Good session tonight. The 49ers seem to be improving on the PR front. Before I get into that, here’s what I got out of the council session. Finances The current stadium estimate is $854 million, including $111 million in inflation costs associated with a 2010 construction start date. 81% of the project funding would come [...]

I plan to attend tonight’s Santa Clara City Council session, at which the 49ers will present the important details of their stadium plan. I didn’t originally plan to go but I’m curious about how well the 49ers make the sales pitch. Coincidentally, the last time I attended a City Council session was when A’s President [...]

On Wednesday, the A’s rather quietly filed ” ‘an application to negotiate a development agreement,’ Fremont Economic Development Director Daren Fields said.” What Fremont mayor Bob Wasserman terms “a double, not a home run” is more like sacrifice bunt made to move a runner into scoring position. So far this season, the A’s have had [...]

It’s the second week of the season, which means it’s time for Forbes to release its list of MLB team valuations. The usual suspects (Yanks, Mets, BoSox, Dodgers, Cubs) lead the pack. Towards the bottom of the list, the A’s estimated value jumped 24% to $292 million. That compares to the league averages of 15% [...]

That’s right, folks. There were over 20K present at Tuesday’s game, yours truly included. Most came prepared for the cold despite the blanket giveaway, and most stayed until the end. There has always been talk about Croix de Candlestick pin nights and high winds. Tuesday night gave that legend a run for its money. Temperature [...]

The Merc’s ruffling feathers at Glass R2D2 in their attempts to get the pols to release information about negotiations between San Jose and Lew Wolff. Barry Witt’s already gotten the crux of the story, what remains are – what else? – details. Mayor Chuck Reed would prefer to draft and release a report summarizing the [...]

After the Twins agreed to bridge the gap on the land price dispute for their downtown ballpark, they unveiled renderings of the 40,000-seat, open air stadium. The design is very much signature HOK, but unlike some of their more sprawling projects, they and local firm HGA were constrained by an 8-acre site. Somehow they managed [...]

Maury Brown dropped a quick note to tell me that his interview with Lew Wolff was going to be up tonight. It’s now available. Brown covered a lot of ground with the interview. Wolff, for his part, tackled a couple of pressing topics, though he revealed nothing new about the transportation situation. Regarding Scott Specialty [...]

Tomorrow, Maury Brown at The Biz of Baseball will post the interview he conducted Monday with Lew Wolff. Over the weekend Maury kindly asked me if I had any questions to contribute, but I didn’t have anything that I didn’t think wouldn’t be covered by the development proposal and follow-up questions. Chron’s John Shea notes [...]

No, this post is not about the sci-fi series on the USA Network which is entering its fourth season. Details about the SJSU/Quakes project have given hints about how the A’s-Cisco Field deal will be structured. Before I explain further, take a look at the following table:First off, it’s utterly amazing that the A’s stadium, [...]