Not much to report on the home front, at least when it comes to the A’s stadium saga. However, there are a few other news items that might be of interest.
- Going back to speculation about how the club section at Cisco Field might work, MLBAM is piloting an “order from your seat” system from within its At Bat iPhone app. The brief pilot runs through the end of the season, and claims order delivery of 30 minutes or less.
- With the Pac-10 expanding to 12 teams next year, the conference will be broken into two divisions, requiring a football championship game in the process. While such games have been a boon for powerhouse conferences such as the Big-12 and SEC, it remains to be seen if the Pac-10, whose basketball championship has been notorious for poor attendance, will see much success. Las Vegas has emerged with some initial buzz, though the game could be held almost anywhere within the conference’s area, including San Francisco or Oakland. The league and its member schools are meeting in SF in two weeks to hash all of this out. FWIW, the Pac-10’s headquarters are in Walnut Creek.
- The A’s got caught up in the annual shuffle of minor league affiliates. Vancouver switched to the Blue Jays, leaving the A’s in the lurch until they signed a deal with the Vermont Lake Monsters (Burlington, VT) yesterday. Kane County left the A’s for Kansas City, leaving an opening for the Burlington (IA) Bees. The Sacramento River Cats re-upped through 2014 with little drama. Midland and Stockton remain unchanged. Vermont’s Centennial Field is notable for being owned by the University of Vermont, and for its capacious foul territory (~85 feet from home plate to the backstop).
- A threat by the Red Sox to leave spring training home Fort Myers has worked, as Lee County is ponying up $81 million in bonds for a new stadium, even though $17.5 million in city debt remains on the old one.
- Escondido is spending nearly $400k on its own study of a Padres’ AAA stadium.
Will we hear something about the A’s soon? Maybe… Consider this an open thread.
newballpark.org 
a few weeks back i suggested a foul territory analysis and you said you’d maybe catch up on it later in the week? any progress?
just remembered it because tv guys yesterday mentioned how the foul territory back in 01 cost damon like 60 abs?
@letsgoas – In progress. Though you shouldn’t expect it until after the season ends.
The figure I’ve always heard is 5-7 points, which sounds like a lot until you figure that that’s about a hit and a half per year for an everyday (500 AB’s, half of which would be at home) player.
Correction, I guess that would be three hits since the effect on the batting average would be 5-7 points overall not just in the home games.
Mayor Reed will be talking to MLB COO BDP soon for some direction and RM states that “maybe” we’ll here something soon about the A’s.
Perhaps it’s now safe to hold my breath?
The good news about the minor league shuffle is my son’s T-ball ball team was the Bees a couple years back so both me and him (I was the coach) have Burlington Bees hats and shirts. Hazzah!
ML – Could you have a clock built into the front page, just to count the number of years/months/days/hours that have passed since the BRC has been organized?! Offseason stuff you know! 😉
@Tony D, I thought Reed already talked to BDP recently.
@ML, “Will we hear something about the A’s soon? Maybe…” big something or little something?
@tony d – It’s never safe.
@ST – I don’t remember the last time I even mentioned the panel.
@jesse – From the noise I’m hearing – big and soon. How soon? Not sure. Then again, maybe it’s just noise.
You’re playing with our emotions, ML, you big tease!
ML
.
That’s not fair:)
thats my kinda noise
Jesse,
R.M. mentioned Reed talking to Bob DuPuy again in the near future in his last post re: SJ City Council resolution. Yes, he’s talked to BDP several times in the past as well.
By the way, not an SF Giants fan, but their continued succes, and possible playoff run, is good for one reason: they’re proving everyday that they don’t need to hold SJ hostage to be financially sound. In other words: Good team and fans in the stands = money hand over fist! No need to hold a city of 1 million over 40 miles to the south hostage!
@all – I wish I knew more. Honestly, I don’t.
@Dude, LMAO
I would consider the November owners meetings to be soon. just about 50 days from now.
If an announcement was made in the next couple weeks, it would certainly receive less attention than if announced in the offseason given that the Giants are in a pennant race and have a good chance of making the playoffs.
If it’s a SJ move, they’ll wait till the Giant’s are out of the playoff picture. If it’s stay in Oak, it can be anytime. One thing’s for sure, if it’s SJ, it will be a lame duck situation at the Coli for the next 3-4 years. If it’s Oak, we may see a little bump in the crowds, and more of a bump if a new owner who’s committed to the city is found.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5613575
@Tony D – don’t hold your breath. Looks like DuPuy is on his way out.
Ed,
Thanks for the link. Now that’s interesting. Now the question becomes 1) when does he step down and 2) who will replace BDP.
My guess is that the step down will occur after the “Blue Ribbon” committee releases its report.
I don’t think BDP will go into Lame-Duck mode and do nothing for the remainder of his term.
He’ll still most likely talk to Reed/SJ.
@all – Before everyone starts figuring out the line of succession, ask yourself this: What does Bob DuPuy actually do in the context of the ballpark search? Think about it.
http://www.csnbayarea.com/09/24/10/Ratto-As-Still-Selling-New-Stadium-as-Sa/landing_ratto_v3.html?blockID=317899&feedID=5880
another classic clueless ray rant….he acts as if there is no revenue stream for the team in the south bay–$120+M in naming rights already signed and sealed…75 significant corporations saying they will do whatever it takes…a tv deal with comcast….if LW and JF aren’t ready to build ray than why have they spent money again on the design of the San Jose ballpark…and why are they so impatient with BS right now—-seems to me if they were incapable of building than having bs drag his feet would be just fine…take the shackles off the south bay and lets see what happens ray…advocate for that and than if they don’t build you can write an informed article instead of nat’l inquirer type of gossip–
If we don’t get ballpark news soon, i.e. this week, we likely won’t hear anything until the playoffs are over. Bud doesn’t like other baseball news going ahead of playoff news.
Probably shouldn’t say this too loud, but not terribly upset Ray Ratto doesn’t work for the same organization as me anymore. His main skill, a non-trivial one, is being able to bang out a readable column on any topic in 20 minutes on deadline, but analysis of a complex business situation isn’t his forte.