Category Archives: News

04.19.12
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KQED debate + Andy Dolich’s game

KQED’s Nina Thorsen finishes off her three-part series (1, 2) on the A’s future with a San Jose-vs.-Oakland debate. Featured prominently is our own Jeffrey and his dulcit tone.

As much as I would love for this to be wrapped by the end of the owners meetings next month, it doesn’t appear that it will. That leaves us A’s fans twisting in the wind yet again. Thanks ever so much, Bud.

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While I was in transit yesterday, the Merc published an op-ed by Andy Dolich. In the piece, Dolich predicts that the A’s will stay in Oakland long-term.

His last gig was as an executive for the 49ers, keeping the seat warm for Jed York. Interestingly, Dolich’s job was to advocate for the ‘Stick while the Yorks pushed hard on the Santa Clara stadium plan, which undoubtedly led to some conflict. After Dolich was dismissed, he continued to advocate for a SF stadium instead of Santa Clara. Ann Killion wrote two years ago that the firing of Dolich by the 49ers would come back to haunt them and hurt the Santa Clara plan. Amazing how a winning season and help from the NFL proves pundits wrong, eh?

Dolich gets a few facts wrong in his impassioned plea. The South Philly sports complex has four teams, not three. Staples Center on its own has three team tenants. That’s not significant. I’m in complete agreement that the Bay Area can support all of the pro teams that currently reside in the Bay Area.

Reading between the lines, it looks like Dolich is appealing to someone in the East Bay to become a frontman for the Coliseum City plan – if not now, when the plan has legs. That would be a great idea assuming that Coliseum City got off the ground. It’s always good to have someone who has credibility in the sports industry, a history of past successes, and local ties. In December 2010, Dolich floated the idea of a new multipurpose stadium in Oakland, one with the technology to be less of a “neither fish nor fowl” problem than the 60’s-era stadia. I deconstructed the concept and explained why it wouldn’t work. Dolich read my post and sent me an email, which led to a very pleasant exchange on stadia and arenas. I think I even promised to meet him for lunch to talk shop, which never happened, unfortunately.

The bottom line is that it’s nice to hear someone advocating for Oakland and the East Bay, even if his office is actually in the South Bay. Those putting together a Coliseum City plan wouldn’t hurt themselves by having Andy Dolich in a prominent position. To be clear, that’s probably at least a year down the road if it happens at all.

04.16.12
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The Reckoning in May?

Update 3:45 PM – Slusser just tweeted that the issue will not be on the agenda even though Wolff has requested it. And the beat goes on…

Susan Slusser reports that the A’s are putting territorial rights on the owners meetings agenda next month. Will we finally get a resolution? We just might.

Back in December I had heard that ownership had the option to put the matter on the February meeting agenda. For whatever reason that didn’t happen. My guess is that the acceleration of the Dodgers’ sale and bankruptcy resolution came somewhat unexpectedly, which forced the A’s back onto the backburner once more.

There is an inherent amount of risk to making this move, as a vote could go against Lew Wolff and John Fisher. The big unknown is whether this vote is being shepherded by Bud Selig, who generally tries to build consensus before doing anything. Considering how long this has taken, anything’s possible. If this goes according to Selig’s M.O., he probably has both the votes and at least some kind of framework in place for a deal to compensate the Giants, whatever that is. If not, Wolff could lose and be left with no other option than to work something out in Oakland.

Slusser cites the Tracy Ringolsby article that we mentioned here last week, along with the threat of a San Jose antitrust lawsuit should the vote go against the A’s and San Jose.

Either way, I’m glad we’re finally getting somewhere with this. It promises to be a very exciting and newsworthy next couple of weeks. I’ll be back from San Diego the day before the meetings start, so I’ll be able to give it the attention it deserves.

P.S. – If you’re wondering whether or not a vote will actually be taken, just remember that the executive council had a report presented by Selig’s 3-man panel during the winter meetings. If the owners didn’t have the information necessary to vote on the issue before, they most assuredly do now.

04.16.12
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Getting ready for a groundbreaking, 49ers style

I’m leaving for San Diego on Wednesday, so I won’t have a chance to check out the 49ers’ groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday. So I decided to walk by the construction site to see what’s going on. Demolition has been completed, and a large section of the site has been graded and paved. A crew worked through the weekend to put up a big tent, bleachers, and an artificial turf field which I assume is the where the actual field will stand when the stadium is completed.

View from Tasman Drive

In the picture above, a piledriver stands at the left edge. You can see a small patch of green (the field) in the middle, then the bleachers and tent. 49er headquarters are in the background.

View from along San Tomas Aquino Creek trail

Enough bleachers are being brought in to host a high school football game. There also appear to be some auxiliary structures. Fancy groundbreaking, this is.

Back side of the site

Construction equipment sits lined up behind the tent, along with various materials.

A while back I put up a poll asking readers which project would be done first, the 49ers stadium or the A’s ballpark. Clearly, the winner is the football stadium despite its enormous cost. Being first has everything to do with the NFL stepping in and recognizing the opportunity in Santa Clara. MLB? Not so much.

P.S. – If any readers attend the groundbreaking ceremony, I’d love to get pictures to post here.

04.14.12
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A’s break out their own legal heavyweights

The Merc’s Internal Affairs column has revealed that A’s ownership has brought a big gun to what could be future legal proceedings against the Giants – or at least the Giants’ astroturf group, Stand for San Jose. In this case it’s trial lawyer Allen Ruby, best known in the sports world as Barry Bonds’ attorney in the slugger’s perjury case. Ruby is a partner at Skadden Arps, one the largest law firms in the world.

Ruby successfully defended the NFL against the Raiders, as well as former San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales when he was brought up on corruption charges. MLB teams can’t sue each other or baseball due to a clause in the sport’s constitution. MLB tends to handle its business within the confines of its ownership ranks, a method furthered under Bud Selig. That doesn’t leave out the possibility of a team going outside to sue a city or team on non-baseball grounds, as the Giants have done. If anything, bringing on Ruby is like a country stockpiling nuclear weapons during the Cold War. No one intends to actually use them, but the possibility is there. Personally, I don’t think this ever sees a trial, so we won’t get to see Ruby in a courtroom representing the A’s.

Also onboard is Cecily T. Barclay, a partner with Perkins Coie whose specialty is land use and entitlements. Coie was named 2012 San Francisco Land Use & Zoning Law Lawyer of the Year by industry website Best Lawyers, and has worked on a number of large projects throughout the Bay Area, including the Lennar/Hunters Point project, the Cargill Saltworks/Redwood City plan, and Rivermark in Santa Clara.

As impressive as this legal firepower is, I hope it never has to get used, because if it does it only means more delays for the A’s.

04.13.12
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Saints owner Benson to buy Hornets

The New Orleans Times-Picayune and TNT/NBA.com scribe David Aldridge are reporting that New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson is buying the New Orleans Hornets for close to $340 million. The Hornets had been languishing ever since the league purchased them from George Shinn in late 2010. This was especially the case over the winter, when the team was forced to trade franchise point guard Chris Paul yet couldn’t get the most value in a trade because the league didn’t want large or lengthy contracts on the books. Benson won out over at least one other group including Los Angeles businessman Raj Bhatal and former NBA coach/player Mike Dunleavy.

Benson, who has owned the Saints for more than a quarter-century, is exactly the kind of local interest that David Stern and the other owners wanted to keep the team in New Orleans. The car dealership magnate was lauded in the 80’s and 90’s, then turned into a pariah as he demanded publicly financed improvements to the Superdome. When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, it wasn’t clear what the team’s future would be. Benson split his time between The Big Easy and San Antonio, where the Alamo Dome awaited with open arms. A large percentage of NOLA’s population left the area, making economic prospects bleak. The Superdome itself was hit hard, its roof skin torn off, its lower level flooded, and its interior and reputation damaged by some evacuees. FEMA and the Louisiana government came in and rehabbed the stadium for $180 million, which gave locals a rallying point and Benson an reason to stay. A few years later the team won the Super Bowl, the dome got a naming rights deal with Mercedes-Benz, and throughout it all Benson performed one of the greatest public relations turnarounds in the history of sports – thanks in no small part to a hurricane.

In buying the Hornets, Benson will get a long-term lease at the New Orleans Arena through 2024. Knowing that a local like Benson is now the owner should help bump up ticket sales, making the biggest weakness the team’s lack of a franchise player. Staked with the third-worst record in the league, perhaps they’ll sneak in and get the #1 pick in the NBA draft lottery. It was only a 11 days ago that Kentucky’s Anthony Davis dominated the national championship game in the Superdome. The team could eventually switch nicknames to something more befitting the city. Too bad the Jazz name moved with the team to decidedly not-jazzy Salt Lake City.

This news solidifies the team’s stay in NOLA, which was Stern’s biggest goal. Stern rebuffed overtures by Larry Ellison to buy the team, as Ellison was more interested in moving the franchise to San Jose. Now we’ll find out if New Orleans can be a basketball town in the long run.

04.13.12
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Sabotage in Sacramento

Update 11:04 AM – Now we have the Maloofs’ proposal: Refurbish Power Balance Pavilion/ARCO Arena. Good idea or not? (I’ve been sitting on my post about ARCO, looks like it’ll go up tomorrow.) David Stern and the NBA Board of Governors have a press conference going on now.

As the Maloofs flew to New York to discuss the terms of the Sacramento ESC/Arena deal, civic interests rallied together to write a letter urging NBA commissioner David Stern to find new ownership. Clearly, whatever goodwill was captured a month ago has evaporated.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson with Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof in happier times

The Sacramento Bee followed up with an editorial also calling for the Maloofs to sell. The level of distrust between the two parties is extraordinary. For their part, the Maloofs contend that they remain committed to a new arena in Cowtown, whereas the City and its backers continually accuse the Maloofs of trying to derail every arena plan, going back several years.

My problem with the whole affair is this: Have the Maloofs ever come up with their own plan for an arena? Based on the Bee’s timeline of the Kings’ tenure in Sacramento, the answer is no. They piggybacked onto a railyards plan in 2002, and when it collapsed they blamed the City. In 2006, they famously backed away from arena measures shortly before elections. Now they’re balking at the ESC plan over money for pre-development work. They’ve also attacked the plan’s feasibility and had their lawyers make a huge, aggressive information request of the City over the plan.

KJ took the red-eye to New York to meet with the Maloofs and Stern on Friday. He’ll have the letter and support from the business community and the Bee, which is great. But this request of Stern is not going to change things. Sure, the NBA has leverage over the Maloofs because they’re tapping into the league’s credit line. It isn’t enough to break them. As cash poor as they are, neither they nor the team are in danger of bankruptcy. Kings payroll is the lowest in the league, and the only thing keeping it from dropping lower is the league’s salary floor ($44 million).

Knowing that the Maloofs are wary of Sacramento’s feasibility, Stern should force the Maloofs to do the one thing they haven’t done yet: come up with their own plan. Maybe that incorporates all or part of the ESC plan, maybe it’s something completely new. At least it would force the Maloofs to be engaged to a degree that they’ve never demonstrated. Then Stern can compare what the Maloofs have with ESC, take the best parts from both, and we’ll see who’s truly committed and what’s feasible. It would put ownership on the defensive and compel them to act instead of sitting on the sidelines as they’ve historically done. Stern can extend the artificial deadline another year, which won’t hurt things. If Sacramento can’t work out, they should know by next year, with Anaheim waiting in the wings. if the Maloofs are running into money problems, it’s possible that will be exposed in the next year, which could force Stern’s hand. That’s the only way I can see a sale happening not by the Maloofs’ choice. They’d have to run into a legal/financial crisis that de-prioritizes owning a team. In conjunction, Sacramento doesn’t need to do more than they’re doing now – figuring out the ESC plan feasibility. They’ve bent over backwards and spent a lot of money on this and the failed 2006 plan. And that is much more than I can say for Oakland.

Added: Pro Basketball Talk’s Aaron Bruski covers the Maloofs’ recent actions in great detail.

04.13.12
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BART groundbreaking in San Jose

It’s happening.

Bolstered by the release of $250 million in funding, the BART-to-Silicon Valley project got its official groundbreaking earlier Thursday afternoon. Representatives of BART, VTA, plus East and South Bay politicians were on hand for the ceremony. Also there was reader @MarkyJ824 to take pictures. He sent many of them to me and I’ll repost them below.

December’s article looking at the BART project explains how fans would get to Cisco Field/Diridon Station from the East Bay. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s worth a look.

More shovels to come

Poster of Berryessa Station rendering.

A BART car model on site. Hopefully it has the new anti-pathogen seats and floor.

The subway portion of the Warm Springs Extension is still under construction, and the line is expected to open for service in late 2015. The $2.3 billion BART-to-Silicon Valley project will get a total of $900 million from the federal government. Construction to Berryessa is expected to be completed by 2016, but could be done earlier. Testing should take another two years, putting passenger service at 2018, possibly earlier.

04.12.12
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All sides, now

KQED producer extraordinaire and friend-of-the-blog Nina Thorsen has been interviewing many people about the ballpark and potential relocation issue. Today she posted the second in a series, this one focusing on San Jose interests for and against Cisco Field. This follows up on last week’s Oakland-focused segment (which had a bit with our own Jeffrey). Next week will be a comparison of Oakland and San Jose from a bottom line standpoint. All of it is definitely worth a listen.

Something worth a read is a piece by Fox Sports’ Tracy Ringolsby from March 31. Somehow this article eluded me despite my best combing for news, and for that I apologize. Gojohn10 referred me to the article yesterday while we were at the game, and I was so astonished by the statement within that I couldn’t believe it. Sure enough, he brought up the article and I was very surprised. I posted the important blurb in the comments, but I’m putting it into this post so that front page readers will see it. Enjoy.

The challenges for Oakland A’s is not finding a buyer, but rather coming to agreement with the San Francisco Giants on the A’s desire to move their franchise to San Jose.

“Both sides are deeply positioned and I am in the middle of trying to fashion some type of an agreement,” Selig said. “It is very complicated.”

No other two-team market has territorial rights, but the Giants claim they control the San Jose area, and contend that was a critical part of their ability to finance AT&T Park. Giants officials also argue that Lewis Wolff and his partners were aware of that agreement at the time they purchased the franchise from the Haas Family, which is why they were able to buy the team for $180 million.

“It is different because in 1990 when Bob Lurie wanted to move the Giants to San Jose, Walter Haas, the wonderful owner of the Oakland club, who did things in the best interest of baseball, granted permission,” Selig said. “What got lost there is they didn’t feel it was permission in perpetuity. He gave Bob permission to go down there. Unfortunately or fortunately, it never got changed. We are dealing with a lot of history here.”

It’s part of the challenge of being commissioner.

“Nobody ever said it was going to be an easy job,” Selig said.

I’ve never heard or read Selig go into that much depth on the issue before. It’s a clear indicator that he is actually trying to broker a deal, which as I have written here repeatedly, would not be easy to do but could be done.

04.12.12
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Barbieri fired from KNBR

The Razor and Mr. T is no more.

Now it’s just Mr. T.

Longtime KNBR host Ralph Barbieri was unceremoniously fired earlier today with six months left on his contract. His cohort, Tom Tolbert, emotionally said goodbye to his radio partner of 15 years, while Barbieri had 7 minutes to clear his things and get escorted off the premises. While Tolbert has done well by himself when The Razor was away or on vacation, Tolbert will probably have a new partner sooner rather than later> This may simply be to keep Tolbert, who walked away from a lucrative national TV career to have more family time, happy.

Ratings for the February radio month were released two weeks ago, and while they show enormous dropoffs for both KNBR-680 and The Game, some of that is to be expected thanks to the ending of the football season and no baseball until March.

February 2012 radio ratings

There’s probably a simple bottom-line reason for the move. Tolbert is the real draw for the show and he resonates better with the younger demographic than the oft-acerbic Barbieri. KNBR parent Cumulus could easily stick someone else in there for much cheaper and continue to dominate the drivetime slot. There’s an opportunity for The Game’s “The Drive with Tierney and Davis” to get some of that audience, but remember that some of the KNBR audience is locked in thanks to a natural lead-in to Giants baseball.

KNBR could put Tolbert and Damon Bruce together, which seems like a good fit. Then KNBR could go to an all-syndicated lineup on 1050, except for new show as counter-programming to Giants games. As for Barbieri, it appears that he’s not saying much while he weighs his options. The Game’s relentless hammering of KNBR over the age of both Barbieri and Gary Radnich would make it a complete 180 for the station to hire The Razor, plus he wouldn’t come cheap. He famously revealed last year that he had Parkinson’s disease. The effects of his coping with the illness are obviously unclear at this point.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Giants’ recent extension with KNBR led to this management decision. The Giants are looking at every opportunity to maximize revenues in the wake of a slumbering Dodgers franchise, so cutting a little overhead here or there would make sense. Radio’s a tough business, and sometimes that means letting go of one of your biggest media supporters. Good luck to the Razor, wherever he lands.

04.10.12
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News for 4/10/12

Now that the season has started, things are settling down a bit.

Special thanks to reader Stomper00, who rustled up four sweet tickets behind the plate yesterday and invited me to join him. I brought a buddy, we gave the remaining ticket to another fan in the parking lot, and a good time was had by all. This was the view:

Yoenis at the dish