Fremont rally brings out over 200
- 01.25.10, 23:44
- 78 Comments
Earlier tonight, the Fremont Chamber of Commerce sponsored a “Rally for the A’s to Fremont” shindig at the Saddle Rack. At least 200 people attended, including Argus reporter Matthew Artz, who thought there might have been 300 there. Of course, the TV crews were out capturing the event. Outside the Saddle Rack was a group of what looked like less than a dozen “Keep the A’s in Oakland” protestors.
Every party needs a Debbie Downer, and on KGO’s report it was San Jose mayor Chuck Reed, who dismissively said, “They had their chance and they struck out.”
What is the value of the Nationals franchise now v. before a new stadium.
What is the difference in revenue?
Stadiums do generate new revenue for the teams and increase the value of the team. And, in San Francisco’s case they have increased property values. Even Neil DeMause admits that the stadium deal in San Francisco has provided public benefit (however minimal).
The reason none of the other stadium’s provide public benefit is because the initial investment and stadium construction that the municipalities pay for far out weigh the revenue generated for the city by the project.
There is no reason to think something like AT&T Park, with very minimal public subsidy (in that case it was just land and roughly 5% of the rest of the cost in the form of TIF), couldn’t provide a similarly small public benefit in Fremont.
It certainly wouldn’t be a huge cash infusion for the city, and I don’t think anyone argues that. If they do they are willfully ignorant.
The A’s have some of the most dedicated fans in the nation, who have to put up with the most crap, and put in the most effort to be fans, in my opinion.
It’s unfortunate that this unmatched degree of dedication and putting in the most effort doesn’t include showing up at the park often enough to avoid being last in the majors in attendance
That the team benefits, I totally agree with you. However, it is not the cure to low fan attendance or inability to keep talented players. What is true for Fremont is that the majority of the proponents assert that the stadium will be catalyst to economic benefits and will greatly benefit the city and help to solve the economic problems plaguing Fremont and all other cities.
Fremont lacks the infrastructure to support a stadium for a professional sports team. Take for example police. For a city with a population of 213,000 and 77 sq. miles of land, we have less than 180 total police officers — at most 14 on duty at any one time! Santa Clara has half the population, 1/4 the land, and the same number of police officers. Arlington Tx has a pop of 316,000, 96 sq miles of land, and over 800 police officers! Oakland is similar in numbers of police. Fremont will need substantially more police officers to patrol a stadium and the A’s won’t by picking up the tab for their salaries and benefits.
Fremont is having difficulties providing many basic municipal services, and the detriments to having a stadium far outweigh the benefits.
Fremont is planning on spending at least $90million on the stadium. That figure is certain to increase and most likely will have to purchase the land on which the stadium would be built (that is one reason for raising the redevelopment agency’s cap from $400million to $1.5billion with a B!
The city council and chamber of commerce want the stadium so bad that they will end up sacrificing our future just so they can have their legacy.
I’m inclined to agree. FremontResident2010′s argument reminds me of that segment of Suze Orman’s show where people call in asking if they can afford a vacation or new car and she makes them spell out their finances and then approves or denies them based on what they have in the bank. If Fremont could call in, it would most certainly get denied. FremontResident2010 is correct, the infrastructure just isn’t there, at least not to the extent it is in Oakland or San Jose. Plus, I’d have a hard time swallowing the loss of high paying factory jobs and replacing them with seasonal and low paying unskilled jobs.
I said that a few weeks ago about losing factory jobs for low paying, part-time stadium work. Besides Nummi, the GM plant in Oakland shut down in the mid 60′s, replaced by Eastmont Mall. The Ford Plant shut down in Milpitas in the 70′s, replaced years later by The Great Mall. We need to make stuff, not sell it. As for a new yard, the only ones who make out are the owners and players, who have nothing to do with the community.
I agree. Two deals went south in Fremont. No more chances for these guys. Plus, a boring suburb is not the way to go. Simply a stupid move.
Yeah, it’s too bad that we don’t have this unmatched degree of dedication and effort from the current ownership as well. I guarantee if we did, we would NOT be last in the majors in attendance!
What, exactly, would you consider dedication? Please be specific, and show all your work.
Do I really need to explain myself? It’s apparent that the San Jose ONLY group is on Lew Wolff’s cock for thinking he’s one of the best owners in baseball because you all think he’s your savior or something for trying to bring MLB to the South Bay….yeah we get it. It’s too bad he doesn’t really care about the rest of the Bay Area cities or the fans.
This line of whining is old to me. Especially in light of 42 years of mostly mediocre attendance.
Sure Lew Wolff could do some things differently… Hell, the A’s entire business operations team could do something a bit differently.
But go and talk to some folks who don’t go to games and you will find quickly that the number 1 reason people don’t go is the stadium. Most can’t even name the owners of the team.
Far be it from me to tell someone who lives in Fremont what they should think. If I lived there I would be a bit more passionate about a stadium there, perhaps.
If I was going to pick a site for the A’s it wouldn’t be in Fremont. I’d prefer either the JLS North site or Diridon. I think the A’s have made it clear what they prefer. Two things though:
On the stadium patrol. The team pays for cops to be at the games. They could always use Alameda County Sheriff’s to augment the Fremont Police. Of course, even without a stadium it sounds as if Fremont needs to think about increasing the police force.
Which goes to your larger point. Fremont may have higher priorities.
Second, you mention Washington above. The stadium has been open for 2 seasons and during the worst economy in a looooooong time. Of course ancillary development hasn’t occurred. Let’s look back in 10 years and see what has changed.
Denver, San Francisco, San Diego… all three of these are examples of what City Manager Diaz was referring to as a “wow” project that sped up redevelopment of a city district. It takes time to redevelop an area even with a “wow” project.
The alternative is Alameda, Oakland Army Base, etc. No wow, no redevelop… flea markets and blight.
This is a good point. Anyone who is arguing that a new stadium will make up for a closed factory is at least three quarters crazy.
Were this happening in my town my priorities would be something liek this:
1. New manufacturer takes over
2. New corporate corporate facilities
3. New entertainment option
4. do nothing and let it sit
What stadium proponents should be talking about is that 1 and 2 are not very likely to happen anytime soon. Honestly, it is my understanding that the City of Fremont is and has been pursuing numbers 1 and 2 to no avail thus far. Number 3 is the one that pisses off the FCN.
An empty warehouse/manufacturing facility does nothing for anyone. Look at Alameda Point… that place is still awaiting some sort of redevelopment after 13 years and $108 Million spent by the City to acquire the land.
No matter what happens, Fremont will most likely be spending a huge chunk of change to acquire the property and turning it over to developers.
I agree with you Jefferey that the stadium itself and the location of the stadium is the two main reasons for bad attendance, but I won’t say that it’s the reason why we are now last in the entire league. Lew Wolff is not that great of an owner to begin with and he doesn’t care about what’s happening now and what he was given to work with. He only cares about possibilities of what he can do with hypothetical ideal circumstances which he’s only dreaming of with a possible San Jose move. Essentially nothing has changed from a stadium standpoint from when he bought the team in 2005 other than closing off the third deck. He knew what he was getting when he took over and yet he blames the fans for bad attendance?
The problems with the examples you provide are that in none of those instances was the stadium the impetus for the redevelopment. For example, I know with SF, there was a lot of redevelopment planned for China Basin for a number of reasons — Loma Prieta earthquake rebuilding, waterfront property development, Catellus planned development, etc. All of the development in China Basin did not come about because of the stadium.
/
With Fremont, there is no planned development for the land surrounding the proposed ballpark (except for Pacific Commons and Wolfe’s ballpark village). There are no developers already planning on developing the surround areas in Fremont to take advantage of any changes to Nummi, and the City has not made any real plans for what should happen around the stadium. That is poor planning when you build a large edifice with the hopes that someone will come along and develop the surrounding areas.
/
Again, the planning and all is all separate from the mere fact that Fremont does not have the resources to support a stadium.
/
As to having sheriff deputies patrol the stadium, that currently cannot happen as the county sheriffs do not have jurisdiction in Fremont since Fremont has its own police force. And it is not just hte stadium, but it would be the surrounding neighborhoods as well. Can you imagine the pissing matches between the city/county over jurisdiction let alone coordination of those two agencies? Also, that does not take into account whether the county could manage providing the necessary sheriff personnel. You cannot realistically hire a sheriff or police officer on a part-time basis, but will need to have full-time staff assigned to games as they occur.
Ok, let’s just assume that you are correct, and he’s blaming the fans for the bad attendance. I haven’t seen anything where he says that, but I’ll play along. Now, please follow along with this:
1) Fans are the reason for bad attendance.
2) Fans say the stadium is the reason they don’t show up.
3) Ownership is trying to build a new stadium.
How does this make them bad owners?
“The Oakland Coliseum has plenty of parking, a BART station, and lots of lands. It didn’t go anywhere!”
Unfortunately, neither have the Raiders.
Wow. Sounds like nothing will ever happen in Fremont. Ever. Again. Cool.
One of the primary things missing from your argument is beyond the dollars and cents—its what makes an area an attractive destination spot for others to want to go to or for that matter for its own citizens to want to stay at v. heading into another city to spend their entertainment dollars. Ballparks may not be huge revenue generators but either ar museums or the opera, or the symphony…but all of these “cultural” elements are key to attracting businesses and families who want to live in a community that has a sense of community—-from my perspective this is something that Fremont lacks completely—big box stores just don’t do it—
Who knows–with the HSR stimulus funds maybe NUMMI can come back as a manufacturing facilty—
Thank Uncle Lew for that!
The NUMI plant may be used in the future to manufacture components for the HSR project, according to KCBS. It seems to be a perfect fit, just as Jack London Square is a perfect fit for a ballpark..
Right now, the dollars and cents are very important. And this is not just a few dollars and cents, but tens if not hundreds, of millions of dollars. Fremont’s annual budget is only $145M, so spending $90M on the ballpark regardless of the sources from City funds is serious money. I do not think that people would advocate spending $90M and subsidizing a museum for millions of more $$ as financially responsible.
/
With the announcement today that California is getting the $2Billion for high speed rail, perhaps converting NUMMI into a manufacturer of high speed rail cars is now possible.
Nav–you must be thrilled that the Warriors seem to have adopted the SF uniform for home games–oh well–Oakland poached them anyway from SF so guess it is appropriate to keep their original name-
What about Larry Ellison buying the team and moving them to SF?
You’re crazy if you think that would happen anytime soon.
It’s called throwbacks GoA’s and it’s not for every home game. It’s just a way to sell more apparel and for the franchise to make more money. With your logic if the A’s move to San Jose then I guess it would be appropriate to keep their Oakland name on their jerseys as well.
Here’s a link to the KCBS story from December:
http://www.kcbs.com/High-Speed-Rail–A-New-Life-for-NUMMI-/5954494
Humm—first of all–throw back jersey’s typically aren’t used for every home game—the SF jersey has been used for quite awhile–its becoming the home jersey—and no—if the A’s move to SJ–the name SJ will be the preferred choice of the ownership group—and if they move to Fremont…San Jose will also be the preferred name—
mtd—I agree with you—if the ’9ers head to SC—I would bet in 2-3 years SF will be talking about building an arena with the Warriors as their tennant—Coli lease is up in 2017–timing would be perfect—
if hsr is built in Fremont, that is a much better option than a ballpark. Assuming they can’t both coexist.