I wasn’t able to attend this morning’s Coliseum Authority meeting. Thankfully for everyone, Steven Tavares of the East Bay Citizen was. And the story he got coming out of there was quite a doozy. The JPA approved a $1 million contract for additional studies on Coliseum City, which we figured would happen given the new pro-development makeup of the JPA board. What we didn’t see coming was just how the study would be paid for.
How the Authority will pay the $1 million in total costs for the two studies also rankled some commissioners. According to Alameda County Auditor-Controller Pat O’Connell, the Authority will “short” a $3.5 million capital improvements fund previously earmarked for a new scoreboard at O.co Coliseum. The Oakland Athletics and the Authority have been in negotiations to replace the out-of-date scoreboards, said Goodwin, and Friday’s decision may negatively impact relations with the A’s, also in search of a new ballpark.
“What’s the message we’re sending to the A’s?” Goodwin asked. According to staff, the A’s estimate the costs of the scoreboards to be $4 million. “Well, it better cost closer to $2.5 million, if we do what we’re about to do,” countered Haggerty. The alternative, said O’Connell, would be to ask the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and Oakland City Council for addition funds, a move likely unpopular on both fronts.
Maybe the shortfall will force the JPA to buy used. Whether that’s enough to get improvements or not, it’s a clear indicator that the East Bay is going forward on Coliseum City, cost uncertainty and other tenant issues be damned.
Worse, the retractable roof concept appears to have gained traction, even though it will surely inflate the project’s price tag. Assistant City Administrator Fred Blackwell was careful to note that all three current tenants would get new venues under the plan, though as usual, how that would all come together was not articulated. Even the Raiders are not a given in terms of paying for their part of the study, as the NFL and team are fashioning their own – for a stadium only with little ancillary development.
Doesn’t this seem like a lot of flailing right now? This is despite having the project under consideration for the better part of three years. Many in Oakland are quite convinced that this is the vision for the city’s future. What of the teams? Aren’t they supposed to be partners in this? Aren’t they paying the freight? Apparently that doesn’t matter, not as long as one great redevelopment plan remains out there for someone to stake their political career to.
newballpark.org 
What message is Oakland sending the A’s? The same one it’s been sending since the late 90’s. On the other hand, based on the developments of a few days back, Wolff and company could probably care less at this point.
Perhaps this is a good development as it relates to a new Raiders stadium in Oakland (?). BTW, retractable roof stadium? In California!?
(RM, your site was down for a bit; good to see it back. I did loose my mobile version though. No biggie)
Tavares account of the meeting is fascinating…NFL is irritated with Oaklands effort and lack of progress, raiders aren’t on-board and are doing their own study with the NFL- and yet the leaders of Oakland are tapping into the fund that was going to provide ballpark mprovements for the A’s- shades of 1995 all over again…and it looks like haggerty is still banking on the W’s staying–
Banking on the W’s staying while offering nothing. That’ll work. And once again the city prioritizes the team that left them once before over the team that’s been here for nearly a half century. If I were the A’s I’d bring something like this straight to the BRP.
BTW,
just read the East Bay Citizen piece by Tavares. As a Raiders fan who wants them to get something done in Oakland, to say the story made me sick in the stomach would be an understatement. Santa Clara and LA just became more likely for my Raiders…
@Tony D
Does this mean the end of Oakand sports teams??? I couldnt pull up the article, the link is broken… but that means Frank Blackwell and Mayor Quan has been pullin its citizens along this whole time.. well at least it closure
“raiding the scoreboard fund”? it’s amazing that the w’s have gone thru two brand new video screens over the past 6-7 years and the coliseum has been stuck in the stone age of technology with the scoreboards they installed during the mid 90s renovation.
as for the raiders building a stadium at the coliseum site, even as a niners fan i’d love to see the raiders stay in the bay area and have a new stadium themselves instead of likely renting to play in the new niners stadium which is probably what the nfl wants to see. at this time oakland’s best chance to keep a team is likely the raiders.
As an Oakland native, all I can say is that I am purely embarrassed! This city, which is no stranger to disorganization, has reached its peak in terms of the level of disarray, especially in regards to our city government, our sports teams, and even our residents. We’re at a point now where no one in Oakland seems to give a damn about anything – not our sports teams, not our economy, not our streets, nothing!
What you have is an incompetent city council, whose mayor has dealt with the ever present crime problem in Oakland by FIRING 200 police officers (!), has dealt with our sports team problem by virtually ignoring the A’s (who play over 70 MORE home games than the Raiders, who they adore), and has only effectively changed anything in the city for NEW residents who care nothing more for the city than the fact that they can get a comparably cheaper place here than in SF.
Oakland, even in the infamy of the dangerous 70s & 80s, was a city with a clear cut identity (one that was largely centered around its sports teams and its African-American culture). Now, Oakland is on the brink of losing ALL of its sports teams, and, to steal a quote from ML, will soon enough be ‘Long Beach North’. Sad, really.
Another example of The A’s not being that big of a concern from Oakland.Blackwell admits they are approaching the Raiders first.I have always thought no decesions will be made on the A’s until the Raiders situation is resolved.Of course if the Raiders stay, how will Oakland pay for a new A’s stadium as well.The NFL is not concerned with Coliseum City,just a Raiders stadium.I don’t think they would designate any potential league money to a Coliseum City project. They would want Oakland to use any available money on a Raiders stadium….why more studies? Haven’t they already looked at potential revenue impacts of a new stadium,in earlier studies? No one is moving to LA in 2013, so 2014 sets up as an important year.At the same time we have lease negotiations with the Raiders and A’s.Still to crazy to call.
Oakland duped us like Manti Teo duped America with his fake girlfriend story….again I still hold up, Oakland can keep the Raiders somehow untill somebody tells Mark Davis that Oaklabd has dropped the balp again…but relax San Jose…. U guys still have a couple more obstacles before u inherit the A’s but at least u guys are close
I was at meeting…..push Oakland…take a damn risk! Raiders wanna stay and I believe. The Oakland pol’s believe Warriors will never get that arena in non basketball loving SF so if the miracle of Coliseum City is pulled off then Oakland better be prepared when Lacob embarrassingly has to end his SF ambitions.
As for my A’s…..I want them to stay but something must get done at JLS . Will someone privately hack it? Yes!……Who?……. wont tell ya but Lew Wolff has to be willing to listen and answer his phone!
A JLS stadium instantly upgrades downtown Oakland and any area near it. Signature Properties is already going to develop that Estuary area with its Oak to 9th project. Also don’t forget the 400 mil dollar revival for JLS with the dining district and all. The Lake Merritt channel is also planned to be widened in a few years to allow bigger boats to come through it.
What does this all mean for Coliseum City? Well any experts ot there will tell ya that the Coliseum area is off estuary and everything will connect to JLS…..BUT DOES OAKLAND HAVE THE BALLS to take advantage? I’m sure many ideas can spring off of this but I guess lil ppl can only do so much
Those ideas can work. But Oakland has yet to find a person that will give Mark Davis or Lew Wolff the guarantee that they will get their money back. Honestly I wish both the A’s and Warriors to have new homes in uptown Oakland. In a perfect world.
Honestly people …we all have different viewpoints on where A’s should play but tell me where would A’s players prefer to play as far as new venues go? A downtown SJ stadium or a waterfront park with backdrops of downtown Oakland and downtown SF?. Remember these are still young guys who wanna go out and want options. Say what you want about east bay but you have more options in intermediate Bay Area(415&510) than you do in SJ. Try and disagree but SF is right there and we all agree SF is big fish in Norcal
Good to know there’s now an intermediate Bay Area.
Berry…..Wolff intentionally doesn’t want Oakland to work. His 1998 interview proves that so all the lackeys who love SJ will lie but you cant erase those comments from him. Mark Davis getting what ie wants. Oakland’s original franchise who left once will get their stadium for sure
The 49ers are the biggest fish in NorCal, but they seem to survive living and going out in the South Bay. Then again, they weren’t fed propaganda about strip malls and family life.
Good point, In fact A’s players have supported the idea of s new stadium in Oakland. I’m sure if u ask Yohan Cepesdes he would prefer Oakland over San Jose, but the owner has other plans l
@510savage- yup- players hate downtown SJ- that’s why the 9ers had their party there when they returned from Atlanta- gotta love some of these ridiculous statements made by the pro- Oakland crowd
Oakland simply doesn’t have the money to accommodate the teams anymore. Taking money from a scoreboard fund to pay for a Raiders study says it all…
The Raiders want to stay and are negotiating, the A’s refuse to negotiate and want no part of Oakland, so now we want to come here and complain the city of Oakland is screwing the A’s
What has Oakland offered the A’s but already-rejected sites and no money to help build the ballpark? Wolff has listened to the city and it’s never offered anything viable.
@berry
You realize that players don’t care where they play as long as they get paid. They will say all the right things to the local media as long as they play for that particular team. I am pretty sure if the A’s played in Timbuktu, and they needed a new stadium there they would say the same thing.
Well i beileve that the players love playing in Oakland. Its sad that those guys dont have a new stadium to really maximize their potential on and off the field… again we got the best manager in baseball in Bobby Melvin, and he will get the A’s a world series title before San Jose… question is.. will the move to San Jose mess up the A’s auora.
So, Mike, what of the Warriors? They have clear plans and explicit intentions to leave Oakland, yet are not treated as gone. What makes them different from the A’s at this point?
I love how Mike #1 came in here and completely twisted our comments. You missed the point entirely: Oakland has been giving the A’s the backhand since the late 90’s. This latest on raiding the scoreboard fund for the Raiders is par for the course. No one’ “complaining,” just pointing out the obvious: Oakland can’t and won’t do crap for the A’s. As has been stated before, the city of Oakland, as it relates to the A’s future in the Bay Area, is completely irrelevant at this point.
NeverGoA’s……we talking A’s. players not miner players who live in Santa Clara county ….great observation! Sj loves sf teams…yeah thanks for highlighting the obvious
And Marine Layer…yes there is an intermediate bay area…..heart of bay area and all of norcal is where the brigde is….connecting Oakland and San Francisco. Sorry but SJ is not that place at all. We know your from SJ but south bay is too far from heart of the bay area
@510 Savage – It’s funny how people in the East Bay (Oakland) love to trash SF until it comes time to inflate the East Bay’s economic and political importance. Face it, you can claim whatever you want and yet I can find another view that says Oakland is an economic black hole. Oakland/Alameda County can’t depend on SF to build Coliseum City. It needs to stand on its own. It needs to raise its own money. That’s why your “intermediate Bay Area” idea is useless and pointless. The East Bay is competing with SF, competing with the South Bay. Don’t give me this intermediate, central, best-located crap. What matters is whether or not there’s the political and financial will to make it happen. So far, from what I’ve seen, it’s not there.
Berry….a’s will have different vibe in sj…no place is same as other….that’s just life. Underdog spirit of Oakland wont be there but if they move to sj they’ll have a vibe unique to their area
show me 1B then oakland and their fans can yap
@510 savage,
It’s your world; dwell in it if you must…
I hope haggert is right about 2 teams staying…If the warriors can’t move to San Francisco, I think Howard Arena would be a great alternative for the Warriors…now that 510savage will save JLS. I’m sure if that happens I foreone will accept a tax hike or whatever to publicly fund a warrior arena in Oakland… And it will be the A’s fault for not getting to Howard Terminal first, and then 10 miles down 880 a new reconstructed Raider stadium
Howard Terminal arena that would be a great name…
Yeah San Jose will.have their own swag with the A’s, but u are right about missing that underdog spirit, now u will have more rich fans and it will be s little different but again we will see..
Dont hurt’em ML…. he was speaking outta hurt… sigh have a good weekend everybody…
Marine Layer…..did you read my post? I truly doubt you did. When talking about things to do and being able to hit SF if you don’t wanna kick it in the East bay is something you refuse to acknowledge. This lie players wouldn’t have a preference is funny to me. And smart guy who said anything about Coliseum city using SF? You’re reaching man! And sorry you can’t come to grips with the real Bay Area and all. When SJ is off the Bay water then we shall discuss it further. See that Bay Bridge? Not connecting to SJ is it? Lol. Keep spinning it and one day someone will believ SJ is a big time city
@510 Savage – Are you talking about those players who live in Blackhawk and choose to hang out in Walnut Creek or the ones who skip over Oakland and drive 40 minutes straight to SF? I’m well aware of those players. There are these things people have these days called cars. You might want to look into those.
BTW – You have to be seriously delusional if you think anyone in sports really cares in the long run that the clubs are 20 minutes closer or further away. If location matters at all it’s because of A) state taxes and B) school districts.
Actually I’m not speaking out of hurt….SJ people are the ones hurt here. They hate anyone who is pro oakland for a myriad of reasons that would get censored on here. They hate when someone says the crowd in SJ wouldn’t be anything like the crowd in Oakland. I wish Marine Layer showed up Friday…a few ppl had some words for him.
Yup- those SJ fans are so boring at the Tank-more than a 100+ consecutive sellouts- voted as the toughest building to play in by the players in the NHL and savage implies that a sold out Cisco Field will not be as dynamic as the 17k that show up for an A’s game at the Coli- yup- makes perfect sense-
I needed a good laugh prior to retiring for the night! Good night all, and until the next thread..
..
Listen to some Bob Marley yall.
Sorry dummy in america only baseball football and basketball matter….nhl is nothing. Yeah SJ is so hard to play for opposing teams which is why its led the Sharks to so many titles. Hey SJ girl….our 17K at the Coliseum have championship flags to look at. Talk back to me when SJ is a winner…and a shortened nhl season doesn’t qualify. Yep A’s go to sJ where the Giants are king lol. Place will forever be a 49er and Giants area.
Yes Hockey doesn’t count! I just want you to know that…also mls don’t count either. The best athletes don’t play those sports…..yes I went there….try and dispute it. Goodnight ladies
510 Savage, you are part of Oakland’s problem. Instead of attacking the problem, you are attacking the result of the problem. You are just enabling the ineptness of Oakland leaders who have done NOTHING to retain the A’s, nothing substantial whatsoever over a very long period of time. The “leadership” has been an embarrassment. So what do you do? Simply repeat the general idea that SJ sucks. How about you direct some of that energy at the place that deserves it? Oakland leaders.
And as far as SJ sucks? It’s a judgment call as to what ‘sucks’, you feel free to think SJ is whatever you want. But what is not a judgment call (the track record on this topic speaks for itself) is SJ leaders have out performed Oakland leaders by A LOT. Maybe if you and others in your camp would have held the Oakland leaders to an actual standard of leadership, maybe just maybe they would have done something worthwhile on the the subject of keeping the A’s. With that said, please get back to the SJ sucks, LW sucks, everyone sucks because the A’s are leaving Oakland….
510 Savage,
As a fellow Oakland/East Bay native, I can appreciate your civic pride. However, you’re making all of us look petty and immature with your arguments. I’m as in love with Oakland as the next guy, but my love for this city doesn’t somehow blind me to the fact that in terms of leadership, this city is screwed, and has been for more than a while now. I would encourage you to redirect your frustrations at our city leaders (past & present) who have placed their efforts of lining their own pockets over the benefit of the citizens of Oakland. Want to be frustrated at someone? Be frustrated at our governor, who was our mayor 11 years ago, and is perhaps one of the biggest figures in why we don’t have a legit, feasible ballpark site. There was momentum at one point for an A’s ballpark in Uptown, and this momentum was largely led by City Manager Robert Bobb. A ballpark there made a lot of sense, seeing as it would’ve been located just south of 980 and less than half a mile from 19th Street BART Station. Instead of capitalizing on this momentum, our endearing mayor responded by firing Mr. Bobb and then going ahead with that monstrosity of half-empty condos that have done a minimal job of uplifting the municipal economy. A smarter mayor would have considered the economic impact of having at least 81 guaranteed annual events at a sparkling new stadium and how that would have totally reshaped Downtown Oakland, and its surrounding businesses. This would have also allowed the Raiders to eventually renovate or build a new football specific Coliseum, without some of the hassles they face now.
Instead, we’re faced with the real possibility of losing all our teams, all at once.
Oakland’s population is larger than those of Orlando, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and is almost as large as that of Miami. It’s not that Oakland is a minor league city, it’s that Oakland is a city overrun by minor league politicians.
Preach baymetro
All we can do is wait , when Oakland is done with the study. I do look forward to the model design to whatever the new Raider stadium of coliseum city would look like…either way even if Oakland pulls it off , the Raiders will still have to share with the 49ers during construction so im a little surprised that Mark Davis has not made plans yet on a short term lease in Santa Clara.
re: SJ people are the ones hurt here. They hate anyone who is pro oakland
…Utter nonsense.
re: Yeah SJ is so hard to play for opposing teams which is why its led the Sharks to so many titles.
There seems to be an inverse correlation in the NHL as far as fan support and titles: Devils – lousy fan support, three titles since 1995, Ducks – lousy fan support, two Finals appearances and a win since 2003; Stars and Avs – buildings emptied out when the teams stopped winning; Maple Leafs- this billion-dollar franchise has fanatic support and no titles since 1967, Sharks – rabid fans who sell out the building every night despite no Finals appearances ever. The A’s can be considered the NJ Devils of MLB – usually great team often surrounded by empty seats.
One would think savage 510 is actually a giants fan, “SJ is little more than a suburb of SF suburb” San Jose is giants territory” blah, blah, blah. Actually,San Jose’s demographics are superior nearly all major cities – better than SF’s or Oakland’s also.
Furthermore, that “San Jose is giants territory” line is b.s.- spinned from the giants organization and KNBR. Back in the Tony La Russa days, the A’s were equally popular (if not more so) than the giants in the south bay. Also, although the giants claim a false giants-San Jose connection – the Coliseum is closer in proximity to SJ than the Giants ballpark (the giants management never would mention that fact though)The Niners organization apparently don’t share savage510’s views – most of their players reside in the south bay, and the Niners organization preferred Santa Clara over SF.
…one TV station last night mentioned the 49ers took off for New Orleans from San Jose Airport, the other just said “the airport.” We’ll continue to see the media and the 49ers pretend the team is still in Frisco when it’s going to be completely South Bay-based soon. The spin will have to get around the inconvenient reality.
pjk: If I am not mistaken, that was the Sharks chartered plane that they used. I could be wrong but the white plane did it for me. Of course, they took off from Mineta International Airport
Pjk is right, the south bay should be pissed that a name change was not part of the deal…or try should tell York to just build by the old candlestick…its sad b/c they couls have made a revised candlestick work with muni and BART attachments… O well. The name should be at least changed to The “San Francisco Bay 49ers”
btw, it is also a lesson for the oakland defenders. The SC mayor at the time did her job. She gathered all the resources available to her, showed the NFL commish that SC could build a world class FB stadium. Brown and Ron Dellums basically ignored the A’s
Some of y’all read what you wanna read lol….scroll up ladies and see where I said Oakland needs to step it up! Show me where I said SJ sucks! Now Lew Wolff does suck and there ain’t no way around it.
BayMetro spare me….go all over the internet and people from sJ have trashed east bay with the typical “ghetto” nonsense. What is so wrong with saying a SJ stadium wouldn’t have same vibe and it would be different? I mean hello its a different place! I said SJ would have a style unique to themselves.
I hold Oakland to higher standards…I’m at meetings and all sorts of stuff for this area all the time so please stop. What if I told you someone with private bucks would fund a JLS stadium and Lew Wolff ignorantly doesn’t wanna accept his calls? The SJ people would flip out because they know a waterfront ballpark down there would trump anything downtown SJ could build.
@510 Savage – I’ve heard the story about Lew Wolff not accepting calls before. It’s simple. Got a brilliant plan? Publicize it! Oakland’s great at holding press conferences. The great thing about saying you have a plan and not explaining what it is, is that it never has to come under scrutiny. Lay the cards down and let’s see what these mystery rich people have.
Duffer…a Giants fan? Those are fighting words my friend. I don’t like SF sports or their fans. I also will never root for Warriors in non basketball loving SF. You can call me other names but a SF fan is where I draw the line!
510: Does Oakland have a plan for the A’s besides keeping them in a half-century-old, obsolete multipurpose stadium until some billionaire comes along who is ready to build a new ballpark in Oakland with his/her own money, without regard to the return on the investment?
re: What if I told you someone with private bucks would fund a JLS stadium and Lew Wolff ignorantly doesn’t wanna accept his calls?
…Surely, this person could go public and/or contact Bud Selig. If this person wants to build privately in Oakland with his own money and can get it done, Selig’s long nightmare is over. But I suspect this is nothing more than someone in we’ll-take-a-look a it, under-no-obligation, don’t-disclose-my-name mode rather than someone who is serious.
Mayor Quan can bypass LW and the A’s. All Quan has to do is invite Buddy Selig and his rich buddies to Oakland, show them the proposed site and of course show them how she can get 1B, I can almost guarantee that LW aint going to SJ or anywhere else. LW will be told to stay in Oakland, end of discussion. If LW refuses, he will be forced to sell.
So easy.
…If Oakland had a doable plan, Wolff would be told to follow it or sell. But there is no viable plan so Wolff holds on to the franchise; no one has disproven his assertion that all options in Oakland have been exhausted. And pro-Oakland parties have had many years to do so.
re: Mayor Quan can bypass LW and the A’s. All Quan has to do is invite Buddy Selig and his rich buddies
…hey, Quan only needs to go to her buddies at AT&T Park and have them relay to Selig the news of a doable, viable ballpark plan for Oakland. But we haven’t seen that, either.
@ Berry – As a lifelong SB Niners fan, “SF 49ers” sounds fine to me.
@ Savage – Greg Papa, is that you?! :X
@ Daniel – MLB can tell LW where he can’t build, but not where he will build. Lest you also forget that LW is BS’s “rich buddy”. I don’t think MLB was protesting much when he had the Fremont plan underway…
Anon: you are wrong, at this stage of the ball game, LW has to listen to Selig and MLB. If Quan can show them the money, LW has to stay in oakland or sell the team.
It is up to the mayor of oakland. Tom McEnery did it to get the Sharks to SJ. Patricia Mahan convinced Roger Goodell and NFL that SC could do it. KJ is trying like heck up in Sacto.
What has Brown, Dellums and now Quan done so far? NADA.
btw, read this piece by Purdy on how it all started for SC
http://www.mercurynews.com/mark-purdy/ci_20426567/purdy-how-san-francisco-49ers-became-santa-claras
re: What has Brown, Dellums and now Quan done so far? NADA.
Brown: Fired Robert Bobb for pushing an Uptown ballpark site.
Dellums – Zip, zilch.
Quan – Hold press conferences and hand out A’s and Raiders signs.
Hey 510 savage let’s focus on keeping the Raiders bro…the only thing we can hope is if the SF Giants greed in controlling both San Jose and Pier 30/32…funny and weird how the giants are helping the city of Oakland
@ Daniel – How am I wrong? BS was in attendance at the press conference for Cisco Field Fremont and fully supported the effort because it was in the A’s Contra Costa country TR. Why would MLB change on that stance, say if the they wanted to move to (hypothetically) Dublin, instead of Oakland? You’re confusing with a inter-territorial move to SJ vs. intra-territorial move.
The Cisco Field press conference was 6+ years ago. Since then, it has become obvious the A’s cannot get a new ballpark anywhere in their current territory. And Fremont is in Alameda, not Contra Costa, county.
@ pjk – re:alameda county. thanks for the correction. BTW> I was at Pacific Commons over the weekend. Wow, I hadn’t been there in a few years and its really expanded. Too bad, they couldn’t get a ball park there. 😦
Anon: the situation has changed. Selig wants to get the A’s problem out of the way before he retires. The Dudgers are set. SJ is ready if Selig can stop kissing Larry Baer’s behind. Mayor Reed is waiting for a damned phone call. Quan is inept. The chance to build a new park in SJ is now. Oakland? you can fuggedaboutit
Concur – Oakland’s best bet is likely a new NFL stadium for the Raiders. The Raiders likely aren’t interested in moving to Santa Clara. Besides, they now have the north bay for themselves. They’ve been there and done that with LA – and probably don’t wish to repeat that. It’s interesting that Oakland city officials are exploring a new Raiders stadium, not the A’s – they must also know that the A’s know the way to SJ.
If Oakland is successful in getting a new stadium, and with the 49ers moving down south bay.. it will change the demographics of the sports teams… for example most ppl in north bay will be SF Giants/ Oak Raider fans… and in the south bay you with have SF/SC 49ers and SJ A’s.. with basketball being in S.F (neutral)
The 49ers moving South won’t hurt their fan base. Relatively few people actually go to games of either team (as compared to those watching them on TV,) and those who are inclined to go will go wherever it’s played. It’s 10-12 games a year, most on the weekend. Hell, I fly 4000 miles r/t 3-4 times a year to see my fave NFL team; 49ers fans aren’t going to abandon them because the drive from Santa Rosa or Fairfield is too long.
By your logic, the Raiders should be more popular than the 49ers now, since their current location is better.
Well if they get a new stadium yes it does help their market with the 49ers moving 40 miles away…uuummm….still if the A’s and Raiders want to reclaim the bay area , they need to win asap
I can’t remember where the article I read on the subject was, but there are two professional sports leagues that draw significant portions of ticket buyers from a distance of over 100 miles (away from the stadium). NASCAR and the NFL. It is due to the infrequency of events. In other words, the average NFL ticket buyer hails from much farther away than the average MLB ticket buyer. That makes the stadium site less important from a “market domination” perspective.
@ Daniel – you’re being ambiguous by stating “things changed”. There has not been on league source that has stated it’s SJ or bust. Only the Oakland pundits have opined that if LW doesn’t build in Oakland, he should sell the team.
@ Berry – One of the Bay Area teams is going to this thing called the Super Bowl. I don’t think it’s the Raiders either. 😡
PS – Sports illustrated has an interesting article on The Marlins new home and how the public got fleeced on the deal.
Oops – it was a bleacher report story:
http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/1504922-marlins-park-a-perfect-example-of-how-not-to-build-a-publicly-funded-stadium
Quan needs to consider her staff and Oakland that new stadium= Superbowl site in east bay…just to let her know