Good stuff in this edition.
- Save Oakland Sports is having one of its regular meetings next Monday, June 25 @ 6 PM, at the Red Lion Hotel, 150 Hegenberger, Oakland.
- CBS Radio and Cumulus (parent of KNBR) announced a new sports radio network that will launch in January. The network is expected to feature talent currently on CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network. A key talent on the latter is Jim Rome, whose daily TV show launched in April. Rome’s radio show is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks (a News Corp. subsidiary), so there’s some natural friction there. I have to think that Rome came to CBS-SN with the idea that he might jump to this new radio network too at some point, though at some $30 million per year, his radio persona doesn’t come cheap. Both of the KNBR stations were identified as future network affiliates for the CBS Sports Radio, which creates a bit of a juggling situation for Cumulus. Will Cumulus continue to pay decent money to be an ESPN Radio affiliate and carry some Fox Sports Radio programming on the side? If not, does that free up ESPN Radio to move to The Game? And how does an ESPN Radio relationship conform with The Game’s cozy relationship with Comcast Sportsnet? Fantasy radio operators, start your typewriters.
- Oakland’s City Council approved a $1 billion plan to finally remake the Oakland Army Base. Unlike some of the more glamorous or controversial plans that have been proposed (movie studio, casino, big box retail, auto row), this one will stay true to the base’s largest neighbor: the Port of Oakland. The plan will include new infrastructure, warehousing by ProLogis, and a logistics center. Every so often the base has come up in discussion here as a potential stadium site, but it’s an idea that’s never had legs within City Hall.
- Greg Jamison’s quest to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes has hit a big roadblock in the form of a lawsuit by the Goldwater Institute. Now there are questions as to whether Jamison, who is not a billionaire, can pull off the acquisition without the sweetheart deal approved by the City of Glendale that would subsidize the team’s continued operation at Jobing.com Arena. The franchise, which is owned by the NHL at the moment, is being forced to lawyer up to complete the sale. If that can’t happen…
- The City of Seattle and Chris Hansen are getting ready to finalize their new SoDo arena plan. Hansen would pay around 60%, with the remaining 40% coming from public sources. The political minefield is being negotiated right now, as the City Council doesn’t want the plan to come to a public vote, and the Port of Seattle is objecting because it fears that the arena will adversely impact port operations. Any team (NHL, NBA) that relocates to Seattle would play temporarily at Key Arena while the new arena is being built.
- This week’s cautionary tale about public stadium financing comes from Chester, PA, where not only has a MLS stadium not been a development catalyst, the stadium tenant Philadelphia Union missed a $500k PILOT payment in 2010.
- The BCS will have a four-team playoff starting in 2014. Semifinal games would rotate among the four current BCS sites, with the championship game going to the highest bidder among them.
- Jim Caple has another one of his ballpark column series, this time an elimination tournament of all 30 MLB parks. In the tournament, fans can vote online for their favorite ballpark in each matchup. We’re at the semifinal stage, with Fenway Park (seeded #2) facing off against AT&T Park (#3) and Camden Yards (#4) vs. tourney Cinderella Miller Park (#24). The Coliseum was seeded #28 and lost in the first round to Target Field (#5) by a whopping 91% to 9% with over 60,000 votes, which is about right. Don’t feel bad though. New Yankee Stadium also lost in a landslide. The Coli’s Mt. Davis was also awarded Worst View. Finally, Caple gets a shoutout to Shibe Park, which ended up #8 in his list of places he wishes were still around.
Happy reading.
newballpark.org 
Obviously that “Best Ballpark” competition is being flooded by Brewers fans. There’s no way Miller Park should have won a head to head with Dodger Stadium or Camden Yards. It’s a monstrosity of a ballpark with that giant unnecessary roof and arguably one of the worst built in the last 20 years.
Or PNC Park, I didn’t even see it had also beaten that park. All three Miller beat are hands down better parks by pretty much every measure imaginable. History, design, location, view, food…
To Marine Layer:
Thank you for posting SAVEOAKLANDSPORTS meeting notice.
A’s observer.
ML,
.
You referenced 95.7’s cozy relationship with Comcast Sportsnet. Can you elaborate on that relationship?
from SOS: This organization plans to contribute practical and creative ideas to the teams, City of Oakland and Alameda County officials to generate revenue and private investment – without using general fund money
…SOS has a pretty tall task – looking for ways to pay for $2 billion worth of sports facilities when the city has no money to spend.
@fc – There’s a pretty easy sharing of talent between The Game and CSN (Papa, Wofford, Townsend at times). Management of both have to sign off on that.
Thanks ML. I wouldn’t think that would be the case given that CSN Bay Area is partially owned by the Giants, and any relationship with 95.7 would work against KNBR. I know CSN has a working relationship with KNTV (NBC). It’s pretty evident in watching their sports reports that they slant heavily towards the Giants. I realize they do air Giants games, but still, there are nights where the A’s barely get a mention.
I’m pretty sure that some Brewers fan has a program spamming espn with votes for Miller Park. I think it won the first 2 rounds against the Angels (a pretty easy win) and the Dodgers (closer). But for the round against PNC and Camden, they have gotten about 20,000 more votes than any of the other votes. Considering every other vote was about 60000, and for some reason the Miller Park votes were over 80000. I’m pretty sure something fishy was going on.
BTW, I do think Miller got hosed on the seeding. 24th my ass. I probably would have had them about 10th. And the Angels somehow being 9th, I have no idea what Caple was thinking. I probably would have seeded them 25th.
To PJK:
But shouldn’t people who want to keep the teams in Oakland at least try?
Should they give up?
At least the organization is trying.
A’s observer.
@ A’s observer – I’m not being facetious when I ask this, but what has S.O.S. exactly done to date when you say they are “trying”? Curious since there’s sparse info on their site.
Pjk, they may have a nigh impossible task. But if they think they can help it doesn’t hurt to try. The alternative is to roll over and play dead like the city of Oakland has done for the last decade and a half. And I’d never ask anyone to act that impotently. So good luck to SOS I say, as long as they stay realistic and don’t also block other efforts to keep the A’s in the region.
To “Anon” – why don’t you get involved if you’re interested?
Or are you a pro-San Jose A’s supporter?
In general terms, I think that the organization has in a small way contributed to the people trying to demonstrate that Oakland has the economic wherewithal to support the A’s, Raiders and Warriors.
We haven’t raised a $1 billion yet if that’s really your question.
A’s observer
To “Dan.”
Why don’t you attend the meeting?
A’s observer
Observer, thanks but no thanks. While I support you guys giving it a try, I personally no longer support Oakland keeping the team. The city has bungled around for the better part of 20 years, has actively tried blocking other attempts to keep the team in the region after their failures, has gotten into bed with the enemy and then let themselves be double crossed, and frankly I’m tired of them and their BS. I’ve seen nothing that leads me to believe the situation has changed or can be changed as long as Jean Quan and her merry band of misfits are running Oakland (and while they have no money to contribute).
Chi, I think all three leagues have already seen the project, haven’t they?
A’s observer, I am going to be traveling on business and can’t make the meeting. Could you email me any info a supporter might be interested in? My email address is jeffreyaugust@fb.com
re: GO COLISEUM CITY.. IM sure when NFL, MLB and NBA see this project they will accept it,
..These leagues like one thing more than anything else – publicly funded arenas and stadiums. Coliseum City offers none of that. Just an invitation for private interests to spend billions of their own money in the Oakland Coliseum parking lot.
@ A’s Observer – I was trying to genuine, but by the looks of your response, it looks like you’re defensive because of the action (or lack thereof on SoS). I simply wanted clarification of your statement that they are “trying” and seeing what that “trying” translated to in terms of actions that would directly impact an Oakland effort. To answer your question though, I am pro-A’s, pro-reality! Yes, I live in the SJ and would selfishly like it here, but it doesn’t mean that if they somehow built it in Oakland that I would be pissed. In fact, late last year, when a lot of the passive, cheerleading EB fans where doing their usual raw-raw support, I questioned what they were doing as well to only hear silence. I in turn outlined like a 5 step process that Oakland could follow that would keep/lure the sports teams from leaving. The proposal was turning the Coliseum into Santana Row East Bay, which amazingly is now followed up in the CC announcement. However, alongside of that was adding incentives for W’s, A’s, R’s to play including subsidizing or leasing out land for their usage, low lease payments, etc. Basically, telling the teams why they should stay from a business sense instead of citing emotional aspects such as history, fans, etc. It’s great that SoS has started, but with the same ol’ tired “announcements” (VC anyone), it’s hard to believe or support until their is actual meat to the proposals.
@ Chi – Since you’re the biggest noob on the block now, please look up some history on MLB and its viewpoint on the A’s at the Coliseum (and why they were supposedly backing VC before it failed). While you do this, you should also look up the recent FA period where the W’s were trying to attract Tyson Chandler and other FAs only to get rejected (hell, they had to release Jeremy Lin because they thought they were landing him). For a supposed W’s fan, you should know these details well and that attraction of Tier 1 FA doesn’t just mean money (hell if LJ wanted $$$, he’d of stayed in Cleveland).
btw – keep in mind SoS statement, (which I thought was awesome compared to LGO / BBO / etc) and why I asked in the first place:
The A’s owe it to the fans to spend $500 million of their own money on a ballpark in Oakland even if it means the team and its owners go bankrupt? The corporate sponsorship dollars needed to build a ballpark are not there in the East Bay. This has been discussed in full in here many times. And isn’t Coliseum City proposed by the same folks – Oakland city officials – who ruined the A’s once-fine ballpark? What does the city owe the A’s here?
@ Chi – “In fact the best time al Davis and lew Wolff could have demanded new stadiums wad back in 2002 when both teams were at elite level.” You think this pursuit of a new A’s venue is somehow new? Seriously, learn your history before your hurt yourself.
Chi, in 2002, Lew Wolff wasn’t the owner of the A’s and Steve Schott pledged $100M for a new stadium in the Coliseum parking lot…
I have to agree that the posters from SOS (at least on this thread) are at least doing something to achieve their hope of keeping Oakland teams in Oakland. Are what they doing amounting to much? Probably not. The numbers are almost insurmountably against them . However, I can respect being passionate about wanting something and making an effort on some civic level to make it happen. They are looking at the poor attendance history, the Oakland Pols utter lack of effort (almost working against SOS’s goals), the A’s owner not budging an inch from the desire to leave Oakland, a nearby and more wealthier city that has done its due diligence and rolled out the red carpet for the A’s, an A’s owner who publicly states he will privately fund a ball park in that city but not in Oakland, the lack of public funds (or the will to fund) for a stadium, the lack of tangible & desirable locations in Oakland, MLB owners (two of them, one very influential) basically saying Oakland had their chance and now its gone, etc etc……. that is an extensive list working against those specific passionate SOS folks. And what does SOS have working for them? A couple of sentences in the MLB constitution that forces at gunpoint the A’s not to move to San Jose along with a hope that the difficult process of moving will leave the A’s no choice but to stay in Oakland. That is a bleak picture. Yet for civic pride and passion for their team they are fighting the David versus 1000 Goliaths fight. Minus those who have used blatant disinformation and borderline infantile tactics (too many unfortunately), one has to respect those who fight that good fight because it means something to them.
To Jeffrey:
Go to http://www.saveoaklandsports.org.
Chris Dobbins is the president.
A’s observer.
To “Anon.”
No sarcasm intended.
A’s observer.