Word out of the South Bay is that the Giants have gotten their own community group together to challenge the San Jose ballpark effort and the EIR, which is due next month. The group is being led in part by the San Jose Giants and team president and Chief Executive Jim Weyermann.
Weyermann declined to say what role the San Francisco Giants are playing in the campaign, referring questions to the club. Officials there did not immediately return calls for comment.
Asked who is paying for the law firm and the San Francisco public relations agency that’s assisting the fledgling group, Weyermann would only say the San Jose Giants were not footing the bill.
The timing couldn’t be better, given that earlier this year the City approved $600,000 in renovations to San Jose Municipal Stadium (PDF). It doesn’t make sense to complain about the EIR in oh, 2006, when the team and the city were still figuring out who was going to pay for the improvements. Perhaps the Giants would like to refund some of that money so that San Jose can improve schools and city services, eh? Or better yet, how about the big parent club foot the bill and show how much San Jose really means to them?
Wednesday’s EIR scoping meeting (PDF) wasn’t expected to be very dramatic, but now the public comments period might get interesting.
newballpark.org 
Crazy idea….why dont we bag this SJ mess and re-concetrate on oakland. its looking like san jose is getting to be a bigger mess that is needed. oakland says there ready to work so lets take them up on it. if it fails than fine…go back to sj…
This is pretty much wishful thinking on your part, no?
You’re right…that is crazy.
Tag team rumble mania. SF Giants & City of Oakland vs. Oakland A’s & City of San Jose.
What hath God wrought?
This is bigger then when the Mega Powers turned their backs on each other and Miss Elizabeth had to pick a side… Oh the suspense…
If MLB decides S.J. is OK for the A’s, The Giants tactics willsurely have to cease and desisit.
I wonder if the Giants are fearing the outcome of the MLB panel…
The Giants have to be really careful here. There’s a lot of good sentiment toward them in San Jose. But they’re running the risk of turning much of their fan base against them if the feeling is that they, not we, get to decide if the city get a pro team. As for the SJ Giants, I enjoy going but I’d stop going if they actively blocked the A’s.
If the Giants really cared about keeping SJ, they should’ve moved their Triple-A team there, rather than having a new stadium built in Fresno in 2002. Clearly they just want to milk this for all it’s worth if the A’s do move there.
I actually see a silver lining to all of this. As others alluded to, if it’s found out that the Big Giants are part of this nonsense, there could be serious repercussions with MLB; i.e. loosing their territory without any compensation, major hell to pay. This could make things really easy in regards to the panels decision (if one hasn’t been rendered already).
Second, no harm no foul. SJ Muni code is perfectly clear regarding the use of public funds and sports venues. Privately financed ballpark…check! Infrastructure improvements not subject to public vote…check! Market rate lease or land sale to Wolff for Diridon South…check! You got to love our state…you can file a lawsuit for anything, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you will win. Petco Park was subject to 15 lawsuits down in San Diego, and guess what…the Padres no longer play at Qualcomm!
On another note, I do know some SJ residents who fear the A’s coming to town will cause their beloved Little Giants to leave; thus they are against the move. I can honestly not fault them for their position. R.M., Lew Wolff did state earlier this year that they “would have to buy the SJ Giants.” Any chance the A’s and single-A Giants can co-exist legally in San Jose?
Trust me, if the Giants position with the other owners was so delicate that this action could cause them to lose TR’s, THEY WOULDN’T DO IT. This is a Single-A (one of three the Giants have, I might add) organization trying to stir up a little off season noise.
So why DIDN’T the Giants put their AAA team in San Jose? The A’s had theirs in San Jose briefly during the 70’s.
Muni isn’t big enough and wasn’t going to be expanded for a AAA team’s benefit. San Jose’s quest for major pro franchises started in the 80’s, when the city already had nearly 700k residents . They weren’t going to settle for a AAA team if they had to make a large public investment.
I know you talked about what it would cost to upgrade Raley Field from Triple-A to MLB previously and it wasn’t even intended to be upgraded. Couldn’t SJ have planned a stadium with that intention? That way they could have a PCL team until what time as a MLB team came calling? Wouldn’t having had a Triple-A team for the past 2 decades be a better selling point for bringing in a MLB team than a Single-A team?
Georob,
One quick thing of note. As much as we can infer that the Giant’s wouldn’t do this if would cost them TR’s, we could also infer that they know they are going to lose TR’s and are trying to block the move from a different perspective, no?
Also, we can imply form the fact that the San Jose Giants wouldn’t answer who was paying for the PR firm, etc. that perhaps their Magwitch is Neukom?
Of course, I’d rather not speculate at all. When the hell is Bud Selig gonna open his mouth? This is bordering on ludicrous.
Yup–something tells me that the gints have a new strategy–T’rights will be gone—who knows Jeffrey–it may be your “option 4”–make the Bay Area consistent with all other 2 team markets and let the A’s decide–San Jose or Oakland–
So now the gints have to try and defeat the A’s push towards SJ–I find it interesting–a group of 60..”many of whom are Santa Clara County residents”….isn’t this a San Jose initiative–not SCC—–I doubt that Bud will step in on this with the gints–politics are politics—but he does need to free the shakles from the SJ machine so that they can begin their counter attack in earnest–I don’t live in SJ but I have to say I am impressed with the machine, both political and business, that they have put together for this effort…
The Giants are trying to “take the high rosd” and not get involved in a PR war. However, if any TR deal was imminent and not to their liking, I have to think we’d see more than a little stunt like this. I don’t think there’s any love lost between these two franchises.
Can’t trust you Rob, because you are completely, 100% against the A’s moving to San Jose. You’d rather see the A’s on Mars rather than relocate a mere 40 miles down the road. Oh well, it’s your world.
For the umpteenth time, this is not about San Jose. It’s about the Giants wanting to get rid of the A’s. San Jose is just a pawn in this.
That’s okay, San Jose will have time to re-think it’s strategy when MLB gives Oakland an extension. But I am not against the A’s eventually going to San Jose It’s just that I think the obstacles are formidable and expensive, otherwise it would have been done long ago.
Georob–just have to ask you—why would the gints enter right now with this “advocacy group” if Oakland was being given an extension….help me understand their logic and yours–
Kind of related to the topic: infrastructure improvements at Diridon South will/are going to happen regardless if a ballpark happens or not; for BART/high-speed rail station and adjacent developments (perhaps ballpark included). Filing a lawsuit to try to prevent the city RDA from spending on infrastructure at Diridon South is just plain stupid and has no bearing whatsoever. Can you say dead on arrival? By the way, the city has spent money on infrastructure improvements for other developments in the past; ie commercial, residential, shopping, etc.
One more thing, my friend. Go back over all the posts I’ve made over the last three years and you’ll see that I’ve never said I’m against the A’s moving to San Jose.
.
True, I want them to stay in Oakland. (I grew up in Richmond so my sentimentality lies in the Oakland-Berkeley corridor) However, the last thing I want them to do is leave the Bay Area, and if San Jose prevents that from happening, then “Go San Jose”
.
Problem is that I’m extremely skeptical it can be done. Between Lew Wolff’s connections and the corporate strength of the South Bay, a San Jose move should have been a “no-brainer” and a “done deal” quite some time ago. The fact that it hasn’t happened tells me something else is going on, and I think time will prove me right.
In the meantime, all we get from the San Jose supporters is “Unfair, Unfair”, and “We’ll go after the Warriors and Raiders next”. Frankly, you should be grateful for getting the Earthquakes back.
Alright, so the tea party express comes to San Jose
The astroturf tea party.
The San Jose Giants A-ball affiliate will be bought by the San Jose A’s and will play in Oakland, thus keeping the A’s technically in Oakland too!
GoAs:
.
I reread the article and all we know for sure is that it’s the minor league club mounting this challenge. However, the author(and all the conspiracy theorists who post here) assumes that the major league club is behind it. I’m not so sure of that, but let’s just say for the moment that big club is not discouraging it.
As I said before, I think this is just a lot of noise designed to distract Lew Wolff’s efforts. Bud Selig may eventually get a consenus to allow a San Jose move, but I don’t see the Giants going quietly on this if it happens.
Georob–are you aware that the BIG gints own a good share of little gints? Sorry, you don’t waste time and money to distract someone unless you are sure that there is a need for the distraction—I think the move has received what ever blessing is necessary…now to your strategy the gints have to try and block it from happening–not within MLB board room…but within the city of SJ by have a referendum defeated…which ironically is supposed to be the same referendum that the gints had passed by the voters of SF to build their ballpark
If this is blessed by the Big Gints, it will be only to throw a bone to their fans. I don’t see this as being a major move, but you have to give the illusion to your more hardcore fans of at least putting up a symbolic fight.
How is this in any way a bone to Giants fans? Why would Giants fans even care? If the A’s move to San Jose, it will not move Pac Bell Park one foot further away from them. Nor will it remove any Giants games from TV.
Some South Bay Giants fans may actually defect to a San Jose team. Others will remain primarily Giants fans but will gain a second convenient option to go see some AL games. Either way, an A’s move confers a benefit to them, with no obvious downside.
If anything, some hardcore Giants loyalists who live in San Jose may see this as a cynical, selfish effort which harms their home town (which it of course is). I understand the Giants’ reasons for doing this, but see no PR value in it whatsoever.
Hardcore Gints fans that don’t live in San Jose would like nothing more than to see the A’s contracted, moved far away from the Bay Area, or forever playing in the worst stadium in major league baseball. It pains them that we have brought 4 World Series championships to the Bay Area while they have brought exactly none.
Either way, you don’t want, as a franchise, to appear as if you are going to let MLB trample over your “rights”, as in T-rights.
Well, hopefully the blue ribbon panel gives it’s findings soon. And even if they decide to give Oakland another shot, San Jose is still in a very strong position.
However, those of you who think that a deal on TR’s is pretty much wrapped up will have some ‘splainin to do.
Frankly, anybody who thinks they know what is in that report right now has some ‘splainin to do.
Personally, I just wish it would get over with so we can stop inferring things and have a stadium built by the time Michael Taylor is eligible for free agency.
Agree—not trying to portray that I know what will be in the report but I do find the timing of the gints medlling in SJ politics as interesting–and I have to believe that both the A’s and gints have an idea of what is going on—although both have been sworn to secrecy—bottom line–agree–we need a new ballpark NOW!
The gigantes tea party express is saying that money shouldn’t be spent on infrastructure in the area of Diridon because of schools closing and such. Correct me if I’m wrong but the infrastructure changes would come from redevelopment funds not the general fund?
Exactly. Guess where the Muni Stadium renovations are coming from? Redevelopment money.
My understanding was that the muni upgrades were for fan safety and comfort given that the building was built in 1942 and was never brought up to code and it is owned by the City. Look, I don’t care if the A’s come or not so don’t mis-understand me. I am a San Jose Giants fan, my parents took me there etc…and I take my kids there. Having been out of work for while, it was a welcomed place to go for free. They do a great job and have always considered the fans and community first. If I could ask a stupid question…why can’t Mr. Wolfe and company simply fund the project themselves and help the region get stronger? Not trying to offend anyone….
Not a stupid question, jackson. I think the A’s should pay for all stadium costs, including construction and land. The way it looks right now they’ll get a discount on a land lease in exchange for 30-40 years locked in, but they’ll foot the construction bill on their own. Plus they’ll pay property taxes on the stadium and the land. Does that sound fair?
While you are correct that Muni’s renovations are largely for safety, I’m not sure that the City should have funded virtually all of it themselves. The only part that might come out from the Giants is a redirection of naming rights – and who locally wants to rename Muni? I sure don’t.
Jackson—in addition to what ML has stated below the SJ region would realize $500M in investment resulting in a significant amount of construction jobs—pretty important for a sector that has nearly 30% unemployment now. A downtown ballpark for the A’s would bring 2.5-3.0M fans into the downtown core resulting in some level of investment in entertainment in the surrounding area and thereby increasing the general fund. This has already been illustrated by the success of the Arena.
I am actually suprised that the leaders of this group would put themselves first recognizing the broad economic benefit to the area. Personally I find it incredibly selfish and I can only hope that it is a personal decision and one not being driving by SF interests to try and restrict the ecoomic benefit of a major league baseball team to themselves. Personally, any SJ resident should be pretty pissed by this type of meddling-
damn I wish I can attend tonight’s meeting
For those interested in attending, here are the details:
Time: 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Location: City Hall – Wings 118 & 119
how was the meeting tonight?
On a related note…
The San Jose Giants receive an award for excellence in minor league operations from Baseball America.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/awards/freitas-awards/2009/269284.html