Andy Dolich' sudden departure as COO for the 49ers signifies the end of the team's pursuit of Santa Clara for its dream stadium. Not that the stadium had any realistic chance of making it past the ballot proposition and even at that, coming to fruition.
BACKGROUND--
You'll recall just a few weeks back, Jed York, the 49ers boy wonder owner/operator, told the Chron's 'Matier and Ross that he'd consider Oakland as a more viable option than SF's Hunters Point naval shipyards for a stadium. The Oakland push was a PR disaster for York and company; Niners fans lit up message boards lambasting York for even considering Oakland.
The real story: York's Oakland dalliance was in fact pushed hard by Dolich, who once was the marketing wiz for the Haas family when they owned the A's in the late 80's and 90's.
Dolich was specifically hired by the York family, (John York, Jed's father) to get the Santa Clara stadium proposal on the fast track to fruition. Its Dolich who has been instrumental in trying to line up the key players, such as Santa Clara's business community, political figures and the owners of the Great America land where the proposed stadium would sit. Good luck with that now.
Bottom line: the 49ers current hierarchy essentially want no part of any potential SF stadium deal. Other than the "SF" logo and badge, team officials still have a high resentment of city officials, most notably, Mayor Gavin Newsom. They also have no allegiance to SF as a locale; keep in mind the Yorks hail from Ohio and to them, the city of SF may as well be Fresno.
That's why Dolich' abrupt departure spells trouble for the franchise' future location. Santa Clara is off the list. The idea of a shared-stadium with the Raiders at the Coliseum site in Oakland, (which the NFL favors) may be the ultimate back-up plan, but if that fails, don't be surprised if LA makes a play for the team. Oh, remember them? LA is eventually going to build a stadium and it was revealed recently, one of the teams on their consideration list was the 49ers.
**Talk show fodder for the ages: Lane Kiffin's sports mercenary track back to LA to coach USC is sports-talk radio heaven for the national and local outlets. Expect a lot of Kiffin yakking Wednesday on KNBR, ESPN Radio and assorted shows that gravitate toward this type of story.
**Noticed that KNTV/NBC Bay Area was knocked off the air Wednesday morning and Tuesday night during their 11PM News. Apparently, their computer system went south. Many of the stories that anchor Jessica Aguirre were running had no video back-up. Oops.
**Perspective central: Just as the Lane Kiffin story broke, a crawl appeared on the ESPN2 lower screen detailing highlights of the deal. Switch immediately to CNN to see the disaster pictures in Haiti. Talk about real life juxtaposition.
**Follow me on Twitter
