The inimitable Ratto puts the A’s and 49ers in a little game called “Survivor: Stadium Edition” which plays out less like the reality TV show and more like a rigged game of Monopoly. Whether you find humor in his column or not, the message is very clear: Getting a new venue for either team is [...]

From the this isn’t exactly a big surprise department: the Oakland Tribune is reporting that new costs may force the city of Oakland to fork over additional subsidies to the Forest City Uptown housing development. Among the rising costs: escalating values of land to be acquired, and cleanup costs for a site that used to [...]

From Steve Kroner’s Chronicle article: Ratings for Giants telecasts on Fox Sports Net Bay Area and KTVU (Channel 2) and for A’s telecasts on FSNBA and KICU (Channel 36) are down approximately one-third from a similar point in 2004. The Giants are averaging a 3.0 rating on FSNBA, the A’s 1.5. While 3.0 is great [...]

A novel concept to the marketing of luxury suites was launched today by a startup called Owner’s Pass. John Arledge and Peter Cochran created the Los Gatos-based firm, which will sell timeshare packages of luxury suites. The packages not only bring down the often prohibitively high cost of suites ($100,000 per year or more), but [...]

Fleshing out last night’s news a little more is an article from today’s Oakland Tribune. Along with talk of design and the architectural players involved, is more information about potential sites: the Estuary site and the now shutdown Oakland Army Base. At some point I’ll try to take pictures of the base and the surrounding [...]

The important stuff from John Shea’s Chronicle article: The owner has formed a venue development committee involving two team executives — President Mike Crowley and Wolff’s son, Keith — and three outside firms, including 360 Architects, Gensler Architects and International Facilities Group. Committee members have toured several newer ballparks, plus Boston’s Fenway Park, and plan [...]

From the Oakland Tribune: Preliminary results indicate that Pat Kernighan won tonight’s special election for the Grand Lake-Chinatown City Council seat. Though it’s projected she will not receive more than 30% of the vote, there will not be a runoff, and Kernighan will be declared the winner. She was previously chief of staff for Danny [...]

Since Florida’s Senate legislators last week refused to take up the Marlins $60 million funding bill, the ballpark near the Orange Bowl is officially in limbo. In the few days since, that $60 million estimate ($30 million in today’s dollars) has jumped 50% due to revised estimates for acquiring needed land near the Orange Bowl, [...]

The two upcoming series with the Yankees and Red Sox will be important because the six games will bring at least 1/10th of the season’s total attendance through the Coliseum’s turnstiles. The A’s will have two other large-grossing series, June 24-26 vs. the Giants and September 2-4 vs. the Yankees. If the A’s are in [...]

The grand opening for the Oakland Coliseum Intercity Rail Station just outside the stadium will be May 25, according to the East Bay Business Times. Yes, it will be more expensive than BART, but there is at least one nice thing to it: some of the trains have WiFi and Amtrak expects to roll it [...]