I pulled this graphic off the 360 press release. Take a good look at it. First, take a look at the the foul territory. It’s definitely not like the Coliseum – much more shallow – so any comparison to the Coliseum can be dismissed. Next, the lower deck is split into two regions. Normally this [...]

In a move tangentially related to San Jose’s downtown ballpark pursuit, the City Council allowed city staff and the Sharks’ owners, Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment, to enter negotiations on a deal that would put a soccer stadium immediately south of the Diridon South ballpark site. This was done through a closed session, which is [...]

It only makes sense that Wolff’s preferred architecture firm, 360, is opening a location in San Francisco. The office will be devoted to all types of work, not just the ballpark. On a sports-related tangent, if SF Mayor Gavin Newsom ever wanted to get serious again about building an arena in the Mission Bay area [...]

Today’s column by the Chronicle’s Gwen Knapp posits an unusual trade idea: Barry Zito to the Giants for the territorial rights to San Jose. There would be numerous issues associated with such a deal, but let’s put them aside for a second. The current consensus is that although A’s GM Billy Beane signed free agent [...]

I’m wrapping all Marlilns-related items into a single post. New Jersey has stepped into the fray with a plan to attract the Marlins. The plans would call for “retrofitting Giants Stadium into a ballpark,” whatever that means. The Meadowlands lies in Bergen County, so if Jersey officials are able to work an agreement between the [...]

An eye-opening report from the Washington Post confirms the fears of many: the DC Ballpark project is significantly budget and its total, true cost continues to rise. Among the points: The construction cost (labor, materials) rose from $244 million to $337 million. Since then various items have been taken out of the design to drop [...]

HOK Sport, the 900-lb. gorilla of stadium design, won the bid for the Nats’ new home. Thankfully, it won’t be the same retro/faux brick design we’ve seen in so many other ballparks. DC’s new ballpark will have a glass, steel, and stone facade. Though drawings have not yet been released to the public, a recent [...]

I just finished a summary of the A’s current ballpark situation for OaklandClubhouse.com (scout.com). They’ve also posted the piece on Yahoo! Sports. Oh dear, I really need to proofread my pieces a little more thoroughly…

Since I live within a 20 minute walk of Diridon South, I decided to do a fairly in-depth amateur study of the site. One distinctive aspect of the site its shape: it’s not a typical square or rectangular city block. The site was formed by city planners who, decades ago, decided that parallel one-way streets [...]

Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment, the group that owns the Sharks and manages HP Pavilion, has entered talks with San Jose and Santa Clara about building a 27,000-seat soccer stadium somewhere in either Santa Clara or San Jose. What does this have to do with the A’s? One of the sites mentioned as a possible [...]