The A’s just put out a press release:
Oakland Athletics Owner and Managing Partner Lew Wolff has issued the following statement about recent comments made by Oakland Raiders Owner Mark Davis:
“It is unfortunate Mr. Davis decided to bring the A’s into his discussion about the Raiders’ stadium lease. We respect his right to explore his options in and out of Oakland, including his widely reported consideration of Los Angeles and other markets. The A’s signed a 10-year lease at the Coliseum because we are committed to Oakland. Mr. Davis has said he is fully committed to do a new football stadium in Oakland and there is nothing in our lease that precludes Mr. Davis and the Raiders from building on the Coliseum site. As we stated yesterday, the A’s are aggressively working with the city to evaluate venue sites in Oakland. Our efforts are fully focused on Oakland. Although the Coliseum remains the main focus of our venue efforts, we are also evaluating potential sites throughout Oakland. We are confident our efforts will continue to move forward and we will share our progress throughout the process.”
newballpark.org 
Basically Mark is calling out Wolff and his stall tactics. How long more does Wolff need to analyze and explore all their options in Oakland? Everyone including Mark already know that the A’s are just waiting A’s long as possible for Raiders to move so they can get control of existing site. Bad news for Wolff….it’s not gonna happen anytime soon at least. Libby has already suggested it would be better for the City and A’s to build somewhere closer to DTown or HTermianal next to JLS. Fisher and the Wolff don’t get the hint do they?
The city can’t make the A’s take Howard Terminal. The A’s have looked at sites in the two counties they’re allowed to look into, and found them not-inconsiderably more expensive and troublesome to build on than the Coliseum.
Mark Davis can’t afford to build in Oakland (without a huge handout) and can’t force the A’s to do what he wants.
This press release was “We’ve still got a better starting position and much more money. Bluff called, Tommy Boy.”
At least Mark isn’t a glorified squatter like Wolff is. Ooops! Funny that you say Fisher and Wolff may have more money than Mark…but they sure as heck aren’t willing to spend to keep good players and talent around.
They do a disservice to the fans by constant player turnover and that is sad. Look at the A’s dismal attendance numbers. Mark basically told the squatter to poop or get off the pot. Stop trying to block progress on a Raiders stadium with his sad squatting techniques.
At least Mark isn’t a glorified squatter like Wolff is. Ooops! Funny that you say Fisher and Wolff have more money than Mark…but they sure as heck aren’t willing to spend to keep good players and talent around.
They do a disservice to the fans by constant player turnover and that is sad. Look at the A’s dismal attendance numbers. Mark basically told the squatter to poop or get off the pot. Stop trying to block progress on a Raiders stadium with his sad squatting stall techniques and stop being cheap and start thinking big picture. Howard Terminal Waterfront would be far better for them and the City of Oakland than a ballpark at Coli Site. Giants fans have no problem walking the mile from Bart to AT&T and neither would A’s fans to a HT ballpark from BART. Shuttles for seniors or disabled would be readily available. Stop with the lame excuses.
Oakland has presented a fair offer to Davis. There is some room for negotiation but it’s not a low ball offer either. Davis rejected it flat out (trashing Oakland in the process) and continued to flirt with any city with a pulse.
Davis has refused to commit to Oakland for more than 1 year in the hopes that some other city is dumb enough to build a stadium for him. Libby and Oakland residents have made it crystal clear that they’re not putting public funds into a new stadium for the Raiders.
Meanwhile Wolff has made it clear that he will pay for a stadium on his own. He’s also made it clear that to do so he wants full site control and given the current options in Oakland, the Coli site is the most feasible.
Oakland has yet to make an offer to the A’s, because of the Raiders.
Exactly who is the squatter here?
@ Slacker
“Meanwhile Wolff has made it clear that he will pay for a stadium on his own.”
Yeah, but what he hasn’t made clear is if he is willing to do that in Oakland.
“Exactly who is the squatter here?”
Why does it have to be either, or? Both Davis and Wolff have talked more s*it then the law should allow, both look like they are squatting pretty well to me.
Everyone is pointing fingers. It would be nice if Wolff, Davis, and the city of Oakland were not three equal parts of bull s*it and actually wanted to get something done.
Wolff calling the kettle black.
Mark Davis runs a team that pulls in $250 million a year in TV money and still requires a $7 million operating subsidy from the JPA. The A’s pay for all their operating expenses and higher rent as well. The A’s have a 10-year lease. The Raiders are year-to-year. Please, tell me who’s squatting again?
If Wolff isn’t a glorified squatter and has all this money….than why haven’t they started building right next to existing Coli Site and why do they refuse to build at even better location near DTown and Howard Terminal Waterfront? Build or get off the pot. Mark and Raiders aren’t going anywhere.
@ ML
They both are, and you can squat a lot longer with a ten year lease then a year to ear one.
Squatters by definition don’t have leases of any length or rental agreements. It’s a legally binding arrangement.
@ ML
Of course I know that ML. Wolff is actively waiting Davis out in hopes that he moves, weather you think it is a good strategy or not it’s what he is doing. So, in a since getting a ten year lease, so you can keep from building is squatting.
Would you prefer he just presented his plan that includes no Raiders? I’d agree with you if that’s what you’d like to see.
Reality is, Mark Davis is not going to get anything done and it’s about time he accepted it and moved on. It’s not the NFL’s fault. It’s not Oakland’s fault. It’s not Lew Wollf’s fault. It’s Mark’s.
@ Jeffrey
“Would you prefer he just presented his plan that includes no Raiders?”
Yes indeed, I would like to see a plan from Wolff and (or) Davis weather it included the other team or not.
At least that way Oakland would have to actually make a choice, and I would also know for sure that Wolff and (or) Davis where actually willing to build in Oakland, as it stands I’m not sure if either are willing to do that. (Particularly in Wolff’s case)
If either Davis or Wolff is willing, and in Davis case can actually do it, I say Oakland/Alameda County should give either one the 120 acers, and let the one who did not commit be left trying to negotiate with the one who did commit, or get the hell out of town.
The excuses from Wolff, Davis, and Oakland are really tired…
I completely agree with you. Show us what you’d like to do and tell us how you will pay for it. Lew Wolff has done this twice (once in Oakland, once in Fremont). It shouldn’t be that difficult to do it again 🙂
It’s my opinion that things have fallen in to place to make it possible. Mainly because Libby Schaaf is much more pragmatic than any of her predecessors. It can be done, at least for the A’s and Oakland. It could even happen for the Raiders if Mark Davis sold controlling interest.
@ Jeffrey
“Lew Wolff has done this twice (once in Oakland, once in Fremont). It shouldn’t be that difficult to do it again :)”
I agree as well, perhaps when he does it a second time in Oakland he will actually intend on building and not just presenting a plan (-:
“Privately financed” does not mean “guy with big bank account uses debit card to build a stadium as if he were in Safeway buying a giant bottle of Tito’s.”
Why hasn’t Lew Wolff built a stadium with all his money? Because there hasn’t been a set of circumstances that allows for it. Howard Terminal has years of work between it and any development. The Coliseum is the only spot that really doesn’t.
A better question is “When is Mark Davis going to have a plan and the wherewithal to get something done?”
My guess is “never.”
He has yet to propose anything that isn’t dependent on someone else paying for it. Carson? Vegas? Oakland? Not one imaginary plan that doesn’t require some other real person to cover it all for him. Now it’s Lew Wolff’s fault because Lew Wolff has a 10 year lease? A lease that has escape clauses including one if the Raiders get a stadium plan together? This is all you got Mark?
just wow at the first few posts in this thread. wow.
The Giants are allowing the Athletics to ruin their own brand, and cannibalize themselves in this market by not doing anything. Tne NFL just gave SF & The Bay Area a stimulus package, and will bulldoze the A’s off that site if they dont make up their mind.
Guys like Kroenke sits at the table of MLB owners too, so this isnt a NFL vs MLB thing, but a whose messing up our money thing, and if they dont fix it, they got to go.
Don’t kid yourselves folks. If you think for one second that if San Jose suddenly opened-up Wolff/Fischer wouldn’t be on-site – golden shovels in-hand – smiling for the assembled press core – you are delusional.
Mark Davis’ press conference and comments about the A’s…. LOL!!! What else is there to say?
He is clueless and poor and that’s why the NFL wants him out.
That sums things up.
I think Wolff/Fischer are hoping Davis strikes a deal to build on the coliseum site adjacent to the existing stadium, or as Mark like to put in “In the corner of a parking lot”. That way Wolff/Fischer can make one last appeal to MLB stating that they have been pushed out of Oakland and must be given San Jose.
Bingo, and if he doesn’t they get the coliseum site to themselves (if they are willing to build there), when he moves out.
Mark Davis is very foolish to think that the A’s are part of the solution for the Raiders to getting their new Oakland stadium deal done. In actuality, it’s the other way around. The decision as to where the Raiders do permanently wind up will have an impact as to where the A’s will ultimately land their new ballpark.
It sure seems like the story Wolff would like MLB to believe. Until Wolff, or Davis actually come up with a plan either wants to put into action, it may be what both men want there leagues to believe.
The NFL wants Davis out? the NFL has already commented that the $100 mil. gift they gave the Raiders for losing out on Inglewood (for now) could be applied to a new stadium in San Diego if that market becomes available. Also they wouldn’t have offered Inglewood to the Raiders if San Diego opts to stay put. The NFL evidently has no problem with Davis as an owner – they wouldn’t have gave the Raiders the $100 mil. gift – or offered the Raiders either the San Diego or LA markets (if available) – if they didn’t like Davis. The idea that the NFL would like to see Davis sell the team appears to be a bunch of b.s. with no substance. Perhaps a few owners would like Davis to sell – however the majority of owners – judging by the NFL’s recent actions – appear to be ok with Davis as an owner.
The committee approved the Carson plan almost unanimously… when presented to the owners-at-large it went almost unanimously to Kronke/Chargers.
EVERY report was that the flip-flop was because the owners have no faith in Davis’ ability to get things done. The fact that he is mired in year-to-year leases in a sewage-pit, is the head of the worst-performing franchise of the last two decades, and has no money is reason enough for them to believe that, don’t you think?
$100 million is only 20% of the funding gap. That is an investment in the overall image of the NFL, not an investment in Davis. Besides, how could they offer it to the Chargers and not the Raiders?
“EVERY report was that the flip-flop was because the owners have no faith in Davis’ ability to get things done.”
Not true. The vast majority of reports I read said the flip flop was mainly because Inglewood was simply a better project that offered a lot more to the NFL (e.g. NFL campus and Jerry-world type SOTA vs. simple stadium standing by itself in a sea of parking). When push comes to shove, you can usually count on business people to make the decision that makes them the most money.
As for fear of not being able to get the Carson project done, Spanos plus Goldman Sachs would have taken care of that. Not a major factor.
@bartleby- unless you are talking about MLB…
@DTP: According to your idea, the NFL owners dislike Davis, so they should have no problem offering the $100 mil. to the Chargers and stiffing Davis. Also, they even commented that the Raiders could use the $100 mil. towards a new stadium at San Diego, even waive a relocation fee if the Raiders go there. Looking at the facts, and the deal that the NFL is offering the Raiders – it appears that there is no vast dislike by NFL owners towards Davis, even though a few commenters and sports authorities have suggested otherwise.
But the NFL has to protect their brand. They can’t allow one of their franchises to wallow in the mud and bring down the rest of the brand. That’s why they are offering the same package to the Chargers and the Raiders.
Remember… the committee approved the Raiders but the owners at large OVERWHELMINGLY denied them the move and gave it to the Rams instead.
Are people ignoring all the reports from before the vote that were saying the Raiders were not even close to having enough votes among the owners to move to LA? Because nobody thought MD could make it work? No marketing ability and no money to promote a team in a difficult market? Because LA didn’t want the “baggage” that comes with their image? All that stuff that was said…
And if you think LA is a difficult market, I’d like to see him try and steal Cowboys fans away in San Antonio…
Mark Davis does not own the team! Carol Davis does. When she is gone Mark will not have the $ to pay the Estate taxes and will have to sell at least part of the team. BTW Carol Davis is in poor health and the NFL will hold Mark off as long as possible.
I’m paraphrasing, but didn’t Lew say in response to MD’s presser that the Raiders can move him out if the Raiders started to build a stadium? I really believe Lew is pretty much begging Davis to build at the Coli site so he can force mlb to give him the sj market. Whether that’s enough for mlb to allow it, I don’t know. He said it for a reason, so there has to be some substance to it.
@ al’s cousin
Exactly!
Wolff basically says Davis can move us off the property. What he should have said is please move us off the property. Wolff should help Davis with funding (on the under), so he can continue his very well planned effort to get kick out of the coliseum.
Always the victim that city of Oakland- why did they not tell MD no to lease extension and focus only on A’s?
@ GoA’s
Probably, because neither the A’s nor Raiders are focused only on them.
As far as being a victim Wolff, and Davis run a close second and third to Oakland on that front, which is why it’s so amusing that the three stooges are stuck with each other.
Lew Wolff does not want to be kicked out of the Coliseum period. In fact, he wants the Coliseum site to himself so he can develop it to his liking and make extra coin on top of his new ballpark.
Keep in mind, in San Jose he gets a ballpark only, privately financed no less. In Oakland if he can get control of the Coliseum site he gets a major development and a ballpark. Double whammy for him and Fisher.
What Wolff wants is for the Raiders to leave so he can build on the site and hold Oakland by the balls. The A’s have been neglected by Oakland as evidenced by public subsidies given to the Warriors/Raiders but not to them.
With the Raiders/Warriors gone, Oakland will get on their knees and Wolff can have cheese with his wine and get them to drop their pants to save the last team left.
That is Wolff’s ideal scenario, Mark Davis is a buffoon period.
He has no business sense what so ever and it shows. The NFL does not want the Raiders in LA because of the fights and thug life image LA Raiders fans have.
Oakland Raiders fans are blue collar and have some money. LA Raiders fans are thugs with no money. How Davis does not see this is mind boggling and he thinks “Raider Nation” is everywhere when the heart of it is in Oakland and always will be.
Lew Wolff wants to stay at the Coliseum but he wants to on his terms. He cannot get those terms with the Raiders still there.
@ Sid
Not sure if he “WANTS” to stay at the coliseum if Davis leaves, he may be willing to stay at the coliseum if Davis leaves, wants to may be a bit of a stretch.
It’s possible that if he wanted the coliseum site, that would not preclude him wanting to be kicked out of the coliseum as an alternative. It’s business if the Raiders build under that posability he could want to be kicked out. If the Raiders can’t build at the coliseum site, he could want (ah, willing to have ), the site to build on himself.
It doesn’t have to be an either or, he could want both depending on what’s available to him.
@LSN- Your correct in Wolff is playing his options.
But shoe on the other foot if I am Wolff I would rather have the Coli site to myself and built a ballpark/development rather than a new ballpark in San Jose.
Since both stadiums are privately financed the development opportunity is the key differentiatior.
Wolff is so good at development and with the market burgeoning he can captilize in a big way at the Coli site.
Rather than choose between the A’s and Raiders, Oakland holds onto its pipe dream of keeping both teams without spending a dime. With the Raiders, we have an owner who inherited the team and is looking for $300-$400 million in handouts that Oakland doesn’t have, and would fill 10 dates a year. With the A’s, we have an owner who is an experienced developer, has already built a fine sports stadium in the Bay Area, would build privately and would fill 80 days a year. Seems like a no-brainer choice but I guess it’s not.
@ pjk
I would agree, but Oakland as far as we know has no solid plan to chose from, weather that be from Davis, or Wolff. No real pipe dream if there is nothing to choose from.
Why shouldn’t Oakland continue in this manner? The Mayor did say publicly that she wanted both teams to put forth their plans didn’t she? So far nothing from the Raiders or A’s. Perhaps, Oakland will choose if and when they actually have a real plan in front of them to choose from.
And if the A’s come forward with a plan to build a ballpark at the Coliseum site and develop the real estate there, Oakland will tell them “We’ll get back to you in a few years while we try to hold onto the Raiders. Can you cut back on a huge chunk of that office and commercial development so we have room for a new football stadium?”
@ pjk
“IF” the A’s come up with a serious plan that they actually intended to implement (not a half hearted effort to try to convince MLB they are trying, when they are not), and Oakland rejects it then Oakland should get whatever they deserve, for saying no to a serious offer from a team that host 81 dates.
I don’t believe for a second that the Raiders EVER inhibited Lew from doing anything. The idea that Lew is holding the Davis back, or visa versa is silly. What’s holds them both back is the city and county. I don’t believe in municipalities should be involved in sports stadiums, period. That isn’t reality now, but I think the future may hold that reality someday. Sell half the coli site to the Raiders, half to the A’s for fair market value, and get the hell out of the way. All the Raiders and A’s would have to figure out is the logistics of site and infrastructure. Oh, this is my own sports fantasy, BTW. Hahahaha!
Privately financing one stadium in corporate-weak Oakland is going to be tough enough, maybe not even doable at all. Privately financing two of them there? Very very long odds. Oakland can’t pay for stadiums and expecting the owners to build on their own dime irregardless of ROI has led us to the stalemate we have been in for many years: Oakland is the only city still holding to the obsolete format of NFL and MLB teams sharing a stadium. The Raiders will play football on a baseball infield again, A’s baseball players will again snag fly balls while running over football yard line markers.
‘Corporate-weak Oakland’. pjk, I’ll give you a clue: Corporations are not bound by city limits. Plenty of corporations in the Bay Area.
“Corporations are not bound by city limits. Plenty of corporations in the Bay Area.”
Spoken by someone who has never endured the 2 hour death struggle to get from the Peninsula to a weeknight A’s game, obviously.
Yeah, because city’s and counties all over the country are keeping NFL, and MLB franchise’s from building… yeah that’s got to be it…
Wolf acts like he’s the number one fan of Oakland failing to remember that he wanted to move to San Jose. Take your Billyball and trade yourself out of here, your making a mockery of baseball. You can’t keep one guy?
Wolff: Tries to move 30 miles to San Jose. Verdict: He shall be hated forever.
Davis: Tries to move to LA, Vegas, San Antonio, who knows where else? Verdict: He’s a good guy and wants to stay in Oakland.
…This about says it all.
I still believe that the most doable stadium solution for the Raiders is for them to stay at the Coliseum in a partially rebuilt/renovated facility. Mark Davis should be able to privately obtain the funds for such a project without having to give up ownership control of the team. As per the A’s current lease, Lew Wolff would gladly be forced to vacate the Coliseum site to accommodate the Raiders. MLB would then have no alternative other than to approve the A’s to move to their only realistic ballpark site option, and that is by Diridon Station in San Jose.
Somthing tells me that MLB will find an alternative to San Jose, much to Lew’s disappoint. Not to mention Bay Area A’s fans, if that alternative is out of the Bay Area altogether.
I recall there was talk of a football stadium in Virginia or North Carolina ?
Mark Davis is a moron.
I do see Mark Davis’ point on the A’s.
Oakland will not cut a deal with the Raiders as long as the A’s are still there.
Oakland wants to keep both teams, especially with the Warriors bouncing in 2019
Mark Davis wants the A’s to cut a deal so two new stadiums are built at once at the Coli. Both teams leave and come back at the same time.
Wolff has known this but refuses this arrangement because he does not get control of the development piece to his liking.
This plus Wolff has to share with the Giants for 3 years. He gets a stadium only at the end of it.
Mark Davis wants to preserve parking but also wants control of the site outside of the A’s stadium. Oakland is telling him no because of the A’s.
So Davis is pointing the finger at Wolff because he won’t build under Davis’ terms.
My theory is Oakland would give Davis the site if he paid the entire stadium himself outside of the 100M needed in infrastructure. But Oakland won’t kick out the A’s cause they believe still they can keep them.
Oakland gambled the Raiders wouldn’t be allowed back to LA and won.
The loser?? Lew Woff, who must just hate the NFL right about now.
Mark Davis has spoken about the site and I believe that is the funding gap for him but Oakland will not kick the A’s out.
So him pointing the finger at Wolff makes sense.
@ Sid
I think you summed up the situation fairly accurately. If Davis could actually come up with a plan and the money to make it happen, Oakland would probably say ok let’s do it and Lew if you want in you have to deal with Davis.
As long as Wolff believes Davis can’t get anything done on the site he is under no pressure to do anything, I believe this is what led to the ten year lease.
Wolff (A’s), appear to be the only one that can do something from a financial standpoint, Davis is financially strapped, Oakland /Alameda County are not willing to give more or come up with real ideas on how to get more, so, outside of MLB putting pressure on Wolff to build at the site or another external force say the NFL (not likely ), or inside the organization like Fisher if recent reports or true nothing will happen soon.
Davis develop his own privately funded football stadium? Cue the laugh track…
@ pjk
I did say if.
@ pjk
You know it really might not be as far fetched as people think, between Davis and the NFL there is already 600 million.
That gets the funding gap to 300 million, which is difficult but not impossible. I believe that amount dosent include Davis putting up a certain amount of shares (percentage), of team.
I honestly feel Lew Wolfe got what he deserved being called out by Mark Davis. There really needs to be more of it because, as inept as the Raiders are, they have cooperated ( for the most part ) with this whole ordeal now for a long while. I do not blame Mark for looking at other cities either, it just proves the Raiders are a brand, and the A’s are not…, it’s not like the A’s can threaten to move anywhere, nobody wants them. Baseball is not that popular anymore, the A’s can’t have fireworks every night to sell out.
I’d love to see both Oakland teams stay in town, as I do believe most east bay fans do. But the reality is, if the A’s ownership is so capable and wealthy, the only thing they have done is split a fan base. The Coliseum site, even with a brand new baseball stadium, I do not believe will draw attendance any different than it has. The A’s had a strong attendance era only when they had a strong owner who spent big $ on the roster. But the area and the stadium where never ideal for badeball. Everyone suggest the Raiders should go play at Levis…well as an east bay resident who like so many hundreds of thousands who work in SF, I would much rather have the A’s play at AT&T. The attendance would be great, and as much as that makes people cringe playing at the enemies park, why is it ok then to suggest the Raiders go play at 49er headquarters and a bad venue. The A’s need to build in downtown Oakland, and the Raiders stay at the Coliseum. Go big or go home Lew.
And MLB spent years and years looking at downtown Oakland, and found no place to build. Once again, the notion of privately financing $1.5 billion worth of new stadiums in Oakland is fantasy. The Raiders already have a brand new Bay Area stadium they can use.
@Housewives Market:
Can you point to a site in downtown ? Unless Fisher is willing to spend up to 1B, HT is not doable.
Exactly my point, why shouldn’t Fisher and Wolfe not spend a billion dollars on a stadium that will host 80 games a year? Yet Davis who is ridiculed for wanting to, but is just falling short finically. In other words Davis,( who sounds like he has investers lined up) is just short of being broke, but has intentions to help build somewhere. Yet the A’s owners, who print money, yet do not want to spend it. The A’s ownership sounds more inept to me. What’s there excuse? They are just cheap, just like with the rosters.
Please explain why Wolff/Fisher should feel any obligation to spend hundreds of millions (and years of development) more to build at HT than at the Coliseum. That’s not “cheap”, that’s just bad business.
BTW: What investors are lining up to pay $300M to develop a parking lot?
They should spend the money, because the night after opening night there will be maybe 8000 people at the A’s game. And I’ll be one of them because I love the team, but people who fill AT&T every night go for other reasons. None of those reasons can be found anywhere near the Coliseum, so a new baseball stadium at that site is the real waste of money, and bad business.
You haven’t answered the questions at all, just deflected to “I don’t like the A’s ownership, because they’re not doing exactly what the Giants did”.
@Housewives market; Your math is way off. The 2015 A’s – with a last place team – playing at a dumpy, ugly, old football stadium, averaged 21,829 – respectable under the circumstances.
The Giants also will likely find it difficult to reach the playoffs for the next several years. Besides the Dodgers, the D-Backs are on the rise, now having inked Grienke. La Russa (their boss) seems determined to convert the D-Backs into a perennial playoff team. Besides, Sabean’s chewing gum and bailing wire routine of patching the Giants together each year is depleting that team’s farm system and is bound to eventually fail. The A’s, with a new stadium in Oakland, could pass the Giants with attendance.
“There really needs to be more of it because, as inept as the Raiders are, they have cooperated ( for the most part ) with this whole ordeal now for a long while.”
How exactly have the Raiders cooperated? All they’ve done is flirt with any other city with a pulse, publicly trashed Oakland and the A’s, and rejected a legitimate offer.
“The Coliseum site, even with a brand new baseball stadium, I do not believe will draw attendance any different than it has.The A’s had a strong attendance era only when they had a strong owner who spent big $ on the roster. But the area and the stadium where never ideal for baseball. ”
Neither Oakland nor MLB has ever indicated a willingness to provide any financial inducements to offset the risks for A’s ownership to fully privately fund a new ballpark in what the A’s deem as a less desirable site for a MLB stadium. Without any of these financial inducements, Lew Wolff’s A’s will only want to build their respective new ballpark at Bay Area sites of their own choosing. If both Oakland officials and MLB truly want for the A’s to take on the risks to build their new ballpark on a site within Oakland, then it behooves them both to step up to the plate to make it worthwhile for the A’s to take on such a project within Oakland, as opposed to their ballpark site of first choice in San Jose.
@ IIpec
I agree, everyone needs to have skin in the game. If MLB is going to preclude the A’s from San Jose then they need to at minimum secure the A’s right to remain a revenue sharing receiver, since they can only build in AC countries. I noticed that the mayor of Oakland has said she will put up 90 million in infrastructure cost for both the Raiders and A’s, so that’s a start.
Silicon Valley is way north of Downtown San Jose. Silicon Valley is nowhere near Downtown SF either, yet I think it safe to say what team they have pledged their baseball allegiance to, and it is not the A’s. Downtown Oakland is WAAAAAYYY more vibrant than San Jose.
Again I love both the Raiders and the A’s. But why is Davis insulted and seemed as a buffoon with no buisiness acumen ( which he is ) yet, Wolfe and Fisher are praised for being what exactly, besides bad buisnessmen having lost the only remaining fan base they had left in Northern California!
And yes, I agree with Davis who insists Levi’s is not an option. Every post on this site that seems to find some issue with any other stadium site in Oakland issues include; parking, public transportation, handicap access ect. Those are all issues that prevent the A’s capable owners to build, yet Levis had none of the above and is acceptable. So Davis is willing to spend all his life’s worth on a stadium he can never pay off, and the A’s keep finding excuses as to why Oakland has only one acceptable site which is the Coliseum, I’m sorry but people are calling the bluff. Now I know why nobody goes to A’s games.
| So Davis is willing to spend all his life’s worth
No, the $300M± he’s put on the table is borrowing against stadium naming rights and PSL sales (AKA “future revenue”), *not* his “personal worth”.
“Those are all issues that prevent the A’s capable owners to build, yet Levis had none of the above and is acceptable.”
Levi’s has better public transportation than the majority of NFL stadiums. It’s not as good as the Coliseum, but it’s not bad either.
Also, you can compare parking issues for baseball and football. Each football game is an event. There’s only 8 of them. People put up with a lot of parking and traffic issues as a result. The same is not true for MLB with 81 dates a year, most of which fall in the middle of the work week.
How’s the parking at AT&T, oh but I’m sorry I was asked not to compare to the other baseball team, I’m being asked to turn my back on my football team
@Housewives Market: the real reason the Giants are blocking the A’s from San Jose is that they will have a plan B after the A’s build a new ballpark and dominate the Giants (on the diamond and attendance) again. The Giants are saving San Jose for themselves – after the A’s force them to flee SF as the A’s nearly did to them before.
“How’s the parking at AT&T”
It’s fine. Besides the 4,000+ spots specific to AT&T there are other parking lots in the area. Plus CalTrain and Muni (direct connection to BART) are right outside. Even for folks walking from BART, it’s a nice walk.
Wolff has said many times that he’s fine with garages and existing parking if the stadium is in a downtown/urban area.
The problem is that HT and the other sites outside the Coliseum being proposed by Oakland don’t fit that description. They’re sort of urban areas with limited parking and limited land to add parking. They have all of the downsides of an urban ball park with none of the upside. There is potential upside there, but that’s dependent on the city.
@ Slacker Both your above comments are 100% on point.
@Lakeshore/Neil: Davis can go to a bank and borrow 300-400mils based on his equity. It can be done very easily but Davis won’t because he is scared of losing the team. We know PSL don’t sell in Oakland unlike Santa Clara. We know the corporate sponsors are lacking in Oakland unlike Santa Clara and on and on. If the expected sponsors and PSL do not materialize, Mark Davis is in big trouble and will be forced to sell the team or controlling interest. Davis can finance the whole thing in Oakland because he did for Carson if you believe that he and Spanos split the 1.9B project there. Davis wants the city of Oakland or some developers to take the risks and so far no developers have.
| Davis wants the city of Oakland or some developers to take the risks and so far no developers have.
All I can see that they’d get to develop besides a stadium, under Mark Davis’ plan, is a parking lot.
It’s going to be near impossible to get $300M+ of investment if the investors don’t want to waste it on 80± acres of parking lots.
@ daniel
I wasn’t suggesting that Davis bridge the whole gap by sale of part of the team, I was only saying that did not include the 600 million that’s already there. As far as the PSL’S that debacle was handed by the city (or JPA), obviously there will be an additional charge on tickets (all events), parking, and perhaps airline tickets or taxi fare increase.
Not sure how Oakland /Alameda County do their part to bridge the gap but it’s coming, if they want to retain the Raiders that is.
Wolff should draw up the plan as follows: Oakland and Alameda County sell the land to Wolff and Fischer. Build the new A’s ballpark adjacent to the existing coliseum. Move the A’s to the new ballpark. Tear down the old portion of O.Co and rebuild a mirror of Mount Davis on the other side, then LEASE the football arena to the Raiders. If Davis doesn’t like the lease arrangement, he can lease in Santa Clara or Loss Angeles. If he’s smart, he’ll realize that Oakland is the best of the 3 offers and sign on the dotted line without haste and everyone can put this entire ordeal behind us.
A football stadium that will be used only a guaranteed 10 dates a year (2 of which are pre-season) is a horrible investment for the group operating the stadium. Pretty much any other development would be a better use of the land.
Not to mention the fact that another stadium would compete with naming rights, PSL, advertising, etc revenue with the A’s stadium.
This is a benefit to Davis, but how is this a benefit to Wolff/Fischer?
There is no benefit at all to the A’s. It’ll just make it difficult, maybe even impossible, to privately fund a ballpark in Oakland if they have to compete for corporate $$ with a redundant $1 billion football stadium next door…Just how many events can a new Oakland football stadium snag from Levi’s? What’s the need for two new NFL stadiums 30 miles apart? (Between now and April 9, there a whole five events scheduled at Levi’s, based on their events calendar. The market for football stadium-sized events is very limited.)
Let the raiders worry about that being an issue. The one group I can not feel sorry for is the A’s ownership. They will have 81 dates a year guaranteed to make money, how is the Raiders 10 dates affect them. If you made the argument the other way, maybe I’d agree. And as far as Levis being the only large scale stadium the bay needs, last time I checked it is pretty far from the SF-Oak-North Bay-Sac etc to get to Santa Clara. A new football stadium at the coli site will get any show in town before Levis does. But 81 dates a year isn’t enough for the A’s just in case the Monster Truck Rally or Beyoncé gets booked to go to the Raiders stadium. Cmon
@ pjk
Yeah, that’s right nothing can be done in Oakland because…It’s Oakland, sorry I forgot that fact.
“Let the raiders worry about that being an issue. ”
That’s fine, if the Raiders own the stadium, but that’s not what you’re proposing. You’re proposing that the A’s own the Raiders stadium. The ability to use the stadium would be 100% the concern of the A’s.
The never-to-be-built new Raiders stadium in Oakland is supposed to seat, what, 50,000 people? And how will this attract stadium events over 70,000-seat Levi’s? I’m sure Taylor Swift, the Dead, etc will be happy to sell 20,000 fewer tickets so they can be closer to Frisco than Santa Clara.
Actually, I would think that acts like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, et. al. would perform at BOTH Levi’s AND Oakland. Profits from 120,000 (or so) tickets sold sounds pretty decent to me.
I see housewives market’s point.
Wolff is stalling big time. He wants the entire Coli site to himself and will not cooperate in the process with the Raiders nor Oakland.
Wolff has shown himself to want things done on his terms. What are his terms in this case?
He wants total development control of the Coliseum site, only then will he build his privately financed ballpark because he has entitlements to help finance it and the development to make extra coin.
The problem? Mark Davis wants the same thing except Davis is willing to leave room for an A’s stadium, Wolff wants the Raiders out and wants it all. This is painfully obvious, plus the Warriors gone as well, which he is good there in a few years.
Wolff wants to stay at the current Coliseum while a new stadium is built in the parking lot, exact opposite of what Davis wants. He says this when Wolff knows all the utilities are under where the current Coliseum sits.
Wolff also knows Oakland will not kick him out in favor of the Raiders or anyone else so he signed a 10 year lease, you can see why this pisses of Davis.
Instead of going year to year like Davis is trying to hold leverage of maybe leaving, Wolff is sitting on top of the Coliseum long term not demanding anything from Oakland, this handcuffs Davis because Oakland will not kick out the A’s in favor of a deal with the Raiders nor vice versa.
Wolff now says he is looking at other sites, huh?? Did he not say he has 227 pages of why there zero sites the East Bay in general that work??
He has no development opportunities anywhere, Howard Terminal is too small and needs massive cleanup, Laney College? Please! Uptown and Brooklyn Basin are long gone.
What has changed? He will not explain it, instead he sits quietly in the background twiddling his thumbs. He refuses to show what he is thinking and where he is looking. At least Davis is transparent and is trying to do something with Oakland.
I cannot feel sorry for Lew Wolff anymore, he needs to step up and Mark Davis called him out.
““You are catching me in the middle of a six-to-eight-month study period,” he said. “We are studying all the options — including the Coliseum and Laney College — and we just want to complete our analysis.””
Lew Wolff, 1/12/16
http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/As-Raiders-dominate-headlines-Oakland-scouts-for-6754427.php
So, even with the low-intensity PR effort by the A’s FO, this would lead us to expect the A’s to float a tentative building plan for a new ballpark around Opening Day.
Davis, essentially, with his “non-development” plan, wants someone to buy him $300M worth of parking lots. You can see why no one has stepped up for that.
“Mark Davis wants the same thing except Davis is willing to leave room for an A’s stadium, ”
Davis does not want the same thing. He’s looking for a hand out and parking. He’s not looking to pay for this himself. As long as someone else foots a good chunk of the bill and takes on the risk, he doesn’t care about the rest of the land as long as it doesn’t impact his parking.
Oakland has already offered up the Coliseum to Davis and he rejected it. You’d have a point if Oakland made the same offer to Wolff, but they haven’t.
Davis has two legitimate options on the table in the Bay Area, the Coliseum and Levi’s. The A’s have no legitimate options on the table in the Bay Area as of yet. Who’s stalling?
Davis is transparent all right, in that all he really wants to do is leave. In all this criticism of Wolff, no one has asked Davis to commit more than year-to-year.
As for Wolff, he fought hard for that lease. He bought time as a result. Some of you may not like it. The fact is that Wolff can’t finance an Oakland ballpark without knowing the fate of the Raiders. It’s a huge difference between the Raiders being there or not. So many have trivialized so many aspects of this – “just build it at X”, “billionaires can afford it”, “a $300 million funding gap is easy to bridge” and yet you haven’t seen any movement. Why? Because the market is the market. You’re all blind to the risks of these moves. It’s idiotic. And for Davis to not say anything about this is disingenuous. It affects the Raiders too. People are willing to eat up Davis’s plan because it’s something, even though there’s no substance behind it. I know it’s hard to think big picture and details, but just try it sometime.
If it was so much risk then Wolff should not have purchased the team.
Neil – Tell that to everyone else who is actually trying to build in Oakland. Oh that’s right, they aren’t. Not yet at least.
@ ML
I’m really not too concerned about everyone else who is actually trying to build in Oakland.
I do believe you said you would not be surprised (expected), if the A’s to come out with plans for a new stadium at the coliseum site (paraphrasing), before the start of last season?
I’m sure we are all frustrated, and it’s probable a lot more complicated than any of us know, but if Wolff wanted to, or was simply willing to build in Oakland anywhere, its past time his a** came up with something workable. If that’s too much, then yes he should not have purchased the team.
Neil – I said I wouldn’t be surprised if the A’s released plans in the offseason. Reality (the Raiders) has a way of changing one’s plans.
I doesn’t matter if you don’t think he shouldn’t have purchased the team. That’s water under the bridge. The issue is HOW any of this is going to get done. As you said, it’s probably “more complicated than any of us know.”
@ Sid
Correct. As long as Davis can’t put a plan together, or Oakland/Alameda County don’t come up with more public money then Wolff’s wait Davis out strategy may ultimately work.
A potential problem with this strategy however, is that the NFL doesn’t seem to be willing to do a lot for Mark (why would they when he can move down the street to Levies), and they may be content to let him stay at the coliseum site and figure things out on his own, with every other option being problematic or too difficult.
If that’s the case Wolff may have to wait till Davis is forced to sale the team, before he can gain control of the site, and how long would that take? Not trying to be morbid or anything but Lew is not a young man, he needs to throw his cards into the middle of the table or sale the team.
His stalling tactics are ridiculous, If Davis can come up with a workable plan (I know big IF) the city and county need to go with it, at that point Wolff will be forced to join the plan, or sale the team, because MLB is probable not going to giving you San Jose Mr. Wolff, simple because you forced yourself into an eviction notice at the coliseum.
You can’t assume that Davis will come up with a workable plan. There’s no history of Davis doing or building anything. The City is right to be cautious.
@ ML
I did not assume. I said if, as a matter of fact I said “(I know big IF)”
@Lakeshore – The stalling tactics and waiting game are on Oakland and the Raiders.
Both have options they can go with now. The Raiders can move to Levi’s or take Oakland up on their offer for the Coliseum. Oakland can give the same offer for the Coli site to the A’s or open the site up for bids.
The Raiders are just buying time until a better offer outside the Bay Area comes up.
Schaaf and the rest of the elected officials don’t want to be viewed as kicking the Raiders out. They’re buying time to work out a deal that’s more beneficial to the city with the A’s or for the Raiders to leave on their own so they can save face.
Stalling implies that you have a choice that you’re choosing to not make. What legitimate option do the A’s have?
@ Slacker
I’m not saying Oakland, and (or), the Raiders haven’t employed stalling tactics, but if you really think Wolff is not stalling (for whatever the reason), I’m sure he would love for you to make his argument to the other owner within MLB for San Jose, if (when) his forced evection from the coliseum works out for him.
Let me pose the question to you differently, why would Wolff stall?
Why would you buy a team, hold it for 10+years, spend money and time on proposals in Oakland and Fremont, all for the possibility of gaining access to San Jose which isn’t a guaranteed gold mine anyway? That makes no sense.
@ Slacker
“Why would you buy a team, hold it for 10+years, spend money and time on proposals in Oakland and Fremont, all for the possibility of gaining access to San Jose which isn’t a guaranteed gold mine anyway? That makes no sense.”
First of all if Wolff ever purchased parcels in Oakland, I for one was not aware of that. If so I find that mildly surprising.
Secondly, he may have purchased the team because he wanted to be a team owner. (Good old boys club), you may be rich but owning a sports franchise is an exclusive club.
The franchise value of his team has exploded since he purchased the team, nice profit (when he sales) for an ownership group that has put next to nothing into the team, but has reaped the benefits of the other owners efforts to increases the value of every franchise, that would be another reason to hold on to a team and do nothing for ten years because you make money anyway.
Wolff’s old friend Selig, may have given him a handshake deal on San Jose, and did not realize the Giants would fight so hard, hell I don’t know but if Wolff is as smart as most of us who comment hear thinks he is, he should have factored all that in when he purchased the team.
Or…He never intended to build in Oakland in the first place and we are making every excuse in the world for him, in steed of realizing that. Hopefully he will be willing to, because we sure as hell know he did not want to.
Okay, help me out here.
Lew signs a 10-year lease with the only contingency being that if the Coliseum is rendered unusable for baseball because of the Raiders, then Lew can clear out with little or any penalty from the remainder of the lease.
Markie signed a one-year lease with two one-year team options, has openly flirted with San Antonio, flatly refuses to consider Santa Clara as a fallback position, and has actually applied to the League for a move back to Los Angeles.
…And Lew is the BAD guy in this scenario?
The whole above string of comments pretty much entirely justifies my Giants and 49ers fandom. The most reasonable A’s fans on this string seem pretty much resigned to their collective fate, the stAy crowd is merrily spending everybody else’s money but their own, and the Raiders fans are borderline delusional in their view of how this stadium situation is playing out.
I have to believe the thinking in Oakland City Hall on the city’s sports teams right now is something along the lines of “eff all y’all”.
@ sierraspartan
Not sure if you were referring to any of my comments when you said
“…And Lew is the BAD guy in this scenario?”
But I have a verity of problems with Davis, Wolff, and the city of Oakland.
@ML and Slacker and Sierra Spartan- You guys are missing the essence of what LSN and I talking about.
So if you are Mark Davis and come to the table and tell Oakland “I will build this stadium on the same site as the current Coliseum, I got 600M on me, you guys pitch in 100M for the infrastructure/tear down and gift me the entire Coliseum site land including the old Malibu lot, I will keep a lot of parking but build some development to bridge my funding gap and we have a deal”
Here is Oakland’s response “Well what about the A’s?, we just cannot kick them out and that is non-negotiable”.
That is the issue stopping Davis, Wolff can say all he wants about the lease and how it allows for them to leave if the Raiders/Oakland come to an accord but he knows full well Oakland will not kick the A’s out period due to political backlash.
This where Lew Wolff is stalling doing zero. Instead of trying to work with the Raiders/Oakland on a two stadium deal on the Coliseum site he spews garbage out like “We are studying all the options — including the Coliseum and Laney College — and we just want to complete our analysis.”
6-8 months?? Wow….This is 100% a lie, Wolff knows there is nothing there, 227 pages to the BRC? Wolff wants the Coliseum to himself and he will wait it out if he has to, by using Oakland refusal to kick the A’s out he can stay indefinitely frustrating Davis to leave.
This is obvious by signing a 10 year lease, that was his goal all along.
If Davis leaves, Oakland is off the hook politically and Wolff gets what he wants on his terms. He almost succeeded but the NFL refused to oblige.
Wolff by refusing to work with Davis and Oakland together stops the process cold and he knows it full well. It forces Davis to look elsewhere, Wolff won’t even entertain two stadiums being built at the same time.
Tells you what he is trying to do.
I was guilty of taking Wolff’s side but I see what is going on after Mark Davis called him out.
Also Wolff has stated publicly he does not want to compete for corporate dollars and premium seating with the Raiders at the Coliseum site.
It all add up
@Sid – No, you’re missing my point. Davis can say whatever the hell he wants as long as his funding gap remains unresolved. Plus he’s threatening to make the gap larger by saying that any land acquisitions will get tacked onto the cost. You guys can get snookered into somehow believing that Davis is being altruistic about Oakland and the A’s, but it’s more a convenient ploy to distract you and irate Raiders fans and to take the attention off of himself. You’re falling for it. A legitimate businessman with a legitimate plan is concerned first and foremost with how his project is going to get done, not anyone else’s. Look out for #1. The KC teams were able to “partner” on a two-stadium complex, but they had KC Muni to play in while everything got built. What Davis is proposing is significantly more difficult.
Sid you are 100% correct. And there are other options in Oakland for the A’s if he spent the extra money to get the team, the fans and the city a park in a location they would be proud of. He’s hoping to get forced out , which won’t happen. What is going to happen, is when the A’s are the last team standing, he will have such a depleted p.r. with the fan base, he might of wish he was the team to re locate.
So if you are Lew Wolff and come to the table and tell Oakland “I will build this stadium on the same site as the current Coliseum, I got 600M on me, you guys pitch in 100M for the infrastructure/tear down and gift me the entire Coliseum site land including the old Malibu lot, I will keep a lot of parking but build some development to bridge my funding gap and we have a deal”
Here is Oakland’s response “Well what about the Raiders?, we just cannot kick them out and that is non-negotiable”.
That is the issue stopping Wolff, Davis can say all he wants about the lease and how it’s short term so it allows for them to leave if the A’s/Oakland come to an accord but he knows full well Oakland will not kick the Raiders out period due to political backlash.
This where Mark Davis is stalling doing zero. Instead of trying to work with the A’s/Oakland on a two stadium deal on the Coliseum site he spews garbage out like “Oakland is our first choice. We are just looking at alternative sites because Oakland won’t work with us”
Wow….This is 100% a lie, Davis knows there is nothing there? Davis wants the Coliseum to himself and he will wait it out if he has to, by using Oakland refusal to kick the A’s out he can stay indefinitely frustrating Wolff to leave.
This is obvious by signing a short term lease with one year options, that was his goal all along.
If Wolff leaves, Oakland is off the hook politically and Davis gets what he wants on his terms. He almost succeeded but MLB refused to oblige.
Davis by refusing to work with Wolff and Oakland together stops the process cold and he knows it full well. It forces Wolff to look elsewhere, Davis won’t even entertain two stadiums being built at the same time.
Tells you what he is trying to do.
I was guilty of taking Davis’ side but I see what is going on after Lew Wolff called him out.
Davis : I want free land and 300-400mils
Fisher and LW : we don’t need your money. just give us the land.
Davis is doing what the Davis family does best : sucker cities into building new stadium for them. When it fails to materialize, take the money and run ala Irwindale.
@ daniel
Davis: I want free land and 300-400 mils.
Fisher and Wolff : We don’t need your money just give us the land, and if we can’t eventually get San Jose we might think about building on it. If we decide not to build we will give you the land back, of course the Raiders will be gone so you may not have any team to negotiate with by then but thanks for making us your choice.
@Lakeshore/Neil: You don’t know. What we know today is the A’s can and will privately finance their new park. That is the fact. You need to stop speculating and go with the facts. So tomorrow if the mayor gives them land but Fisher/LW backs up, then you can bang on them. Not today. Fisher’s words are worth something compared to the trashes Davis has been throwing out there. First step is for the city to give access to the land and go from there. Fisher just built a soccer stadium in SJ with his own money while Davis has not done shit in Oakland or anywhere else.
@ daniel
It’s not a Davis (either) Wolff (or) comparison for me, as I said I have different issues with each of them, and have stated them repeatedly on this site.
And, no I don’t have to wait until tomorrow to bang on someone who has done nothing in ten years towards a new park in Oakland, other then put down the fan base and every possible site location he could build at. (IMHO)
That doesn’t mean I don’t have problems with Mark Davis, Oakland, Alameda County, the San Francisco Giants, Jerry Brown, the Golden State (I mean San Francisco), Warriors, and a host of hundreds or at least tens, but that doesn’t get Lew Wolff off of my list…
The problem we have here is rather than trying to work out a possible solution, all three parties are working harder at trying to save themselves from public criticism.
The A’s don’t want to be seen as the ones who drove the Raiders out, so they are waiting them out, and not aggressively pushing their agenda. The City of Oakland won’t commit to just one team, so they are stuck trying make it seem like they are trying to save both, when in fact they can’t. The Raiders know they do not have the wherewithal to finance a stadium in Oakland, so they are waiting on SD to make their decision. Once they make the jump to the southland, whether it be LA or SD, they will then blame the A’s for mucking up the process in Oakland.
As a side note, it will be interesting to see what happens if the Chargers decide to stay in SD. The Raiders would then jump at LA, but I’m sure they will find negotiating with Kroenke (and perhaps the NFL) rather unpleasant. There’s no way Kroenke will want the Raiders as a tenant, given their popularity in the LA market. Kroenke will want to be the top dog, but there’s no way that will happen if he’s sharing his stadium with the Raiders. Gotta believe Davis will be reamed should he decide to move to Inglewood.
Rent in Inglewood for tenant team, per NFL owners’ group agreement:
$1 (U.S.)
…plus that pesky $550M or so relocation fee that nobody’s talking about.
Minor detail, that.
| …plus that pesky $550M or so relocation fee that nobody’s talking about.
Payable in installments over 10 years or more.
@ CCCTL
Yeah, but it’s still an issue and not chump change either.
The Raiders may indeed after all make the move to Inglewood – and open the Coliseum opportunity to the A’s. The Chargers owner recently commented that they are 100% committed to finding a solution to funding a San Diego stadium Also, demoted his chief assistant working on the stadium project (who was anti-staying in San Diego and focused on LA) and replacing him with a local political type who is skilled at their local politics and get a San Diego stadium deal done. If San Diego opts to stay there, the Raiders could possibly begin play at the LA Coliseum as soon as the 2017 season – playing there temporarily before the Inglewood stadium is built!
Raiders in LA makes more sense than the Chargers in LA.
Raiders in Santa Clara makes more sense than Raiders in LA or San Diego.
To the Raiders, and the LA fanbase, yes – It would possibly not serve the Rams interest though. The NFL has committed to the plan, though. One would believe they will stick to their agreement and approve a Raiders move to Inglewood if it opens up.
And where does MD get $500M for relocation fees to the NFL?
While at this time no one could fully predict as to where the Chargers and Raiders will ultimately wind up, it”s becoming more and more likely of certain distinct possible outcomes. The NFL has given the Chargers one year to work out a new stadium deal in San Diego. If that scenario proves to be unsuccessful, the NFL has already granted approval for the Chargers to move to the new Inglewood stadium, and to share that facility with the Rams. As of right now, it’s looking unlikely that San Diego voters will approve the proposed new Chargers stadium. With that result, the Chargers will most definitely wind up as the second team in LA, and the Raiders will likely be stuck in their current Bay Area market. However, the NFL does not view the Raiders to be in a difficult predicament, given that the Bay Area market already has a new state-the-art NFL caliber stadium just some forty miles from Oakland. Fortunately for the Raiders, the Raiders will have at least one relatively good stadium option open to them within their current market. There lies the big difference between the new stadium situation facing the Raiders, and that of the A’s whose only one ideal Bay Area ballpark option is being blocked by MLB.
“There lies the big difference between the new stadium situation facing the Raiders, and that of the A’s whose only one ideal Bay Area ballpark option is being blocked by MLB.”
Absolutely the two situations are different. The other two key items that factor in:
1. MLB teams rely primarily on local revenue while NFL teams rely primarily on national revenue.
2. Oakland has offered the Coliseum site to the Raiders and they rejected it
The first one means that pretty much any market can support an NFL team. The same is not true for MLB.
llpec’s comment plus Oakland having offered the Coliseum site to the Raiders means the Raiders have viable options today in their own market.
The Raiders have a good amount of control in all of this. The fact that they’re “stuck” at the Coliseum site is on them.
The A’s have no options they can act on today in their market and no viable options outside their market they can pursue.
This isn’t to say the A’s owners are complete victims in but for Davis to blame Wolff is ridiculous.