Oakland's showdown with the A's and the O.co Coliseum board intensified Wednesday as rumors and accusations flew faster than a Coco Crisp line drive.

The drama is expected to culminate Thursday morning when the city's four representatives on the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority are expected to reject a 10-year lease deal worked out after months of negotiations with the A's. Their no votes would kill the lease deal.

The Oakland City Council is opposed to the deal, saying it's not beneficial enough to the city, and it has instructed two of its members - Rebecca Kaplan and Larry Reid - to present a new proposal to the Coliseum board on Thursday. Kaplan and Reid serve on the Coliseum board, which is made up of eight members - four each from the city and county.

'A little more patience'

"The council directed us to vote against it," Reid said. "This process has been extremely frustrating for me. I just hope Major League Baseball and the A's can have a little more patience with this council."

If the deal collapses, the A's will stay in Oakland at least another 18 months, when the team's current lease expires. After that, the A's would be free to move.

The city wants to see the A's annual lease payments increase over the course of the 10-year term, not decrease, as proposed. The Coliseum board agreed to the decrease - from $1.75 million to $1.25 million annually - as an incentive to keep the team through the duration of the lease. The team has been trying to leave Oakland for at least a decade, complaining of the aging Coliseum.

The City Council has influence over the deal because any deal approved by the Coliseum board must also win separate approvals from both the full council and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

But the team's co-owner, Lew Wolff, said Thursday he would not consider a revised lease and said the one the A's worked out with the Coliseum board, a group also known as the JPA, is the final version.

"We believe in our dealings with the JPA (that) we are 100 percent finished," Wolff said. "We have a 14-month negotiation finished and approved by Major League Baseball and the JPA. If someone wants to do something else, we have no interest in that.

"If we don't get a positive vote, we'll be very sad after 14 months of negotiations."

Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, chairman of the Coliseum board, said the city risks losing the A's if they don't agree to the current proposal.

'It's a moving target'

"The long and short of it is that we already have a good deal. Major League Baseball is comfortable with it. The A's are comfortable with it. Most of us at the JPA are comfortable with it," Miley said. "Ultimately, this just shows how challenging, if not impossible, it is to negotiate and do business here. It's a moving target - no one knows who they're negotiating with, or what the terms are. It's very disconcerting."

Miley said he is confident the current proposal is the best the Coliseum board and city can get and includes numerous provisions to protect taxpayers and keep the team in Oakland.

Last week, the Coliseum board was slated to vote on a lease and the four Oakland representatives - Reid, Kaplan, sports agent Aaron Goodwin and architect Yui Hay Lee - boycotted the meeting, leaving the board without a quorum to vote.

On Tuesday, the A's and the Coliseum board released a revised lease with several new provisions to benefit Oakland, including rent waivers if the team moves to another stadium within the city, and a requirement to give two years' notice if the team wants to leave before the 10 years are up. If the team does move to another city before the lease expires, it would have to continue paying a minimum of $1.25 million annual rent to the Coliseum.

But the main perk for the city and the Coliseum authority is a new $10 million scoreboard system, sources said. Under the deal announced Tuesday, the A's would purchase the scoreboard, which could also be used for Oakland Raiders games, concerts and other events at the facility, whether the A's stay or go.

The Coliseum authority is ordinarily responsible for maintaining the scoreboard but can't afford to replace the entire system, sources said.

Deadline looming

Miley said he's afraid the City Council's delays will threaten the entire deal, which is under urgent deadline pressure because construction on a new scoreboard must be agreed to by Aug. 1 if it's to be ready for next season.

The City Council's attempt to intervene in the Coliseum board's deal comes as some council members challenge Mayor Jean Quan for her seat in the November election. Nineteen people are running for mayor, including Councilwomen Kaplan and Libby Schaaf.