Fans out in force, want Wolffs to “Build It Now!” (pic from BigSoccer)
Quakes supporters packed San Jose City Hall’s Council Chambers last night, and they left knowing that the City has at least done its part, unanimously approving the Quakes’ stadium and rezoning plan. That leaves Quakes/A’s ownership to finish the deal by building the 15,000-seat stadium. Unfortunately, Lew Wolff is still unsure about the financing an entire year after I spoke to him. Easy for me to say when it’s not my $60 million to spend, but I’m going with what I said six months ago: build it anyway. The Wolffs don’t lack creativity when it comes to figuring out the financing, so I think it’s just a short-term problem, not a long-term one. As the economy improves and stabilizes, more and better solutions will become clear.
Speaking of six months ago, that’s how old a poll gauging San Jose citizen interest in the A’s moving south was, at least the one Dave Newhouse referenced in his latest anti-Wolff tirade. Maybe he wrote it six months in advance (or more) and waited to unleash its fury until a deadline came up, but regardless he must have missed a more recent poll that has the move favored 53-to-37 percent.
Meanwhile, Newhouse keeps bringing up the O29 possibility, even though it’s not on Oakland’s list. He even got Ignacio De La Fuente to casually claim that the a new freeway overpass – in addition to the $130 million 5th Ave bridge replacement – was doable, all the while pointing out San Jose’s budget woes, as if Oakland is somehow immune to budget problems itself.
The worst part is that Newhouse is clearly pandering to certain types of readers – we know who they are – without providing any really substantive information. Congratulations, Dave. You got BANG a few extra clicks. Now do you understand why I don’t link to this stuff every time he writes it? It’s repetitive, boring, and for me a waste of time.
newballpark.org 
Newhouse is still around, huh? I’d forgotten about that guy, thankfully.
My only concern with the soccer team is how it could affect the A’s. I don’t want Lew to cash in any chips — whether monetary or otherwise — on soccer that he might save for the A’s new stadium. Otherwise, it’s a big shoulder shrug for me. But good luck soccer fans, I truly hope it works out for you.
I don’t get the feeling that they are tied to each other much outside of the effect of if the Soccer stadium is managed right, it makes it look like the Baseball stadium will be, and thus make people more favorable to the idea of it. A trial run, if you could call, or a sample run.
I’m thinking about things like Wolff’s money, calling in political favors, lining up sponsors who otherwise would have invested in the A’s. Things like that that get invested in soccer could have been invested in the A’s. That’s what I don’t want to see happen. If the A’s deal was further along I wouldn’t worry about it, but there is still a long way to go.
I wouldn’t worry about that too much. Baseball is very much a known quantity, and so it’s easier to line up fairly traditional sources of funding and sponsorships. MLS is still working to approach that level of stability, so that means thinking outside the box – perhaps more frequently than Wolff thought he’d have to going in. The soccer stadium deal has been friction-free compared to the arena struggle or the anticipated ballpark deal.
So De La Fuente saying that voters in San Jose and Santa Clara are too smart, but how will anything come to pass in Oakland? Newhouse says all they need is Haas-like ownership, but what did Haas show that was close to the investment required to construct a stadium?
Indeed. If I’m not mistaken Haas ran the A’s at a loss during his entire tenure as owner. That’s not to say his results weren’t great, but he also didn’t build them a ballpark in his lifetime either, even when that’s the way the wind was blowing.
I don’t think he has any intention of a new ballpark in Oakland, but rather the status quo.
That viewpoint is quite ignorant with regard to the bottom line of MLB. Wolff should apparently be happy taking money from other owners, but then the other owners aren’t happy giving it to him. How stupid.
if things don’t change for the A’s in this new decade, they could receive near half a BILLION dollars in revenue sharing across the entire decade. I don;t think MLB wants that.
However, it must be nice to receive those fat checks every year if you’re Wolff. Takes the pressure off a bit. You can insult your fan base, allow your best players to be traded away constantly, work for 2 years on building a park in Fremont then just give up virtually over night. Try to to move to a city that MLB says you cant move to, do all the things that are difficult and not necessarily fruitful and still profit every year. WOW. As pathetic and fruitless as Wolff’s attempts have been, at least he’s trying stuff. Better than watching Schott and Hoffman waist a decade doing the very least they could possibly do.
Glad to see the Earthquakes stadium moving forward. Watching the meeting last night it was also telling that the city planning commissioner stated that Wolff and Co were ready to move forward with the next step which is the building permit phase. The Quakes FO may finally be ready to take that advice ML and build it anyway regardless if they’ve secured all the financing. Which in a way makes sense. It’s easier to sell potential sponsors on the idea when you have something you can show them that is tangible.
The people of San Jose are so desperate to be viewed as a big league city, they would support a basket weaving team, as long as they had “San Jose” across their chests.
So the detractors flip-flop from saying we’ll support anything to saying we won’t support the A’s because we’re Giants fans…
Got news for you. The fans that were at that meeting last night came from all over the Bay Area and beyond. They were soccer fans, not desperate residents of San Jose looking to support whatever has San Jose on the front.
I suppose it means your out of credible arguments when you have to resort to baseless name calling.
Did he ever have credible arguments? I only remember baseless name calling form this particular poster.
Ironic in the DLF comment which is …”And I don’t think San Jose voters are going to approve millions of dollars for the A’s.” So has Oakland already been told that its not high on the list? Seems DLF has moved from waiting for the report to stating that the vote in SJ won’t pass—
Of course he’s under the mistaken impression that public money is being used in SJ. If he’s so incorrect about a basic tenant of the stadium plan in SJ his credibility is less than nil.
Congrats to Earthquakes fans! Hopefully a possible strike by MLS won’t put any kinks into the stadium plan.
I’m not the originator of this idea, but someone in the past brought up the prospect of the Quakes SSS and A’s ballpark being “tied to the hip” in terms of construction materials, builder, contractors, etc. Thus saving money, especially in this economy of low bids and “cheap” construction materials.