As always, it's all about the money.
Think about this: Say you owned a Nordstrom and still had a good chunk of financial investment left on the mortgage. Your Nordstrom was on the lower portion of a block and someone wanted to build a Neiman Marcus on top. Surely, if your the Nordstom, you'd be concerned about your property. And you were first in line.
The Giants are the Nordstom here and the A's would be the Neiman Marcus.
From a strictly media standpoint, an A's move to San Jose; in addition to tapping heavily into the Giants' corporate fan base, (which throws a lot of money up north to AT&T Park and essentially pays off the existing debt service), immediately cuts into their cable revenue rights, (CSNBayArea), and radio too, (KNBR).
That revenue the Giants receive would automatically be cut in half. And that's just the start. It would also provide the A's with a home in the heart of Silicon Valley--where a bevy of cash and computer finance dough would be a stone's throw from Lew Wolff. You think Larry Baer and those Giants investors would give all that up? I don't think so--remember, the Giants privately financed their ballpark. They got a ton of assurances that the Southbay was theirs. I'm sure that's why its taken so long for Bud Selig's blue-ribbon committee to make a decision on this issue. There was a reason--it's called the SF Giants.
The A's aren't going anywhere. They might be "stuck" in Oakland, but there's at least two groups locally that would like to buy the team and keep them in Oakland. One key investor is Savemart CEO, Bob Piccinini.
Piccinini and ex-A's marketing whiz, Andy Dolich, were once a part of a group, (with Reggie Jackson as a key front man), that wanted to buy the A's and work with Oakland officials about building a waterfront ballpark in Jack London Square. They were snubbed out by MLB because baseball thought they didn't have the required finances to operate a franchise. That theory was quashed by Dolich.
The latest report could set off the possibility of the A's being up for sale. Lew Wolff badly wants San Jose. But if this latest report has any girth, (and I believe it does), then all bets are off.
As Dolich told me three years ago, "The A's have been moving for 47 years--I think they'll end up staying in Oakland where they've been for over four decades."
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Just like the NY Daily piece, this is all strictly opinion. No new facts at all have surfaced since Madden wrote his last article on the A's when he said they were indeed moving to San Jose.
ReplyDeleteIf anything, the natural place for the A's to play is right up the road, in Sacramento. There is already a beautiful downtown,riverfront, ball park which could easily be expanded a bit to be a great fit. The weather is perfect, especially if most of the summer games are played at night. Oakland is a hellhole, especially in East Oakland, where the Coliseum stands. Move east and enjoy life
ReplyDeleteThe A's belong in Oakland. Not the armpit that is Sacramento or down in San Jose. 43 years and 4 world titles, with great East Bay born players like Rickey, Eck, Dave Stewart, etc. Oakland baseball is a great tradition. A new stadium in the Town would revitalize the franchise and the city.
ReplyDeleteOakland is a great city as evident by the New York Times recent number 5 ranking as well as the booming arts, entertainment and dinning scene. Oakland has a modern, clean historic downtown with a scenic Lake Merritt and a beautiful waterfront at Jack London Square. You don't know what you're talking about. Oakland is three times the city that Sacramento is. The Oakland A's belong in Oakland and will be part of the ongoing Oakland economic growth.
ReplyDelete11:55 AM, I would agree that Oakland is a great city as long as you're an expert at ducking bullets and you don't mind an occasional car jacking.
DeleteTypical scared, ignorant suburbanite comment.
Deleteand the city of San Francisco would want the A's to stay in Oakland - most, if not all visiting American League teams stay in San Francisco Hotels and the players / coaches spend their money at SF restaurants...
DeleteI do think you're overplaying the 'threat' level in Oakland, 11:55. We've been going to A's games forever, and have never had a bad experience. Sure, there's the homeless folks that walk around the stadium parking lot collecting cans and bottles, but big deal. I've had my vehicle broken into in Walnut Creek, but never at the ballpark.
DeleteFirst of all-I never bought into the silicon valley crap. Its not as if Oakland is far north California..Christ, it's only a 35 minute drive by freeway. A San Jose stadium might take just as long to get to for a San Josean by street roads and red lights. And that the Valley's whole global internet thing can't overcome a 30 mile distance is bullshit story telling by Wolff and Beane.
ReplyDeleteRebuild in Oakland,add all the 2015 touches and perks with luxuries..and a owner who wants to win?,THAT will draw crowds.
The whole move to San Jose is just a cover for Wolff and John Fishers greedy family and Beane's also to loot MLB revenue sharing.
To those bastards the A's are just a living baseball card collection..a commodity with interest.
Amen. Wolff is into real estate, not baseball.
DeleteMisleading title to your posts. Just someone's opinion. No facts.
ReplyDeleteOakland most dangerous city in America. Need I say any more?
ReplyDeleteWould Sacramento want them? I think many up there are perfectly happy with the River Cats and a cheaper affordable baseball experience.
ReplyDeleteI think the A's as a company would thrive in San Jose. But if they can't get that, embrace the history of East Bay Baseball and invest in a new park and Oakland. That whole SOMA area of SF is thriving now with the new ball park, Moscone Center, art museums, etc. Oakland should do the same. But money is tight. Any finances are going to have to come from private industry and not the public.
A new stadium in WHAT town? Oakland? If you're gonna talk armpit, friend, take a walk around this cesspool, especially the area around the Coliseum. Egads. Oakland cannot support a team any longer. There are way more important things to worry about in this town than the A's...even the Raiders and Warriors are about to abandon Oakland.
ReplyDeleteTrust me, the A's will never leave Oakland. First of all in this hampered economy, there is not enough money to build a new stadium in the south bay. Secondly....even if there was, the south bay is no place for a Major League Baseball team.
ReplyDeleteWhen the Haas family owned the A's from 1981-95, they proved that Oakland could draw great crowds as the A's had some years where they brought in over 2 and a half million fans in sevedral seasons.
The problem with the current ownership is that they're not
committed to the bay area. If Lou Wolff had his way, he'd move the team to Las Vegas.
Wolff and Fisher have done all they can to ruin the baseball experience in Oakland such as tarping off the upper deck economy seats, trading away the club's most talented young players for
prospects, and putting lousy and boring teams on the field on a consistent basis since 2007.
Oakland fans deserve better than Lou Wolff, who sounds like a poor little rich kid, crying about how lousy the ballpark is and how crummy the east bay community is. Well Lou, guess what?
Put some money in the club, fix up the ballpark if you don't like it, serve some decent food, and most importantly, don't trade away all of your best players.
And don't get me started on Moneyball...what a joke! Billy Beane got caught up in his own press clippings and began to believe every move he made was brilliant. Trading away Gio Gonzalez, Trevo Cahill, Craig Breslow, Carlos Gonzalez, Huston Street, and too many others to mention show us all too clearly that Beane has lost his touch.
@George Matthews Apparently you don't spend too much time in Oakland. Oakland has rough spots, too many of them, but it also has an incredibly amazing night life, restaurant scene, history, natural beauty, great music scene, very wealthy areas and tight knit communities. The East Bay has 2.75 million people living in it and Oakland is the heart ad soul of the region. Sacramento lacks any sort of corporate backing in the region and the weather is horrid.
ReplyDelete"Some rough spots"? Yea, a few huh. One of of the most dangerous cities in America jack ass, tired of the myopic Oakland boaster contingent here, bullshit you are putting your life in your hands at night in that city. I've been there and done that. Even the visiting teams stay in The City, they want nothing to do with Oakland. Are there some great spots, restaurants, & attractions? Of course. Doesn't matter when your chances of being robbed, mugged, or killed go up 400 percent.
ReplyDeleteYou just described over half of the major urban centers in America. Stop living your life being afraid.
DeleteDon't sell drugs on the corner and you won't get shot.
DeleteVictory Court!!!
ReplyDeleteGive me a break! You sound like some paranoid, suburbanite who has no savvy when it comes to understanding a city such as Oakland.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you go back to Walnut Creek and Danville. You can eat at one of their fabulous franchise restaurants such as Denny's or Applebys.
I truly think and feel if you have the stadium in Oakland around Jack London Sq people would attend games. We are all beat over the head with how bad the Coliseum is, it's not a fun place to watch balle tc. With new owners focused on winning instaed of devloping players and trading them away for a cheaper salary and "young" proscpects I think people would attend games. Remember it's not just Oakland/Alameda County.....you have CoCo County, Solano County and all the way up to Sacramento that brings fans to the park reguarly. If they built up a stadium in JLS with what makes Oakland unique, the port, the water etc people would be there. Look how many pictures from ATT you see of the water or boats out on the bay, when they show Pittsburg they show the park, but again the show the water, they show the brige, it's a differnt day now in baseball, pepole want to be entertained not just sit for 3 hrs at a game.
ReplyDeleteSUCKramento? EXCREMENTo?? All you need to know is this: Back in the day when the Kings were relevant (the Chris Webber/Vlade Divac/Peja Stojokovic days) the fans used to bring COWBELLS to games.
ReplyDeleteTHIS alone...should eliminate any other pro team from relocating there.
Hard to believe that Quan's patience with all 3 Oakland franchises just might pay off. Actually, I still can't believe it.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see Piccinini finally buy the A's. Hey, Save Mart revived Lucky and is proud that it is flourish again, albeit in a smaller way. Would love to see Piccinini, Dolich, and Jackson get together again, except I can't see Mr. Jeter (yes, the superstar shortstop, and not Steinbrenner's children) letting ol' Reggie leave the Bronx. Should be interesting to see how the Save Oakland Sports group will react to this.
And if the A's were to leave, the only two cities they could move to and be profitable are Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City. They'd have either one of those cities to themselves.
ReplyDeleteNot Sac - too far from the bay area and too small a media market - but, the right move could be east - out to the 'burbs of eastern Alameda/Western Contra Costa County. Find a stadium location near a freeway interchange out there. The weather is better, the income levels rival Silicon Valley and moving the team 25 miles or so east makes the A's more accessible to a couple of million fans who live in the I-5 corridor between Sacramento and Fresno. This would make the A's a better regional draw. Let the Giants have the bay area and environs south - The A's go slightly east and they own a lot of new fans in an area that is still growing.
ReplyDeleteI don't know where the A's belong, but I know where they don't - and that's San Jose. Nobody asked for them there, nobody wants them there.
ReplyDeleteWolff is into real estate and developing, not baseball. That's the only reason he bought the team.
ReplyDeleteNever really understood the "San Jose is Giants territory" thing." Was there some agreement signed when the A's moved west from Kansas City? Where is the comparable "A's territory?"
Don't understand the dissatisfaction with the Coliseum location. There isn't a better place in the entire Bay Area to build a stadium. BART access, well served by freeways, plenty of land and parking. And centrally located.
San Jose Athletics!!! $100 million please! The San Francisco Giants eagerly await the A's payola to them!
ReplyDeleteFrom a N.Y. Daily News article: "The Giants’ territorial rights to San Jose are part of the MLB constitution as a result of former A’s owner, Levi-Strauss heir Wally Haas agreeing to cede them in 1989 to Giants owner Bob Lurie, who, frustrated in his efforts to get a new stadium in San Francisco, was looking to relocate the team." (Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mlb-uphold-san-francisco-giants-territorial-rights-san-jose-leaving-a-stuck-oakland-article-1.1032531#ixzz1oIleygWx)
ReplyDeleteThat likely would've been at the end of '89, when the second ballot initiative for a new S.F. ballpark failed (a couple of weeks after the Loma Prieta quake, when voters were more interested in rebuilding damaged infrastructure than footing the bill for a new stadium, even if the Giants had just been to the World Series... and, yes, got swept by the A's). In the following 4 years, San Jose and Santa Clara Co. voters twice rejected ballpark measures, and the Giants came disturbingly close to moving to Tampa.
The Tampa Bay Giants! Indeed, they came close. Didn't national league owners vote 9-4 against the move to Florida?
ReplyDelete