland effort was bogging down in contradictory requirements among the principals.

Oakland industrialist Ted Harrer said he wouldn’t be interested in a team unless it played in Oakland right off the bat, while wealthy San Franciscan Robert Lurie said he wouldn’t invest in a team unless it began play in Candlestick Park.

Oakland mayor Clifford Rishell spoke with Glenn Seaborg, a chancellor with the University of California, and was told that the use of Memorial Stadium in Berkeley was a matter best taken up with school president Clark Kerr, who was currently in South Africa.