Let’s roll it out, shall we?
- New Twitter update (and article) from A’s beat writer extraordinaire Susan Slusser (@susanslusser): Beane feels optimistic about prospects for new stadium. He says team expects news sooner than later. #Athletics. More on this from MLB.com’s Jane Lee.
- The Quakes named David Kaval as its new President. Kaval replaces Michael Crowley (the one who owns a piece of the A’s, not the journalist), who will be bumped up to Managing Director. Kaval’s previous gig was at the independent Golden Baseball League. Quick analysis: the Quakes need to make more headway with sponsorships, and Kaval’s experience indicates he knows the angles.
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- Target Field ended the regular season with the 3rd worst home run rate (1.35 HR/game) of any MLB ballpark, just behind Safeco Field (1.22) and yes, the venerable Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (1.33). Some of that may be attributable to the half-season absence of Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer‘s almost inexplicable power dropoff, from 28 to 9 HR in one year. Mauer should be able to adjust, as David Wright did at Citi Field (10 to 29 HR from 2009 to 2010).
- The Twins are criticizing the T-Wolves for placing a large ad sign at Target Center that will be visible from Target Field and Target Plaza. Seriously?
- Home runs are down slightly at New Yankee Stadium, but it’s still the most HR-producing park in the majors.
- MLB instituted new sky ground rules at Tropicana Field for the playoffs. The upper “A” and “B” compression rings/catwalks that hold up the dome are no longer in play, as balls that hit the rings are now automatic dead balls. Previously, balls that hit the rings were in play, and were ruled fair or foul based on where they landed. The lower “C” and “D” rings are home runs if balls hit them in fair territory.
- Matier and Ross report that the 49ers are getting ready to open a sales office for their planned Santa Clara Stadium. The office will be in the Tech Center, which is adjacent to the Santa Clara Convention Center, which itself is across the street from the stadium site. No seat license prices yet, of course.
- Mesa, AZ voters are mulling over Prop 420, a proposal to replace HoHoKam Park with a new city-owned ballpark complex with a bunch of ancillary development to help pay for it. If you’ve ever been to HoHoKam, you’ll know that the only thing ancillary to the park right now is a cemetery.
- Firing up stogies in the clubhouse to celebrate the Reds’ first division crown since they opened their new ballpark is apparently verboten.
- The nonprofit group that runs the Memphis Redbirds (AAA, Cardinals) has been struggling financially, causing them to consolidate a bunch of debt in an effort to stay afloat. What hurt them? The arrival of the Memphis Grizzlies, a blip of excitement for U of Memphis basketball when John Calipari was there, and bad projections for attendance at AutoZone Park. The team and ballpark will probably be sold in the near future.
- The Giants are getting the late game slots (6:37 PM PT) for their first two home NLDS games, which is great for West Coast viewers, not so great if you’re a young Braves fan who has to go to school Friday morning. The Rangers are getting the crappy day slots that we as A’s fans have been rather familiar with.
- Attendance at yesterday’s Raiders-Texans game was a scant 32,218. There are often comments about how whether or not the Bay Area is a two-team baseball market; are we sure it holds up as a two-team football market? They could’ve saved some money and left the tarps on!
Update: Tonight’s fresh articles by Susan Slusser and Jane Lee have done a better job of clarifying where management’s position is going forward than the quotes Slusser got from Lew Wolff last week. From Lee’s article:
“I was talking to one free agent last year, trying to tell him to concentrate on the field, that we had the best playing facility in the league, the best groundskeeper in the league. He said, ‘You’re right — until August.'”
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“I think we’re going to be planning a new stadium at some point soon,” Beane said. “That’s just my own gut feeling. We have to at some point. I’m an optimist.
“I think it will allow us to start to plan around some of these guys here from a long-term standpoint. Hopefully, it’s not a revolving door, like it’s been the last decade. Hopefully, we could do some long-term planning, which we really haven’t been able to do. I think it would be pretty invigorating for everybody involved, and I think everybody would sort of be relieved having a direction for the franchise.”
Thing is, if MLB rules in Oakland’s favor, there’s an immediate quandary because I don’t think the owners have been planning on staying in Oakland.
newballpark.org 
The Giants are selling tickets to a potential NLCS series starting tomorrow. They’re not doing in-person sales according to the email. It’s web only to more fairly distribute tickets to their fans, or so they say. I think it’s a way for them to stick it to their fans with the dynamic pricing algorithms.
I’m sure tickets.com (or whoever sells their tickets now) appreciates the extra business.
But, as a veteran of Sharks playoff ticket sales, anyone who goes to the actual venue to buy high-demand playoff tickets is either an idiot or an incredible optimist.
Well, here’s hoping Beane is correct.
@zonis, I believe he is correct because the owners meetings are in November, just about 6 weeks from now. Its the last owners meetings to occur before an election in San Jose can be scheduled for the spring.
BB has some inside info, I’d guess. At this point, they could announce they are expanding Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton and I wouldn’t be surprised (no, not really).
All this Giants attention on the news and in the community kinda makes me throw up in my mouth a little. But I guess it’s a huge deal when your team hasn’t been to the playoffs in 7 years, and last won the world series when Eisenhower was president…
yep the media ass kissing will be nauseating until they’re eliminated. go atl!
watched a bit of chron live monday and in the first and second segments they actually looked like they were gonna talk about the a’s and how they finished .500 but after the second segments the little “a’s” part at the bottom of the screen scroll disappeared and no a’s talk.
that’s a shocker.
really is there any media biased anywhere around the country that would treat any pro team especially in one of the “3 major sports” like the bay area media does to the a’s. you know the baseball team that actually has done something here in the bay area in terms of winning something meaningful.
letsgoas, I caught that too. I was looking forward to what Ratto and Urban had to say about the A’s, but next thing you know, that tab was gone, and they were interviewing Reggie Williams of the Warriors.
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You just get the sense that the A’s are being steamrolled right now, what with the Giants success. Hopefully once the post season is over, we’ll hear something positive out of MLB. That coupled with maybe a free agent signing and the A’s can get a little traction going into next year.
I didn’t see the episode you guys are speaking of, but I have seen them do that before. It just gets shoved back in the lineup and then gone…. I barely watch it for that reason. Amen on go ATL! Funny that the majority of A’s fans indulge in the suffering of Giants fans. I could list countless reasons why I don’t like that fanbase. Not to mention almost every person I have met who comes across as a douche has been a Giants fan, (and I don’t just think that because they are Giants fans). Coincidence? Maybe not…
a’s def need to form some kind of alliance with the media. just too bad the majority of the media outlets here has their lips firmly planted on the behind of the sfg org. all the major news channels, the majority of their new people are pro sfg. the ONLY exception is on kpix as i think a few of their broadcasters, not named o’donnell are pro a’s as when they’re doing a’s highlights in recent years you can actually hear i think it’s d.king cheering a bit when the a’s are doing well. forget about ktvu/kgo especially with sf homers like ibanez and shuman. kntv the sj based channel? well they’re home of the sfg albeit for only maybe a dozen games a year? is it fair to assume sfg went to kntv two seasons ago just about the time when the a’s announced that they were planning to move south to sj to take away a potential media friend of the a’s in the future if they do move down to sj?
newspapers? chron is filled with sf apologists. didn’t the merc buying into the sjg? who does that leave, the trib. i don’t see a ton changing with at least csnba programming especially since they’re partially owned by the sfg. unless the a’s can buy into csnca and maybe have a few a’s shows on there other than the weekly or monthly “all a’s” shows on currently.
forget about knbr, either station. hopefully 860 or whatever future radio home the a’s have can actually have pro a’s programming on there during the day. 860 is doing well with tittle but that’s still only ONE show that is real pro a’s now that townsend’s stint as post game host is over.
a’s getting any media attention here even when they do well is an uphill battle when you could say sfg has near monopolized the media outlets.
I see NBC as the Giants major outlet, since they broadcast games sometimes. It would be great to have FOX support the A’s, seeing as they are in Oakland. Funny enough right next to the victory court site. I don’t know how all of that works, but getting a major network to support the A’s for a game now and then would be nice. In exchange you can’t see seinfeld and friends reruns on the selected game night. When the A’s get a new stadium, be it Oakland or San Jose, it will spark interest in the media for sure.
forget about ktvu, the fox affiliate. they’ve broadcast games for the sfg up until 09 for decades. also i think they bought into the team too right? not sure, but even if they did it’s basically been the main tv pr machine for the sfg for a long long time and sickening thing like you mentioned that it’s IN OAKLAND.
i don’t see any major channel here locally broadcasting a’s. now could somebody like kron4 who linked to mynetwork tv broadcast a’s games? yeah, they’re dying for programming and viewers and even though the a’s don’t draw the biggest of ratings here locally, it’s still gotta be better than what kron throws out there during the entire week. didn’t kron broadcast a’s games way back in the 90s when they were still an nbc affiliate. that was before the a’s moved to kicu and then moved to csnba and then to csnca permanently a few years back.
Man the misery of the Raiders makes me happy. Perhaps they’ll finally get the hell out of town. 32,000…, is that some kind of record in the 21st century for lowest attended game in the NFL?
lowest draw for an nfl team at home since i believe 1967.
that happens when you got a mediocre venue and a team that looks like they’re either going nowhere fast and or just spinning around in circles to yet another 5 or 6 win season. worst yet they don’t even have a 2011 first round pick as they sent that due the pats of all teams in the seymour trade before 09.
niners are no better, they have even a worst venue and i still don’t know how the yorks will come up with the close to billion it’ll take to build that stadium nearby their santa clara hqs.
bay area pro football teams are 1-7 thru a quarter of the season. by far the best area of the country for pro football. even the state of missouri which was thought to have had two of the worst teams this season, both kc and stl have been pretty bad for the past handful of years, even they are looking much better than the two locals as they’re combined records is 5-2.
@ those upset with all the Giants coverage:
The Giants won their division in dramatic fashion on the 162nd game of the season with their home-grown Jonathan Sanchez. It’s been 7 seasons since their last playoff appearance. Also… umm.. they’re the San Francisco Giants? It’s not exactly breaking news that they’re more established with an enthusiastic fan base and excellent PR & media coverage. It’s important not to confuse the teams on the field and their fans with the suits they have in the front office making their business decisions. I wish them well. Most of my baseball friends are Giants fans. That’s just the way things are now, but it’s low class to be spiteful at the success of others. When the A’s win the 2011 AL West (and World Series), it’d be lame if Giants fans were spiteful. Media is a two-way street. Sure the Giants have their stake in KNBR and CSNBA, but the fans want the coverage, the media gives it to them. If A’s fans ever mobilize again and start clamoring loud enough, they’d get more coverage too.
I was walking the dog last night and saw SF City Hall lit up entirely orange. I think that’s awesome. Their city and fans support the team and everyone wins. Oakland appears to have squandered away their goodwill with the team. Most A’s fans are either apathetic, frustrated, confused or have just moved on. I don’t have any beef with the Wolff regime, but nothing has been done to improve the fan-experience at the Coliseum in many years. San Jose is emphatically seeking the A’s and that’s exciting to me. With a steady partnership with a major city, and being close of a healthy number of established baseball fans, the A’s could be a fierce team for a long time. I’m lost on some tangent with no real point other than I can’t wait to hear the recommendation from MLB’s BRC.
correction in previous post, worst area of the country for pro football. two mediocre teams at best that both play in the worst venue in all of the league.
still amazes me the team here in the bay area that has done the least on the field gets the best venue. niners with 5 super bowls, raiders with 3, a’s with 4 world titles yet it’s the sfg that gets to play in the gem of the bay area. unbelievable.
w’s and sharks at least play in adequate venues themselves but the three most successful franchises in this area playing in the bottom two of five pro sports venues here is shameful.
hopefully within the next decade, all these three teams are playing in a new venue. the org and fans deserve it.
it’s just not sfg getting all the media attention when they’re doing well, it’s that it seems as the media treats every other team not associated with the city of sf as second class citizens.
a’s when they were successful, did they get even close to the coverage that sfg has or had back in the early 2000s when both teams were successful. forget knbr, they’re what ratto of the chron has called them before, the sfg mouthpiece in this area. but for the local tv media here to completely treat the a’s as they’ve done over the past decade when they were doing bad and especially well, that shouldn’t happen. when both teams won consistently either the division or wc from 2000-2003, the only time i can think of the a’s getting the headline on the news was in 2000 when they made the playoffs for the first time since 1992. sfg ALWAYS was the headline news when they made it to the postseason. even when they made the postseason, sfg’s playoff coverage was front of the news, a’s weren’t other than maybe the times they got eliminated.
when the a’s last won their division back in 06 did they get front of the newscast exposure, nope even though both teams hadn’t made the playoffs in a couple of seasons.
sanchez when he threw his no hitter in sf two years ago, first story on the news telecast at night right? braden throws his no hitter, an even more amazing feat, did braden/a’s get the first story spot on the local news, nope, and remember braden’s perfecto came during the early afternoon so the news stations had many hours to prep up and get the segment in.
It doesn’t “seem” like the A’s get all the media coverage, even when doing poorly… they DO get all the media coverage regardless of how they’re doing on field. It’s particularly obvious in the area’s two bigger papers the Chron and Merc and the TV stations, even Oakland based KTVU. The Giants are typically the lead story in the sports segment on TV, and more often than not in the paper the Giants will be above the fold in the papers even on days they lose and the A’s win.
also yes as an oakland a’s fan i’ll be openly rooting hard against sfg from ever succeeding.
we already knows as a’s fans what their org wants and that’s for the a’s to leave the bay area. maybe they won’t say it publicly because it may make them looking like the “bad guys” as we all know how much they care about their image around the bay area but even then would the media outlets here even call them out on it? i don’t think so.
the sf fans like some poster mentioned above are some of the most arrogant or “douche” fans here in the bay area. think they god’s gift just because of the new park and how the media fawns over the team even when they haven’t won anything here counting on 50+ years. they are basically the cleveland indians of the west coast, or cubs to be more exact. great park where half the fans couldn’t tell you the difference between ERA or WHIP and or show up because it’s the “in thing” to do yet where were these guys when they played at candlestick.
and sfg fans have made it clear if you go to their blogs or message boards, least the strong majority would love to see the a’s leave too, don’t want them to move to sj, or could care less about the franchise as a whole. so as an a’s fan screw them and their org and hope like the cubs they don’t win a world title for the next 50 years.
Yes, the Giants front office don’t want to appear like bullies. That’s to be expected. Whether you root for or against the Giants is your own business, but the guys in uniform, their fans and their front office are separate things. Barry Zito is a Giants and I don’t think he wants to see the A’s gone. Giants fans have seen just as much heartbreak as A’s fans– maybe even more.
Ownership groups come and go. For as many people disgusted with the Neukom group bullying the A’s, there are Oakland fans disgusted Wolff’s group is seeking a SJ move. It’s all relative and in the end it’s not personal, it’s business. I don’t think you can even engage in a informative dialog about this subject without acknowledging that first and foremost.
http://www.baycitizen.org/sports/story/oakland-49ers/
letsgoas… I think the 49ers have moved past there “Oakland as a fall back option,” don’t you?
i never believed the niners would ever wanna play in “lowly” oakland, even though the coliseum site has all you’d want in terms of transportation, parking for tailgates which i don’t know could happen at the proposed sc site. just listen to bruce on knbr when that’s mentioned and even though he’s probably as close to being the only “pro east bay” guy on knbr, next to tolbert, that he thinks it would be a huge downgrade image wise for the niners to play in the east bay. can you imagine what really pro west bay people would think about coming to oakland to watch their beloved niners play in oakland at least 10 times a year not including playoffs.
i think when it’s all said and done, that if the niners can get that stadium built in sc that after the urging of the nfl that the niners and raiders will pay their equal “half” to build that stadium like the nyg and nyj did with their new meadowlands stadium. neither fan base may like it but it’s the most logical and reasonable option for both teams in regards to finding a new venue to play in.
@ letsgoas
Yes. The Giants get more media coverage. That’s not being disputed. Is it deserving? It doesn’t matter. The city of SF and their fans are mobilized behind the team. Media outlets make money from covering the Giants—so, umm… they cover the Giants. That has nothing to do with the A’s. I don’t really understand the jealousy. If there were more A’s fans clamoring for coverage, there’d be more coverage. It’s a shame KTRB went belly up so soon after becoming the A’s flagship station. However, the lack of A’s fan support had to play its part in that. Like I said, most A’s fans are apathetic, frustrated or have simply moved on. There are a number of factors causing this, each with valid excuses:
Fans: Why spend my time and money on a team where I can’t get attached to any of the players? So much of the goodwill from fans towards their team comes from their ability to connect with the team. We have Mark Ellis. Nothing against me—fine second basemen, but he’s no Nick Swisher or Eric Byrnes or Bobby Kielty.
City: Oakland is a mess. They have much more important issues to combat than the A’s.
Team: Operating a baseball team is a business before it’s a civic responsibility. Them’s just the facts. Wolff isn’t a crazy old man who’s gonna throw his life’s fortune into a team just so they can win a championship. He’s a successful business man who has a responsibility to his investors to spend everyone’s money wisely so that the entire organization can continue to operate indefinitely. They made attempts at Beltre, Furcal, Sheets, Giambi, Holliday. Whether or not the A’s landed them, the front office made honest efforts to improve the team.
Media: The demand for coverage has to be there. The Yankees make great postseason TV because you can tell a story with them. We know the characters: Jeter, Rivera, Posada, A-Rod. Whether or love’em or hate’em, you have a vested interest in whether they succeed or fail. I remember Ken Korach talking about Frank Thomas’ return in 2008. Korach spoke of the importance of being able to tell a story with his broadcasts and how players like Thomas helped him shape the drama of the game. So, without the demand or a juicy story, the A’s won’t see much coverage for a long time. But let’s be honest. Braden was on Letterman this season and ESPN ran the A-Rod vs. Braden spat for everything it was worth.
Sadly nothing will probably every change that. San Francisco is the bays poster city and for that reason alone they will always be on there pedestal. The A’s could get more attention if the stars align, but it won’t ever be fair. The only thing I see (rarely) about the a’s on say kron 4 is maybe a game time weather plug. By rarely I mean it was probably for a yankee game or something. Where as the Giants would get a 5 minute bit on how pandamonium is taking over the Giants fanbase.
letsgoas
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One thing A’s fans need to realize is that the Giants will always receive top billing here in the Bay Area. Moving to San Jose will help improve things in that they will have a large city which will embrace them, but IMO they will still play second fiddle to the Giants.
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Having said that though, there are things the A’s could do to help win back fans. Hire a top notch marketing firm to help reshape their image and promote the organization. Hire additional staff to help market the team. I have a friend that does work for Comcast. She said the Giants’ marketing department is at least twice that of the A’s. She also said that the Giants do a much better job of knowing what they want to do. To quote her, “they have their act together”.
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Improve the situation with their radio contract. Moving to 860 was a good move but they need to improve the signal coverage. I like Townsend, and I hope they hold on to him. I don’t know whether he knows much about other sports (I don’t listen to his late show) but maybe give him his own local show.
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Improve their broadcast team. They need to let Kuiper go and bring back Papa. Maybe bring on additional broadcasters much like how the Giants have Kruk/Kuip and Flemming/Miller.
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Overall, just try to be more positive. Everyone knows about the attendance, and the Coliseum, and the free agents leaving. No need to dwell on that. Instead tell the fans that we are commited to staying here in the Bay Area. San Jose is where we’re looking to build a ballpark, but if that fails, we are commited to finding a home here in the Bay Area.
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Change your attitude, and changes peoples’ attitude towards you.
I’m glad that I aint the only one that noticed Chronicle Live doing that, i felt silly for allowing that to upset me but now I realize that should not have happened because you all noticed too.
If your thinking they should let Kuiper go, then heres an idea.. Eric Byrnes. Although I don’t know if he would work as a play by play guy, since he seems a little too animated for that position. On the downside I thought I heard something somewhere about him wanting to be associated with the Giants… ugh. We all can agree that they need to improve marketing. How hard is it to get some billboards up promoting free parking tuesdays, dollar days, etc. Lew Wolff could do such a better job, I know he plans on leaving Oakland, but he needs to do the best with what he’s got right now.
I’m feeling very good that San Jose soon will get its shot to get the A’s. Common sense and logic might actually win out here.
fc
I could not have said it better. The A’s do have a problem in marketing. It seems their marketing strategy have been the same since the 80’s
@fc, hopefully non of this will matter any longer in about 3 or 4 yers in a new park
re: A’s marketing. What do the A’s have to market? A low-budget team that can’t hold onto star players, playing in the worst stadium in the league in a rundown city that can’t support major league sports. Get us the ballpark in San Jose and things will change.
Way to be proactive pjk. We are aware of what you are saying, one point not so much. A “worst” stadium anywhere isn’t going to get good support, so I don’t agree with your view that Oakland can’t support em. Case in point, check the numbers at Candlestick in the last years there, pretty similar to ours, and now look at them. Yeah SF is a tourist city, but you’d have to be pretty irrational to believe that a new ballpark in Oakland wouldn’t draw well. Everyone is just trying to think of ways to improve the team as of now. The team that will remain in the coliseum for a few more years.
The City of Oakland punted on the new ballpark issue longer than Ray Guy ever did. Now up to bat: The City of San Jose.
Billy Beane said he “expects news sooner than later” regarding the new stadium issue. I’m guessing he means after the owner’s meetings in Orlando on November 17-18. Hopefully he is right and the A’s organization gets some positive buzz going into next season.
To be fair, in 2003 and a season following their World Series appearance, the Giants got the daytime slots during the NLDS. I remember those well because I watched them between classes in college. That same postseason, the A’s and Boston got the primetime slots– though duh, because of Boston. I must confess that when they lost Game 3, I got a really bad feeling. When Boston went ahead in the 8th of Game 4, I already knew what was going to happen. I didn’t watch Game 5. My sister had just moved to Boston a month earlier. She called but didn’t have to say anything. I could hear people cheering through the phone. Yup. That sucked.
Jesse and pjk,
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San Jose will help, but we shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking it will solve all of the A’s problems, because it won’t. Like I said earlier, they will always play second fiddle to the Giants, regardless of how well they do on the field. You can bet the Giants will increase their marketing efforts. The key for the A’s will be not only to get people to be fans of the ballpark, but fans of the ballclub.
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If the A’s should be granted access to SJ and get the go ahead from SJ voters, they really need to think about how they should move forward with their marketing efforts. To put out the message “Come on down to San Jose and watch A’s Baseball” I think would be a mistake. Instead, the message should be, “Hey, we’re still here in the Bay Area, come and see us in YOUR new ballpark”. Reconnect with the fans. The ballpark can draw them in, but the team, fan experience and marketing needs to keep them as fans. This is why they need to hook up with a good marketing firm which will be able to package their product effectively.
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anybody knows the pr or marketing people for the a’s?
they’ve done a horrible job in recent years. why not bring back dolich who resigned with the niners org last year.
i remember some of the commercials for the a’s back in the late 90s that were amusing an entertaining, can’t we get those marketing firm(s) to back to do a’s commercials again.
How about this for the San Jose ballpark: “A’s Ball: New City. New Digs. Same Great Fans. Same World Series Championship Tradition. Don’t Miss a Minute of It!”
Once again, I’m seeing people condemn the A’s marketing but not acknowledging their marketers haven’t had much to work with. What do you want them to say? “Come and See the Future Yankees and Giants at the Coliseum, Your Vintage mid-60s Ballpark! Mount Davis Awaits!”
@letsgoas, I asked ML that question about Dolich and he said that Dolich doesn’t see eye to eye with A’s ownership.
Need I remind everyone what the the thrust of the Giants’ marketing campaign has been the last several years? How about this year’s slogan:
Ballparks are institutions. Ours is an institution of decrepitude with a handful of good, loyal fans inside. Theirs is a mostly full ballpark where most of the time people go to hang out more than watch the game. Players change. Seasons change. Owners come and go. Ballparks don’t.
The A’s definitely need a marketing makeover San Jose or not. I couldn’t even give A’s tickets away this season, literally. Not even my baseball friends care that much to go, and I can’t blame them. Other than a few fair-weather fans going to games because they’re cheap, the A’s are barely hanging on to the hardcore faithful. Everything feels stale and poorly maintained.
There are seats on the Field Level with duct tape covering holes.
Going to games in 2010 doesn’t feel much different than games from 1996 where the new additions was Mount Davis and later the tarps—neither of which really did much for the joint.
I like the classic uniforms, but they need a refresh. Worst case scenario is we’ll all miss them and they can bring them back in a few seasons. To my knowledge, only the Yanks and Dodgers have been with their current uniforms longer—but those are teams steeped in tradition.
Glen and Ray NEED to go. They were actually sucking the joy out of Braden’s perfect game.
The Coliseum sound crew need to get more current. I feel like they’re still stuck in 1991 based on their music choices and production value.
Most of the issues listed above don’t need a new ballpark to be resolved. Even if there are major player improvements to the 2011 team, no one is paying attention anymore.
I think if the BRC recommends San Jose and the stadium measure is put to ballot and passed, there will be some buzz around the A’s next year (especially if the team is in the playoff chase.) I mean it can’t get much worse than this year. People will at least be talking about the new ballpark and the A’s can start selling the new ballpark, as teams do the years before they move into a new venue.
“Thing is, if MLB rules in Oakland’s favor, there’s an immediate quandary because I don’t think the owners have been planning on staying in Oakland.”
Should MLB rule in favor of Oakland, any guesses on how quickly the franchise is put up for sale?
And is there an ownership group out there that would keep the team in Oakland? That might be difficult.
Marine Layer added at the end of the post “Thing is, if MLB rules in Oakland’s favor, there’s an immediate quandary because I don’t think the owners have been planning on staying in Oakland.”
What are the odds of the BRC ruling in Oakland’s favor? I would think it would be slim but what do I know? That would be a death sentence.
I agree the Giants are much better marketing wise but only in the last 10 years since their new ballpark opened.
When they were at Candlestick their marketing was on par with the A’s as it is hard to market a team when you play in a dump that gets cold at night and has no view.
There are so many games in baseball you have to be able to attract “casual” fans in order to succeed. The A’s have never drawn well in Oakland even with great teams. This year they had a decent team at 81-81 and they finished 2nd to last in attendance only ahead of the lowly Cleveland Indians who lost 93 games.
Pittsburgh lost 105 games and averaged 2k more fans per game than the A’s. Granted Cleveland and Pittsburgh have much nicer venues to play in but even in 2006 when the A’s made the playoffs they were 26th in the league out of 30 teams in attendance.
At least in San Jose they will get decent attendance and have a chance to keep their core players together with a higher payroll and corporate support from Silicon Valley as evidenced by SVLG’s letter to BS.
Even if a new ballpark was built in Oakland it would be too close to San Francisco to succeed long term. The Giants have the #1 ballpark as ranked by Forbes.com in MLB.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/14/best-baseball-stadiums-lifestyle-sports-baseball-stadiums_slide.html?thisSpeed=undefined
This is despite the fact over 15 teams have gotten new ballparks since 2000 when the Giants opened up shop at China Basin. Also if promoters had a choice between ATT Park and a Oakland ballpark they would take ATT Park every time thus limiting non-baseball revenue.
The A’s need to get as far away from ATT Park as possible and San Jose makes the most sense hence why the Giants don’t want the A’s to move there. They know full well San Jose is the only place where the A’s can compete fiscally with them as right now they can’t in the Bay Area.
The Giants hate the A’s for not only moving across the Bay in 1968 but also for the fact they have been far more successful on the field over the years. If the A’s get a new stadium in San Jose their previous success bodes well for them long run and the Giants are doing whatever it takes to make sure San Jose does not happen for this reason.
The A’s in a new San Jose ballpark would be given new life and you will see their marketing efforts double if this happens. What you will also see are consistent teams on the field and big name free agents looking to sign as San Jose is a nice place to live as evidenced by how many Sharks players do not want to leave once they play for SJ.
This is the turning point for the A’s and their future in the Bay Area. It is San Jose or bust…
Briggs, I couldn’t agree more.
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Unfortunately, the A’s are planning a Ray Fosse Bobblehead Day. They must be tone deaf. Although, the approach I advocate in the links above is more, keep Ray, add a guest broadcaster per home series.
Fosse belongs on the radio, not TV, but I bet Ray Fosse bobblehead day will be a success. Kurt Suzuki is probably the most popular A’s player right now. The A’s did not have any Suzuki promotional giveaways this year and it doesn’t look like they’ll have any next year either. In 2008, the Suzuki bobblehead SGA was a huge hit and the Suzuki jersey t-shirt was popular last year as well. Why the heck isn’t there another Suzuki bobblehead day? Nobody is coming to the park for those cheesy looking Chevy caps. Yet, another marketing failure.
@Sid, I think you’re right. The A’s will be able to hold their own if they move to San Jose even if they’re still the “second” team in the region. I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about the BRC ruling, the potential election, etc.
If MLB rules Oakland or bust, MLB will have to start looking for an owner willing to spend $1 billion of his own money to buy the team, land and build the ballpark. As I’ve said before, no one has come forward expressing a willingness to do this. MLB can’t even find a site in Oakland.
“BRC” rule in favor of Oakland? Again, if that were the case 1) we would have had a “decision” months ago and 2) the “BRC” would have never existed.
Look all, there’s absolutely no good reason for MLB to hold SJ hostage for Giants, NONE!
Especially since the only reason they have the T-Rights is because they themselves were supposed to relocate here.
All the talk of loosing fans and corporate support to an A’s team in SJ has been proven to be utter bull shit; current Giants fans in SCCo. And SVLG will tell ya so!
If MLB rules in Oakland’s favor it won’t matter who buys them, because they won’t be in Oakland for long (hell if Wolff keeps them they won’t be in Oakland long). It’s no longer a viable market, if it ever was in the first place. Beyond our usual attendance in Oakland by and large has sucked arguments, this media issue is just another facet. If there is no hope the A’s will ever get the media coverage (which lets face it is part of what it needed to get attendance up to respectable yearly levels), then what’s the point of staying around the Bay Area. You can bet that’s how MLB will look at it, and frankly that’s how I’m starting to see it too. I’ve been so disgusted by what I’ve seen of not only the media but the “fans” who don’t go to games over the last 15 years I’m almost to the point I think the team deserves better. Be it San Jose or somewhere outside the Bay Area. Because being stuck in Oakland is a non starter in the Coliseum and I question whether building a new stadium in Oakland would have a huge impact. I suspect a new Oakland ballpark is more likely to be another Pittsburgh or Washington DC than a St. Louis or SF attendance wise.
Since we’re all over the map with tidbits, could we talk about what’s going on at KGO Radio? Longtime GM Mickey Luckoff has resigned after 30+ years and Rich Lieberman’s blog http://richliebermanreport.blogspot.com is speculating that MAJOR changes lie ahead, possibly even a format change.
A few days ago a commenter posted that KGO should go after the A’s. I immediately laughed at that, but then stopped to think that KTRB’s problems are far from over and that if they end up deciding that they can’t compete with KNBR and going Spanish or something, then their 10 year deal with the A’s is pretty much worthless. Needless to say, the strength of KGO’s signal goes everywhere, including San Jose. Add to that a radically changed format with an open mind to carrying baseball and well….something to chew on.
I went to last Friday’s games with some die hard A’s buds. Man, i forgot how much of a dump the Coliseum was with the open urinals, craptastic food, barren vendor alleys, and right in the middle of the ghetto (so we didn’t stay around after the game).
For those who bash me as pro-SJ, seriously, all i want is a new venue period. If the BRC imposes the death sentence on the the A’s and award Oakland again, that’ll be another 20 years of ineptitude to deal with. Man, I’ll be close to retiring by then! /sigh…
HEY NOW!!! I LOVE Ray Fosse!
I got the chance to meet him several years ago at a radio sponsors luncheon in Eureka, and he is what he seems to be on the air, a passionate A’s Lifer. Even though he played for other teams, Oakland is the team he identifies with, unlike, say, Reggie Jax, and He is one of our links to our glory days.
I guess I am in the minority, but I like Ray as a Television color commentator.
The Raider attendance is the lowest Raider home attendance since ’67, not NFL. The Oilers were getting attendance in the teens in their last years in Houston and year in Memphis limbo (’96), and the Rams had a bunch of games in the 20’s down there.
@Georob – KGO is not the 49ers station because it no longer was a good value proposition, probably because the team wanted more $ for radio rights. I can’t see KGO drifting into becoming a sports station simply because the market hasn’t proven it can bring the same kind of high ratings the current newstalk format does. Right now, KGO pulls in a 5+ all over the Bay Area, a drop from previous quarters, but still way ahead of KNBR, which pulls high 3’s in the SF market and 2.5 in the SJ market. KNBR’s gains may have come in part at the expense of KGO, but it’s more likely that KCBS is killing KGO.
KGO’s and Luckoff’s problems may have more to do with parent Citadel entering and leaving Chapter 11. The cuts couldn’t have been kind, and the programming is getting stale.
Several years ago I accused my local newspaper of being biased against the A’s in favor of the Gints. I battled the bias with the ammunition that baseball lovers crave…statistics. For over a month, I collected data on their article placement and found some trends. When both teams won, the Gints more frequently got top billing on the sports page. When both teams lost, the A’s got the more prominent article. I’d like to think I was successful at a little more fairness in coverage.
With all the discussion of media coverage, I would like to think that my local exercise could potentially be successful with other media as well. If all the A’s fans voiced their concerns publicly to the media and backed them up with facts, I’d like to think that there might be a little more equity. My theory is that newspaper publishers’ goal is to sell newspapers; TV stations like viewers, etc. They will cater to their customers’ needs because without their customers, they have no ad sales and no business.
i’ve heard and read about getting rid of gkuiper for years now. personally not a huge fan of his, i actually like fosse but he needs a good play by play man and 5 years into this “relationship” on tv, imo kuip and fosse still don’t have what even papa and fosse had for over a decade doing a’s games.
who is out there? names thrown around are the likes of roxy who already co hosts on 860. greenwald’s kid is also mentioned. doesn’t look like the sfg org has ANY ROOM to add another play by play man with them already have 4 with kuiper, miller, flemming and even add papa.
once that new park does arrive, agreed that the a’s need to shake it up in the tv booth. some would argue the a’s need to get rid of vince on radio too.
Well, what if KGO and KSFO swap formats? (One goes left, the other goes right) In the process, KSFO might devote a few hours to sports in the evening(they already have the Raiders) and the A’s could return to the station where they had their best success (and a better signal than KTRB).
KTRB’s situation scares me, and as long as there’s two KNBRs, a third full time sports station is not viable in this economic climate. And I really don’t think that Lew Wolff wants any part of buying a station.
but 860 gets better ratings than 1050.
i don’t know what the sep #s were but 860 got a 0.4 in sf/oak and 0.7 in sj while 1050 got a 0.3 in sf/oak and 0.2 in sj in aug.
why is that 860 has to go “under” while 1050 stays.
Good to see you posting Rob! Still in CC Tex? I still say the A’s should migrate over to 1050, with rare-instance “overflow” Warriors/Niners games going to other stations vs 1050. If you think about it, the A’s and Giants rarely play at the same time, Warriors basketball primarily late Fall/Winter, and Niners during the fall on Sundays (either AM or PM).
Oakland rules, and I hope they win.
Is anyone seriously asking when the Raiders drew 32K fans last week? Have they actually watched any football the last eight years?
Jeepers, that hasn’t mattered in Detroit for the last decade and a half. It hasn’t mattered in Cleveland even though they both suck and had their team stolen. Oakland on the other hand… And yes we’re seriously asking. 32,000 is a level of mediocrity the Raiders have NEVER reached while they’ve been in the NFL. You have to go back to the AFL days to find an attendance lower. If Oakland isn’t going to come out and support its teams… why should it have any?
a’s aren’t heading off to 1050, won’t happen. you’d think if they had any indications, they would’ve done so by now.
question, do the a’s draw better on radio than either the niners or w’s? niners doubtful. they drew around the same against the w’s last year on tv, don’t know how that would translate to radio.
A’s media coverage issues go back much longer than I’ve been a fan. I came out in to the Bay Area as a kid in time to see the 1989 World Series. I absolutely had no preference between the A’s and Giants at the time. Once the 1990 season got started, KTVU carried 50+ Giants away games so naturally my fandom started to fall more with the Giants. KNBR sealed helped out a lot too. One I got to know the team thanks to KTVU, I could get more detailed info on the Giants from all the KNBR sports talk. Honestly, I don’t recall who carried the A’s– KRON or KICU? Either way, KTVU came in bright and clear through the antenna directly following afternoon cartoons. The Giants literally presented themselves to me.
So speaking from direct experience, the media strength of the Giants is far more persuasive than that of the A’s for as long as I’ve been in the Bay Area. Only my baseball geekery pulled me towards the A’s around 2000– but that was by pure chance. Had I remained a more causual baseball fan, I’d still be routing for the Giants.
A’s were on kron during the mid 90s i think, but the moved to kicu late 90s.
again why wouldn’t they go back to kron to even air a dozen or so games. i think having your games broadcast even in a small amount on one of the “big channels” albeit kron since losing nbc has definitely loss a ton of viewers.
but what else stations are there? maybe kofy? the cw?
a’s really need to overhaul how they are presented from tv, radio, marketing especially once they move into a new park which imo will happen within the next half decade.
The CSNCA deal is for the long run. The A’s aren’t going back to broadcast unless they’re looking to “give away” games.
My comment about the Raiders is not about Oakland. I’m asking whether or not the Bay Area can properly support two teams in the long run. Right now both teams have relatively inexpensive tickets (for the NFL) and limited premium seating. What will happen when the prices get jacked up in a new stadium, regardless of where it or they are located? The Jets were in danger of a blackout for their first home game at New Meadowlands.
will the a’s ever buy into csnca?
**The immediate future of KGO is unclear. There’s a lot of rumors circulating about who’s about to go. What talk-show host is next to leave, “retire”, etc…A few radio industry execs I spoke to have offered up some beauties, everything from Luckoff perhaps, (with other investors presumably) buying KTRB, (860 AM) and teaming up with the Oakland A’s to run that station, (currently in receivership.) I’ve also heard of Luckoff perhaps running another station; we’ll be on top of all the talk and when we have something more concrete, we’ll check back.
http://richliebermanreport.blogspot.com/
@letsgoas – You don’t need to buy into a RSN to make a long-term deal. The Rangers practically got bribed into staying at FSSW. CSN has a lot of money invested in this, and the A’s know that broadcast is dying and a revenue loser. They’ve had plenty of opportunities to buy a broadcast station (more than available radio stations BTW) yet they haven’t been interested. The money simply isn’t there. Besides, it’s harder to make deals with affiliate stations in other markets than to let CSN negotiate its own carriage on other cable systems.
Damn you preview!!! Let’s try this again:
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@Briggs
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Come on Briggs. I appreciate you’re Rodney King-esque posts most of the time, but I’m calling you out on this one. You may root for both teams, but countless others see the two teams as rivals. And in most rivalries, the both team enjoys schadenfreude at the other’s expense. You don’t think Giants fans love the turmoil caused by the Dodger divorce? I’m not saying it ain’t low class, I’m just saying for many of us it’s the natural emotional response to the rivalry. Heck, even Brian Sabean said the two organizations don’t like each other back in a Spring Training broadcast. And not blaming the players? Give me a break! This isn’t the Oaks versus the Seals. The Braves have the same number of players that hail from the area as the Giants. Heck, if I were choosing teams to root for based on players alone I would still be rooting for Atlanta. Huddy is one of my all-time favorites.
@gojohn10
Fair enough. Though my overall point in that comment was that the Giants achieved something pretty cool and that didn’t come at the expense of the A’s. The Giants’ media coverage was a result of good long-term planning and enthusiastic fan-support, and those are two things the A’s could definitely do a better job at fostering. I think it’s fair for spite to be directed at their ownership group, but not the actual team or their fans– and essepcially not because they won the NL West. I’m envious of that, but it doesn’t have to be jealousy.
having the a’s go to kgo would be almost a dream scenario. when it deals with 50k watts, it’s a legit 50k watts thru out the day rivaling that of 680’s signal thru the day.
no problems at all with reception anytime during the day for an a’s game. just don’t think it’ll happen. don’t know if 860 is the long term answer either.
A’s Chronicle beat writer Susan Slusser was on Rick Tittle’s show this morning on XTra Sports 860. They talked mostly about the offseason as far as player personnel goes. She didn’t have anything new regarding the new ballpark efforts. Slusser only talked about how the organization is positive but she doesn’t believe they have any inside information.