Larry Stone speaks, some won’t like it
- 09.27.10, 23:09
- 81 Comments
KCBS Radio did one of their In Depth interviews with Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone (MP3 download). Stone has, of course, been a active, constant proponent of bringing MLB to the South Bay, and has used his easily won public office as a bully pulpit. Stone was asked about the history of now 24-year effort to get this done, plus fielded questions about whether his roles as assessor and developer are conflicts of interest. If you’re a South Bay partisan, you’re going to think what he’s saying is gospel. If you’re an Oakland partisan, your ears may bleed profusely. It’s over 27 minutes long and well worth the listen (thanks, I.C.).
Among the morsels from the interview:
- Within the first two minutes, Stone makes the claim that the A’s can’t survive in Oakland.
- Stone is (IIRC) the first public figure to say that the Giants are trying to drive the A’s out of the market. When challenged on this, his response is, “Anybody would try to do this.”
- Apparently the Earthquakes are not considered a major pro sports team, at least according to Stone. He must’ve forgotten them.
- He thinks the Giants could spend $2-3 million to defeat the spring ballot measure.
- Stone dances around the idea that some of the owners might feel threatened by another team invading their respective territories.
- SJRA has the money set aside for the last two parcels (AT&T and Aegis).
- Stone claims that when he talked to Schott some time ago, Schott had 75% of the owners lined up for a vote for a move south.
- Stone speculates that Selig gave the Giants a “10 year head start” for the SC Co. t-rights, in effect protecting the county for a decade.
- Interviewer Jane McMillan characterizes the Diridon area as “suburban” in comparison to what would normally be considered urban areas for other ballparks. Where does urban end and suburban begin?
- McMillan also asks if a deal is done, but unfortunately says that the ballpark will be shared with the Quakes (which it won’t), which got Stone’s response moving in the wrong direction.
It’s a good listen, though if you’re on the SJ bandwagon you’ve already heard many of the talking points.
BTW, on an unrelated note, the Rangers secured a 20 year, $3 billion extension to the current TV rights deal with Fox Sports Southwest. $150 million a year (Maury Brown thinks the numbers could be off). Guess they won’t have that big debt problem that could keep them from re-signing Cliff Lee and extending Josh Hamilton.
more from townsend’s replay of wolff’s tv appearance.
said the a’s eliminated all of oakland’s site that were presented years back and hasn’t had anybody step up to show alternative sites.
brc was looking at sites in oakland/fremont, recommended by probably both bay area major league teams, don’t know what their findings were, thinks he knows where they’ll decision will go, but we’ll have to sit and wait.
commish has a lot of power and once decisions is made, most if not all will go along with the decision.
pitching is there on the team, but hitting is more rare to find now.
regarding the new park’s design. gonna be fan friendly, intimate, and fans will be closest to the field out of any park in mlb.
wolff on the fremont deal? city council supported it but neighbors who were on the other side of the freeway basically killed the deal with their delay tactics.
@all – Oops, I should’ve reread the beginning of the section again. EBITDA is defined as net of revenue sharing payments or receipts, thus making it post, not pre. Get ready for a post on the debt rule and how it affects the offseason Wednesday after the game.
a’s have locked up the lowest attendance in the majors for 2010.
1.40 million with the marlins with 4 games left against pit have 1.42 million.
correction a’s are under 1.42 while the marlins have 1.42 right now.
I just listened to Larry Stone, wow he doesn’t mince words at all. I hope this isn’t a topic any longer by the time the home opener comes around.
I just listened to the LS interview. He sounds just like Sid on here. Had all the pro-San Jose/anti-Oakland talking points down pat. How many times do we have to hear that SJ is the 10th largest city in the US? Sheesh.
And not to nitpick, but I will: all the companies he mentioned that are in SJ are not located in SJ, just Cisco is. Last time I checked, HP was in Palo Alto, Intel was in Santa Clara, Google was in Mt. View and Lockheed was in Sunnyvale. Where’s all these big companies that are actually in SJ. Meg’s old ebay is; Adobe is. Knight Ridder use to be, but their big sign will live downtown forever!! Now Media News owns every major paper in the bay area except the SF Chronicle and the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat. So much for competition.
Intel is about 10 minutes from the San Jose ballpark site. HP, Google and Lockheed no more than 20, 25. I know it’s tough to face up to the fact that Oakland is not in the same, well, ballpark as San Jose economically, but the situation is what it is.
Cisco has signed on to spend $4 mill a year on the ballpark, but probably only if it is in San Jose.
If Oakland was so gung-ho about the A’s, it wouldn’t have been so dismissive of them for all these years. Oakland’s current lame A’s efforts remind me of that old Shel Silverstein song, “Put Another Log on the FIre,” where this guy treats his woman like trash throughout the whole song, and then ends with, “Now come and tell my why you’re leaving me?”
So the only companies of note are those which have headquarters (not just employees) in San Jose and which mass produce consumer goods that necessitate TV commercials for the lay person to even know they exist? The tech industry is much deeper than a few companies that make PCs or maintain websites.
Out of all the big companies mentioned in the San Jose and Oakland areas, most of my money goes to Oakland based Kaiser, to the tune of $14k a year!!! 2nd place: Dreyer’s Ice Cream at $2k a year..lol
Can you show us the press clippings about Kaiser’s and Dreyer’s willingness to fund an Oakland ballpark? URLs at once, please. We already know 75 companies want to help with a San Jose park, one of which has already signed on for $4 mill a year.
I don’t have any press clippings to show you, but wish one would step up. Kaiser would be the best I’d say now. Clorox kind of pissed me off. Kaiser spends so much on those Thrive ads, just use that money for a ballpark naming rights. I want to see renderings for VC, but LetsgoOakland doesn’t have the money and is not backed by billionaires like Wolf/Fisher for Cisco.
It’s one thing to name companies in a region, but what good is it if they have expressed no interest in sports sponsorship? For example, Microsoft is a major multi-billion-dollar corporation in the Seattle area, but to my knowledge they have never expressed any interest in sports sponsorship. No Microsoft Field or Microsoft Arena anywhere. But in San Jose, we have 75 companies ready to climb aboard for the A’s in San Jose.
@jk-usa, LGO is backed by Signature Properties. They have plenty of money.
FYI -Signature Properties is a real estate company in Pleasantin, CA.
http://www.sigprop.com/
Signature Properties is a real estate company that owns most of the land around Victory Court and stands to benefit a great deal if a baseball stadium was built there. It is the primary reason Victory Court is being pushed by Oakland, follow the money.
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Mike Ghelmetti paid for the Economic Impact Analysis—> Mike Ghelmetti is the President of Signature Properties—> The biggest economic benefit is found to be property values increasing—> Report points out that Oak 2 9th will only be built to 100% of plan if a baseball stadium is nearby—> Mike Ghelmetti makes the most money from Oak 2 9th being built out 100% and owns most of the property that will increase in value—> Mike Ghelmetti paid for a report that basically says “Mike Ghelmetti will be way richer if Oakland buys $150M worth of property and Lew Wolff spends $500M to build a park on top of it.”
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At least the planning process in San Jose have been conducted in an open way. Wonder why the same can’t be said in Oakland?
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Question Larry Stone’s holdings all you want. I am fairly certain he won’t make out nearly as well as Ghelmetti in this equation.
@pjk–true about MS, but Paul Allen, who used to me with MS, owns a a bunch of teams, like the Seahawks, Trailblazers and Seattle Sounders of soccer.
@jeffro–Signature Park at Victory Ct? Works for me.
jk- you missed it… Ghelmetti doesn’t want to help pay for the park. He wants to make a shit ton of money from it.
@jeffrey: I am guessing that you have talked Ghielmetti b/c you seem to know a lot about his intentions. Have you?
Stanley, why don’t you talk to some folks in Oakland and get their take?
@letsgoas — Indians attendance was at 1.379M going in to their last home game (doubleheader) today.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/current_attendance.shtml
Jeffrey, I live and work in Oakland. I talk to “folks” in Oakland every day. And I know that “Mike Ghielmetti” didn’t pay for the economic study. Let’s Go Oakland paid for it and Let’s Go Oakland raised $$ from many, many people.
Oh and by the way, if you live in Oakland and you want to see a new mixed use development on Oakland’s waterfront w/ 30 acres of new parks, then maybe it’s a good thing that Signature wants to see a waterfront ballpark. The way i see it, if the ballpark is built, the Oak to Ninth project will be built faster, which is a good thing. It will also mean tax revenues will be generated for the City much faster.
Hey Stewart, what’s Doug bringing to next family potluck?
baycommuter says:
September 29, 2010 at 2:10 PM baycommuter(Quote)
@letsgoas — Indians attendance was at 1.379M going in to their last home game (doubleheader) today.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/current_attendance.shtml
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Guess they need a new stadium too.
Brian, are you insinuating that the Coliseum is somehow comparable to Jacob’s Field? That Coliseum is great as it is? That Cleveland didn’t see a huge spike in attendance for a sustained period of time after Jacob’s Field opened? Or what, exactly?
It’s interesting that Cleveland’s attendance has fallen below Pittsburgh’s and Kansas City’s , even though the Indians haven’t been bad for nearly as long. Don’t think it’s the stadiums (all are pretty good) so much as the fact that Cleveland’s economy, based on heavy industry, is is in really bad shape while the other cities are more diversified. What does it say for the A’s? San Jose is likely to sustain attendance longer than Oakland, but we knew that already.
No, we didn’t know that actually. You can believe what you think would happen in the long run.
Higher personal income = increased consumption of almost all goods and services (except cheap substitutes). One of the few things in economics that Keynesians and free-market folks agree on.
stanley – “And I know that “Mike Ghielmetti” didn’t pay for the economic study. Let’s Go Oakland paid for it and Let’s Go Oakland raised $$ from many, many people.” Since you’re in the “know” and the kool-oakland-kids-club, can you tell me who raised what money and what amount?
pretty startling revelations (if true) about from larry stone about the sunset agreement with the giants and sj territory as well as schott’s assertion that he has 3/4 votes of the owners. wonder if that is the answer to everything we’ve been asking about why the process delay. hmm…
Ya know, I’m thinking about sending Bill Newcomb and the Giants a letter thanking them for holding strong on the territorial rights. Its good for all A’s fans!!!
@ Moe–as Jeffrey has advised—”Confucious say to ignore trolls…..”