It took Bud Selig 13 years to go from ...

"I watched 32 years ago the Kansas City A's move to Oakland. They hurt the Giants badly. They never really did very well themselves. It was a horrible mistake."

... to ...

"It's a pit."

... to ...

"I commend the Oakland Athletics and the JPA for their efforts in reaching an extension for a lease at O.co Coliseum. The agreement on this extension is a crucial first step toward keeping Major League Baseball in Oakland."

In his final year as commissioner, Selig is giving Oakland a pardon. Sixty-four months after forming a committee to investigate stadium alternatives for the A's, Selig is crying uncle - or simply putting pressure on the Joint Powers Authority to approve the A's proposed 10-year lease extension.

Oakland thinks he's bluffing. Given the chance to OK the deal Friday, four city officials boycotted the JPA meeting. No vote was taken.

What a weird, pathetic mess this is. After all these years, everyone's still on a different page. It's 25 officials, 25 cabs. The only ones in unison are the players. All they do is win.

Selig vowed to resolve the ballpark chaos before his final day in office on Jan. 24, 2015, and that would be a miracle. But he took a step last week when he said he's "fully supportive of the club's view that the best site in Oakland is the Coliseum site."

Which we've said all along. Tear it down and build it up. Fremont wasn't going to happen. San Jose always seemed a long shot. Now Selig says his committee pooh-poohed Howard Terminal. Which leaves the Coliseum site. The A's have nowhere to go outside the Bay Area, unlike the Raiders, whose owner, Mark Davis, wants to build a new stadium at the Coliseum site but is hinting of a return to Los Angeles if the A's stay on campus.

The NFL should talk Jed York and Davis into a 49ers-Raiders marriage in Santa Clara like Jets-Giants in New Jersey, which would leave Oakland to the A's, who would no longer be an afterthought and provide 81 home dates - instead of the Raiders' 10 - in a privately financed baseball-only facility.

No horrible mistake about that.

John Shea is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey