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OAKLAND – The Oakland Athletics extended their lease at the Coliseum through 2007 on Tuesday, securing the team’s short-term future and likely pushing it further down the list of candidates for contraction.  

Owner Steve Schott remains committed to building a baseball-only stadium in the East Bay for the A’s, but he reached another compromise in his team’s stormy relationship with its government landlords at the Coliseum, its home since 1968.  

“We’ve put the A’s in position to stay and play baseball at the Coliseum while we look at sites for a new stadium,” Schott said. “Now the real work begins.”  

With their relatively small fan base and outmoded stadium, the A’s were thought to be among the second tier of candidates for the contraction favored by baseball commissioner Bud Selig.  

But with a solid lease and a commitment to explore new stadium options, Schott said the A’s “are much more stable in major league baseball’s eyes.”  

The A’s will pay $500,000 annually in rent over the first three years of the agreement, with increases to $550,000 in 2006 and $600,000 in 2007.