Items are starting to pile up, so it’s time to let loose.
- Yesterday I went to an A’s game at the Coliseum, followed by a River Cats game at Raley Field. While I paid for a $2 seat in Oakland, I ended up sitting along the covered (upper) part of the plaza level near the A’s bullpen, section 125. A regular-priced ticket there is $24. My ticket at Raley was a front row seat next to the River Cats dugout that cost $27 including Ticketmaster fees.
Major League vs. Minor League
River Cats manager Darren Bush likes to plant himself WAY up the 3rd base line.
- The internet was abuzz with noise about Comcast/Spectacor’s proposal for a new arena in Virginia Beach. Then, partly because a Kings spokesman chose to go the non-denial/denial route, Sacramento and Hampton Roads media jumped all over the plan, concocting a Kings move to the Virginia Beach out of thin air. That forced the Maloofs to issue an actual denial of any rumored move. [Original article: Virginian-Pilot/Aaron Applegate]
Kings fans can save their anger for April, when the window for the Maloofs to apply for a move will officially open
- A burgeoning effort to overhaul state’s often restrictive CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) laws was tabled by Senate leader Darrell Steinberg earlier today. Business interests and trades unions rallied together to bring the issue to the floor, which would have pitted moderates against environmentalists within the Democratic party. The push was started by SVLG (Silicon Valley Leadership Group), which provided little more than guidance in how the law should be changed. For now the two sides are far apart: the moderates consider changes to CEQA to be common sense modernization and a reduction of red tape, whereas environmentalists see the changes as a gutting of CEQA. Steinberg pushed the matter out to the 2013 legislative session. We’ll follow it closely, as it could have a huge impact in how cities and developers plan projects. [LA Times/Michael J. Mishak]
- The Detroit-Wayne County Stadium Authority is refinancing $61 million in outstanding bonds for Comerica Park. Refinancing should drop the interest rate from 5.75% to 3%. The article is a good read because it chronicles how many times the public body failed in previous attempts to refinance the debt, which is important to know in light of the idea that the Oakland Coliseum JPA and the San Francisco Giants are looking to refinance their own respective stadium debt. [Crain’s/Bill Shea]
- Speaking of the CEQA process, the Warriors’ proposed SF arena now has its own Mayor-appointed citizens advisory committee. [SFGate/John Coté]
- The Rays will, in fact, see a presentation about a developer’s plan for a new ballpark within St. Petersburg, yet closer to Tampa. It’s a start. [Tampa Bay Times/Mark Puente]
- The America’s Cup World Series is happening this week along the Marina Green. It’s a good dry run for the bigger 2013 America’s Cup races. There are plenty of places to watch the action for free. Races run through the weekend. [SFGate/Neal J. Riley]
- Finally, the Earthquakes are announcing something stadium-related before their Saturday game against Columbus. It’ll be in the form of a press conference at 6 at Buck Shaw. Perhaps a groundbreaking date?
More as it comes.
newballpark.org 
Now those are the press conferences worth looking forward to! Ones that involve the actual team themselves! Also, amazing that the A’s game can be actually cheaper thans the RC’s! I bet that the revenue per attendee is much higher as well…
Random thoughts: A’s should play in Sac while Cisco Field is being built (whether in SJ or Fremont/Mission SJ), Kings most likely will end up in Anaheim (sorry Sac, not your fault whatsoever), @#$%& CEQA! As it stands now it has nothing to do with environmental protections and everything to do with NIMBY obstructionism and job killing, HOORAY for a REAL press conference…still confident the A’s will one day have theirs 😉
Parking is comparable as I recall, as are concession prices. And to add insult to injury RC games also have things to do around the ballpark if you’re interested across Tower Bridge. RC games have been a better experience than the Coliseum since the day the Cats arrived in Sac.
Tony, No chance Anaheim happens. The NBA has rejected that move once and will continue to do so. They and more importantly the Clippers and Lakers don’t want a third team in LA. Not sure VA will pan out either, but Seattle is the real elephant in the room. The NBA wants a team back there, there’s a fanbase dying for a team there, and most importantly there’s a multi-billionaire waiting there with a viable arena plan and an NBA spec temp arena.
Thanks Dan,
Either way, poor Sac. BTW, feels good to be posting again after my self imposed exile (as if anyone really cared 😉 and FWIW, I’m once again a resident and registered voter in San Jose, no more Gilroy…it feels good to be home!
really wish the rays could’ve built or were currently building a new baseball park in tb or somewhere in the southeastern part of the country. that way mlb and or the owners couldn’t used the excuse that the a’s move to sj would effect another team’s “territory”. the a’s and rays are the only teams that are looking for a new venue, every other mlb team has built a new park that they’ll be playing in for the foreseeable futre to come in the past two decades or are playing in historic older venues that they won’t move from ala the dodgers, cubs, redsox. the only team that could look into building a new park would i guess be the bluejays unless they’re satified with skydome as their long term venue but even then i doubt mlb is gonna want to move their only non american team out of the country that they’re in.
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i wonder if opinons would be changed if they knew the a’s moving to sj would be the last move any mlb team were to make for a long time that they wouldn’t just okay the move right away still don’t make fucking sense anyway that the bay area is the only two market area that has these bullshit territory rights.
Kings –> San Diego? maybe Seattle….also SJ if Larry Ellison makes a power play into the NBA again
Quakes Stadium = Santa Clara County will have plenty of available experienced construction guys and equipment on hand if/when Cisco Field is ever green-lighted with both the Quakes and Niners projects simultaneously occuring and hopefully just wrapping up if the A’s balpark is a go
Here is an interesting note about last night’s game. Attendance at the Trop last night, 11,613. The Rays are playing another Wild Card contender in late August. They are sneaking up on the Yankees. I bet they get a bigger crowd if they were located in Northern Jersey and Connecticut. Chris Christie just lost the Nets to Brooklyn. Maybe he hopes the A’s get San Jose so Christie can get the Rays. OK this is total speculation but this is what the Lodge fears. No question about it!
BSD, No way San Diego happens for the Kings. There’s no arena in Sac that is up to modern NBA standards, and the city is focused on building a stadium for the team they do have already in the Chargers. San Jose also won’t be happening even with Ellison because of the Warriors issue. Namely the Warriors won’t want someone invading their region. And again arena becomes an issue because the SJ Arena is not NBA ready. No the real options are going to be Seattle, KC, and maybe Anaheim if the NBA changes their tune (which seems unlikely).
I hear Duel of the Fates in my head anytime the A’s and Rays are mentioned in the same breath. I agree that any hesitancy by large market ownership groups around voting for an A’s move to San Jose are related to the Rays, I just disagree that any rational person can think that the A’s moving to San Jose is precedent for the Rays moving into Newark New Jersey.
@ Jeffrey – I had never thought of this before. Maybe the threat of the Rays again challenging the ATE should the A’s move to SJ is what’s holding things up? They had quite a case before and I’m sure they could bring up the past just to get their way?
re: Chris Christie just lost the Nets to Brooklyn. Maybe he hopes the A’s get San Jose so Christie can get the Rays. OK this is total speculation but this is what the Lodge fears. No question about it!
…Nets-to-Brooklyn was a done deal before Christie took office. And anyone who wants to move an MLB team to New Jersey should look at how successful the Devils and Nets have been at luring away fans of the established New York teams. Both have failed. The Devils are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy because they don’t have enough $$ to cover expenses, and the Nets, as we already know, bolted back to New York. I overheard this once at a Sharks-Devils game once in San Jose: “Why do I root for the Rangers? Because I’m from New Jersey.” The Devils defeated NJ’s two favorite NHL teams – the Rangers and Flyers – to get to the Cup Finals this past season. Which lucky team wants to try to lure fans away from the Yankees, who’ve been there for 100 years, and the Mets (50 years)?…It doesn’t make sense that anyone would hold up A’s-to-San Jose because of paranoia about the Rays moving to NJ. Where would they even put the stadium and who pays for it? The state wouldn’t, I’ll bet.
Post 4: “No chance Anaheim happens.”
Post 9: “maybe Anaheim if the NBA changes their tune (which seems unlikely)”
Post 14: possibly Anaheim?
Post 19: no doubt it will be Anaheim?
Didn’t I hear something yesterday about the Sacto Kings moving to Virginia?
Speaking of Anaheim. Looks like VA Beach isn’t the only city the Maloofs have been indirectly working on. Their lawyer has recently updated their trademark filings regarding the “Anaheim Royals” trademarks including adding “The Orange County Royals” and “The Anaheim Royals of Southern California” to their already registered Anaheim Royals and Los Angeles Royals trademarks.
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http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2012/08/sacramento_kings_virginia_beac.php
Rob, the Maloofs trying for Anaheim, and Anaheim actually being approved are two different things. A’s fans should be acutely aware of that distinction.
A’s relocating 35 miles within same market A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ANIMAL then a hypothetical Rays move 1,000 miles into an existing two-team market. A huge difference, and the owners probably all realize this by now (cough Rheinsdorf cough!).
Ethan, do your homework and discover why the Giants have exclusive territorial rights to San Jose; you might be surprised…
I’m not sure MLB owners are intelligent enough to even look at a map. When the Giants tell them San Jose is “right next door” to Frisco, are they astute enough to look at a map to learn that it’s actually much further away from Frisco than Oakland is? I’m not sure that they are.
These guys are monopolists. They don’t care how close SJ is to SF, or Oak to SF, etc. they come from a viewpoint of protecting the status quo for growth rather than opportunistic growth. Though I do know that some owners (I heard this from a few sources) DID have to be educated as to the Bay Area geography. I believe this is probably because Larry Baer continues to say things like the South Bay starts at the KQED studios in SOMA.