Category Archives: News

08.30.11
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News for 8/30/11

There’s a little back-and-forth between the Chargers and a LA-based blogger who has concluded that AEG is buying 96% of the team from the Spanos family, with the intent of moving the franchise to a new downtown LA stadium. Chargers spokesperson Mark Fabiani has said unequivocally that the team will not be sold.

Tim Kawakami has done some back-of-the-envelope numbers on financing for the 49ers stadium and has come up with many of the same conclusions written here a year ago.

Chron sports editor Al Saracevic reports on a new parking study commissioned by a SF Planning Commissioner takes issue with the 49ers stadium EIR’s assessment that parking inventory will be “equal to or superior to any in the NFL.” Considering the way this new study was derived, the results have to be taken with a grain of salt. However, that’s not to say that there aren’t good points. I’m absolutely certain that tailgating, of the kind Niner fans currently experience at the ‘Stick, will be practically extinct. It’ll be largely replaced by team-sponsored fan zones and other tailgating facsimiles.

BANG is asking fans to submit suggestions as to how the Raiders can increase attendance in Oakland. Send responses to turn2@angnewspapers.com or ccnsports@bayareanewsgroup.com.

A fan fell down a stairwell at Rangers Ballpark on Saturday. The unidentified 24 year-old man was knocked unconscious by the fall and remains in a local hospital.

I want take this opportunity to address something discussed in the last comments thread. There’s an opinion – generally espoused by Rick Tittle – that the A’s should spend money on the Coliseum to make things a little more fan friendly. Tittle frequently cites the investment made by Peter Magowan when he assumed control of the Giants as a good example. It sounds good in theory, but it doesn’t explain how this would work. Let’s get a few facts out of the way regarding what the Giants did:

  • The Giants spent $5 million in 1994 to add new LF bleachers, field boxes, the outfield fence, and the out-of-town scoreboard above the RF pavilion.
  • The money also went toward replacing the dirt warning track with the rubberized “tartan” surface. After all, you can’t have high rollers in field boxes stepping on dirt to reach their seats, or have wind-blown dust in their eyes.
  • In 2011 dollars, the inflation-adjusted value would be $8 million or less.

We’ve talked a lot about what it would take to spruce up the Coli, even to the point of fans initiating the effort since we can’t expect the A’s, Raiders, or Coliseum Authority to do it. We’ve heard that the Coliseum Authority may be replacing the obsolete scoreboard system, which is a good and necessary move. However, there aren’t many other changes that could be made that wouldn’t adversely impact either the A’s or the Raiders. Consider this:

  • I’ve suggested in the past that the best way to expand the lower concourse is to take out the last 3-4 rows of the field level seats and make new platforms for wheelchair seating areas and standing room sections. Doing this would remove 3,000+ seats, which would drop the Coliseum’s capacity below 60,000, below NFL guidelines. I can’t imagine either the Raiders or the NFL going for that, even if the Raiders don’t routinely sell out the joint.
  • The A’s can’t add more seats on the field because space is taken by the dugouts, the existing field boxes, the rolled up field tarp, and the bullpens.
  • The A’s can’t reduce foul territory by reconfiguring the lower deck without major engineering and construction challenges.
  • The Coliseum does actually have some modern amenities, such as the West Side Club and the Diamond Level seats.
  • As much as people complain about the troughs in the men’s restrooms, the decision to keep those in place was made in 1995. Have you ever noticed that the troughs have those sensors above that can tell when you’re finished and then flush? That’s the extent of change in the original restrooms.
  • It’s possible that the A’s could invest in expanding the clubhouse facilities, but I don’t know what complexities lie in attempting that.

Now let’s say that you own the A’s, and like what Magowan did 17 years ago, you’d like to spend $8 million, no, up to $10 million on the Coliseum to improve the experience. Take the scoreboards off the table. What would you improve? Do you have any idea how much it would cost? Is there a decent chance you’d recoup that investment? One thing to keep in mind is that when Wally Haas sunk money into the Coliseum, he was eventually paid back by the Coliseum Commission. He eventually saw greater revenues during the Bash Brothers era, but was unable to sustain that in the long run. Many of the current deficiencies with the Coliseum can’t and won’t be addressed by quick fixes.

Before you chime in, read this ESPN article about the A’s and their relationship with the Coliseum by Mark Kreidler, one of the “Rise Guys” brought in from Sacramento a month ago. Then look at the date. Some things never change.

08.25.11
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Stirring the Beane pot

A few Bay Area writers are talking up Billy Beane possibly leaving for Chicago’s North Side, with the rationale being that Brad Pitt’s alter ego will exit stage right after having experienced too much frustration regarding the A’s low revenue status.

All this sounds fascinating given the A’s record and the lack of resolution on the stadium front. However, it falls apart once you scratch the surface.

First of all, while the story has created something of an echo chamber effect here, there are no media reports emanating from Chicago about Beane being a candidate, speculation or otherwise. There are several “hot” candidates who are either younger or easier to get contract-wise. Dozens of articles have been written about the purported frontrunner for the Cubs’ GM job, current White Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn – who just happens to be a Chicago native and a lifelong Cubs fan. Then there’s the status of wunderkind Rays GM Andrew Friedman, who is currently working year-to-year with no contract. Ned Colletti and Brian Cashman have been discussed as well. On the other hand, Beane is signed through 2014, and even though Lew Wolff would let Beane go if he asked, figuring out how to properly terminate the contract (ending in 2014) and have Beane divest his 2.5% stake in the A’s/Quakes is another matter altogether.

Then there’s a simple matter of timing. Chances are that Cubs owner Tom Ricketts will want to get his new GM in place no later than October, so that his new hire will have a fighting chance in the free agent market (there are some first basemen who may catch Ricketts’ fancy). It’s highly unlikely that we’ll hear a decision on Santa Clara County territorial rights by that point, leaving Beane and the rest in ownership in limbo. Beane would effectively be basing his decision on a hunch, and as we all know, Billy’s a little more empirically driven than that.

For his part, Wolff has been pretty straightforward on this semi-issue (from Shea’s piece):

“I would never inhibit anybody from bettering themselves because of a contract,” said Wolff, who had lunch with Beane on Wednesday and said no team has called regarding his GM. “Billy is fantastic and, to me, indispensable. My hope is he will be here a long time. I did promise Billy and all the guys we would have a venue so they would be able to further execute their abilities, and I think that will happen.”

Sounds optimistic.

“I have to be,” Wolff said. “There is no choice for us, for the good of baseball. It’s sad it’s taking this long.”

He added, “I’m going to build a new stadium for the A’s, and if I’m not, someone will,” but he was quick to point out he didn’t mean he’d move the club or sell to out-of-town interests, instead mentioning his son, Keith (vice president of venue development) as a possible baton receiver. “We’re working every day. If it doesn’t happen, we’ll go to Plan B, which I don’t have.”

I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that despite the A’s revenue problem, Beane likes his life. He oversees two franchises by day and pals around with venture capitalists at night. Not to say that he couldn’t get some of that in Chicago, but really, porkbellies aren’t as interesting as tech. And I have to think that as a particularly driven guy, he might not feel his work is done just yet. Just a hunch.

08.23.11
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BANG goes BOOM!

As part of ongoing consolidation efforts, the disparate East Bay operation of San Jose-based Bay Area News Group (BANG) is effectively concentrating itself into two regional publications effective November 1:

  • The Contra Costa Times will take over all of the 680 corridor papers.
  • The rebranded East Bay Tribune will take the place of the Oakland Tribune, Alameda Times-Star, Argus, and others along the 880 corridor.

120 production and editorial jobs will be cut as part of the consolidation. In addition, the San Mateo County Times will now run under the Mercury News masthead. Separate local news sections will be inserted into “city editions” of each paper.

Of course, the big upshot is that Oakland will be one of the largest cities in the country without its own paper, which is tremendously sad. (The only other cities in the Top 50 with no city newspaper are Mesa, AZ and Arlington, TX.) There has already been criticism that with the previous consolidation push, whatever unique identity the Trib had was ebbing away. I wonder if Dave Newhouse will write about that?

A month ago, East Bay Citizen joked on Twitter that local newspapers may all meet their demise before the A’s ballpark issue is settled. He may be onto something.

Note: On Twitter there’s barely a peep about this. Maybe that says more about the change than anything else. RIP Oakland Tribune. You had a good 120 years.

08.22.11
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America’s Cup Draft EIR available

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This view where Harrison Street ends at The Embarcadero could be blocked by huge yachts or a marina if the project is developed as planned.

In fact, not only is the America’s Cup environmental impact report out, the initial 45-day comment period is almost over (last day for comments: Thursday). Somehow I missed this among all of the other stuff going on. Thanks to Chronicle architecture writer John King’s article in protest of some of the waterfront changes, I finally got a look at it. I’ll have more to write about it later.

The EIR was made available on July 11, only 7 months after the deal was made between the America’s Cup and the City of San Francisco. It goes to show what can happen when there’s a real deadline and a real partnership in place. Contrast that to what’s happening with the Victory Court EIR, which is at least for now, nothing publicly. The America’s Cup project is leaps and bounds more expansive and impactful than Victory Court, covering huge swaths of SF waterfront with the potential to significantly reshape the area much the same way post-Loma Prieta planning did 20+ years ago.

So why isn’t there anything yet about Victory Court? Maybe Oakland no longer feels it’s in a rush. Maybe Oakland isn’t prioritizing the project at the moment. Maybe Oakland doesn’t want to have that big discussion with its citizens just yet. No one can say that it’s a matter of due diligence, since the scope of the America’s Cup project is so much more vast. Victory Court has impacts beyond the 12-block project area, but everyone knew that going in. All I can give to the VC project right now is a big shrug.

08.20.11
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News for 8/20/11

Though this August may be unseasonably cool, there’s no doubt that it’s the dog days – for a team mired in third place and those of us looking for ballpark news. Nevertheless, there is plenty to discuss that happened this week.

First up is a very good assessment of where various football stadium efforts stand, courtesy of the Merc and Trib (BANG). Naturally, Santa Clara has emerged in the race due to its diligence in getting a deal done, despite the highly questionable finances of the plan. Oakland lags well behind, and potential funding sources has been identified in the process: $105 million in county transit funding, a Chinese investment group. Transit funding for the Raiders? Yikes.

You may have noticed some upheaval around Hegenberger Road this week when going to/from an A’s game. That’s because the infamous Oakland Airport Connector project started construction this week! The $484 million people mover will shuttle riders between the Coliseum/Airport BART station and Oakland International Airport, all for a more-than-reasonable $6 each way. That’s more expensive than it costs to ride from Coliseum/Airport to Millbrae. (To be fair, the enormous cost of the SFO BART extension has caused Millbrae-to-SFO to cost $4 each way thanks to a surcharge.) And it appears that the only reasons the project kept going all this time are that $95 million has already been spent and up to $250 million has already been committed, making it nearly as much of a boondoggle even if it were cancelled. Initially, the only two stations on the OAC will be the terminals at the airport and BART station. A third station could be built at Doolittle and Hegenberger if the funding surfaces. Double yikes.

Former Rangers owner Tom Hicks is being sued over allegations that he took tens of millions from the team to acquire parking lots around Rangers Ballpark. The lawsuit foreshadows future legal wrangling between MLB and Frank McCourt, who reorganized the Dodgers into so many holding companies and dummy corporations that it’s impossible to say how Dodger Stadium and its land could be extricated from McCourt at this point.

A preliminary report on Kings arena funding indicates that much of the burden will be addressed by user fees on everything from tickets to hot dogs. These fees could generate anywhere from $5 million to $20 million per year. While not fan-friendly, it is more general taxpayer-friendly than sales or parcel taxes. A more fleshed out proposal is due September 8.

Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the Sharks, announced 19 layoffs from the business side of the company. Included in the layoffs was longtime director of communications Ken Arnold. Executive VP of business ops Malcolm Bordelon characterized this as “pruning for future growth”. He can’t just be talking about the parking garage the team will construct north of the arena as growth. There’s something else to this. That something may be related to former CEO Greg Jamison, who left a year ago and was never formally replaced, perhaps going after the Phoenix Coyotes as early as next week. Should Jamison pursue the Coyotes, he will have to sell his share of the Sharks. It’s not difficult to see Jamison bringing with him trusted lieutenants such as Arnold and sales/marketing head Kent Russell. It would also provide an opening for the A’s, if they were to be extended the opportunity. Lew Wolff (or a surrogate) could potentially get a stake in SVSE and reciprocate by providing a stake in the A’s/Quakes, making the two ownership groups virtually joined at the hip – and more importantly, fully aligned. That would be important in planning for the next 20-30 years around Diridon, as the two parties would be expected to have a major influence on how the area is planned and developed even if those plans are well down the road.

In tangentially related news, HP announced on Thursday that it will cease development of webOS devices such as the recently launched TouchPad tablet line and Pre smartphones. It may also spin off its Personal Systems Group, which includes webOS (Palm) and its industry market share leading computers operation. Should HP spin off PSG or divest it, there would be an interesting sports-related ripple effect down the line: what would happen to HP Pavilion at San Jose? The naming rights deal at the former San Jose Arena expires in 2016, and not coincidentally, the name reflects a line of personal computers HP makes. In between those two names, the name for a year or so was Compaq Center at San Jose. That deal was done by the final Compaq CEO, Michael Capellas, prior to the HP-Compaq merger (done by Carly Fiorina). It’s possible that HP will keep the name, given that enterprise competitor Oracle has the name on Oakland Arena. Then again, Oracle has a similar choice to make that same year because its naming rights deal ran only a decade. Chances are that both companies will drop the naming rights deals for different reasons: HP because it will no longer have the consumer focus to justify the deal, and Oracle because Larry Ellison lost out on owning the Warriors. Often naming rights deals are reflections of companies’ CEOs, and this is no different.

Capping off corporate talk is billionaire Carl Icahn threatening to perform a coup at Clorox (again). Icahn, who is worth $12.5 billion and has his tentacles seemingly everywhere, is the largest shareholder of CLX stock with a 9.4% stake in the company. Earlier in the summer, Icahn attempted a $10.2 billion buyout of Clorox, all in the name of achieving greater shareholder value (his M.O. for everything). Rebuffed in that attempt, Icahn is now trying to replace the company’s entire board of directors with himself and 11 of his own hand-picked people. Something on this front may happen in November, when the annual shareholders meeting will be held. Icahn doesn’t always win, but it is thought in some corners that his power influenced the sale of Motorola to Google for $12.5 billion (coincidence), which was reported on Monday. Why is this important? If Icahn gets his way, it’s likely that Clorox will eventually be sold to the highest bidder, perhaps one of its competitors such as Proctor and Gamble. P&G would be interesting in that they were forced to divest Clorox due to antitrust concerns around the time the A’s moved to Oakland. And if Clorox is bought and/or sold, CEO Donald Knauss, the former Coca-Cola exec who has shown interest in East Bay/Oakland sports to the extent that there are rumors of a possible naming rights deal, is also not long for Clorox either. If Knauss goes, so does that deal. Naming rights deals often reflect companies’ CEOs, remember?

08.15.11
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News for 8/15/11

Maury Brown highlights two important actions this week by MLB: approval of the Astros sale to Jim Crane, and another Dodgers bankruptcy hearing. Crickets for the A’s. Update: Now we have word that the Crane approval has been delayed pending further “due diligence.” Yeah, heard that one before.

Santa Clara is paying redevelopment ransom to the state, which will allow it to move forward with initial funding of the 49ers stadium. Field of Schemes has the big picture.

The Giants’ AA affiliate in Richmond, VA, won’t be able to get a replacement for the dated Diamond until 2015 because of a paucity of public funds. I’m crying a river for them.

It’s time for another installment of Dave Newhouse potshots and vitriol. I wonder why he rarely mentions Victory Court?

Apple’s planned space colony-styled headquarters in Cupertino is so large that you could fit a complex of four pro baseball fields in the donut hole that is its interior greenspace. My guess is that the 2.8 million square-foot campus will cost $2 billion to build, and with Cupertino only happy to rubber stamp the plans, the 2015 opening date is a real possibility. Before an A’s ballpark? Quite possibly.

Activist hacker group Anonymous broke into the myBART website and leaked a database of user information. This was in retaliation for BART shutting down cell phone service in tunnel sections to prevent protests. Now a real protest will occur today at 5 near the Civic Center station. Taking the Richmond train from Fremont yesterday, the train had to switch to the opposite due to another disabled train on the right side of the tracks or something. I’d prefer that hackers fix that.

Grantland’s Peter Richmond rips the three new New York stadia (Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, New Meadowlands Stadium) to shreds.

The Sharks are hosting an event called “Spirit of Silicon Valley: Come Out and Play” at the Fourth Street Summit Center (above the 4th St Garage) on September 6. Reps from the Sharks, Quakes, 49ers, and A’s will be on hand. (thanks steve)

Added: $200 million has been approved for various South Bay transit projects, including $40 million for the BART-to-Silicon Valley extension and $71.6 million for new carpool lanes to I-880. The latter may be more important initially, especially for weeknight games in San Jose. Only a decade ago, 880 in the stretch between Montague Expressway and 101 was only two lanes in each direction. It was expanded to three lanes each way, with over and underpasses left wide enough for eventual carpool lane additions. While it doesn’t solve the transit problem between the East and South Bay, it should make travel down the corridor a good deal easier. 

Shannon Stone, the Brownwood, Texas firefighter who died from a fall after attempting to catch a ball thrown in the stands at a Rangers-A’s game in Arlington, will get a bronze statue of himself and his son outside Rangers Ballpark.

08.12.11
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C.J. Wilson Appreciation Night

I’m at the yard early. As you would expect, the field is pretty torn up after last night’s Raiders game. Here’s the evidence.

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Hopefully the crowd is large and lustfully booing our not-so-new nemesis, Texas Rangers hurler C.J. Wilson. I’ll do my part. It’s good to have the boys back. It’s good to be back.

For this homestand, I’ve decided the official song for the blog is “Oh Sherrie” by Steve Perry. Dig into the lyrics, and you might find a metaphor for our Athletics, ownership, and us fans. Enjoy the game. (Yes, I know that Perry is a Giants fan who sold out for the White Sox in ’05. It’s a freaking pop song. Lighten up Francis.)

08.12.11
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94 South Montgomery

When San Jose started on its quest to assemble land for a downtown ballpark, its plans were ambitious. Initially, the City’s project area included the ballpark site you see in the rendering above, plus the “triangle” on the other side of Park Avenue and the strip between Los Gatos Creek and Autumn Street. Dwindling funds forced San Jose Redevelopment Agency to scale back its acquisitions to the point of being roughly two-thirds the size of the original project area. One parcel was acquired early on, and despite the fact that it can’t be part of the ballpark, it could play a key role in planning for the future district anchored by Cisco Field and HP Pavilion.

The parcel in question is the former 94 South Montgomery Street, on the northeast corner of West San Fernando and South Montgomery. A small multi-family housing unit once stood there, before it was demolished when SJRA acquired it. At a mere 6,780 square feet, it’s not much good for anything other than a a retail building. Currently, the land is fenced off. There don’t appear to be any plans to pave it, as the Stephens Meat lot was paved over post-demolition.

As part of the ongoing redevelopment of the largely light industrial area, several things are likely to occur in the distant future:

  • Some landowners between West San Fernando and The Alameda/Santa Clara Street are likely to cash out when the time is right.
  • Others who see the ballpark as potentially beneficial to their operations may choose to stay. An example is Poor House Bistro, which is located behind the 94 S. Montgomery parcel in the picture above.
  • Streets will be dug up and repaved, with utilities headed underground.
  • If the A’s get to working with the City, the Sharks, and VTA/Caltrain/Amtrak on planning, it’s likely that they’ll figure out a way to remake the area as a very pedestrian-friendly staging area for pre and post-game festivities, and even a Yawkey Way-like in-game area for fans. For instance, if you’ve gone to downtown San Jose for Christmas in the Park, you’ll see how Park Avenue is repurposed for carnival rides and booths. I would expect that kind of set up to happen on West San Fernando every homestand, which would take care of having additional family-oriented attractions adjacent to the space-challenged ballpark. I’d rather have that than *cough* a Coke bottle.

What about the parcel? Within the new staging context, it would appear that the parcel is a key piece to the future of Diridon area. Chances are that it’ll attract significant attention from developers, whether it’s the Wolff family or other developers. It wouldn’t surprise me if a major restauranteur were interested. Personally, I’d like to have an A’s museum there on a new structure. If not that, then a public plaza that honors A’s history. Coupled with the small parking lot next door, there are numerous opportunities. It’s not anything that can make Wolff/Fisher serious money, but it can significantly increase the attractiveness of the district. Anything that brings in fans, visitors, tourists – it’s all good for San Jose.

08.11.11
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Redevelopment agencies granted stay until January

CORRECTION: Apparently I misinterpreted the news wrong. From the LA Times:

The court issued an order delaying enforcement of most provisions of the new law until a ruling on the merits of the case, but said redevelopment agencies could not incur new debt, transfer assets, buy property or enter into new contracts in the meantime.

So that means that neither SJRA or ORA could make the land purchases. Ah, but San Jose created a new joint powers authority, SJDDA. Sounds like a truck-sized loophole.

It looks like the gambit being played by RDA lobbyists, San Jose and Union City has paid off, at least for a few months. The California Supreme Court ruled today that redevelopment agencies have been granted a stay, delaying their dismantling until as late as January 15, 2012, when the court is expected to make a final ruling on the constitutionality of Governor Brown’s plan (Chron/Merc).

That doesn’t mean that RDAs are dancing in the streets. Yesterday, Los Angeles committed to a $97 million payment to the state so that the agency could stay operational. In doing so, that means the top two RDAs (LA, San Diego) have chosen to pony up. That leaves Oakland, which hasn’t said much about its plans, and San Jose, which is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, looking to either continue activities as planned or negotiate a different payment schedule.

For San Jose, this probably means they can move forward with the final land acquisitions at Diridon, which were supposed to be wrapped up by the end of June. In Oakland, this probably means they can go ahead with the Coliseum/Raiders redevelopment plan, and if other expenditures were required for Victory Court (such as extra EIR work), those could get the green light too.

All right, cities. You’ve got up to five months to crank out some results. Get to it!

OT – On A’s Talk, Chris Townsend may have revealed that the Sharks may not be on The Game this upcoming season.

One more thing – Cisco rose 16% today on a better-than-expected earnings report.

08.10.11
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No chance for a SJ vote until MLB decides

Saw this tweet come across the internets:

No surprise here. Ever since Mayor Chuck Reed’s failed bluff, the City has had this stance regarding the referendum. What this means is a potential June 2012 vote, now that the state legislature has pushed back the upcoming primary from its previous February date. In all likelihood, that’s the last possible date for a ballpark vote in order to afford enough prep time for a Winter 2012/2013 groundbreaking and an April 2015 Opening Day. November 2012 could also be a possibility, but only if every other step such as demolition were either completed or well underway.

Of course, there’s the remote possibility that no referendum will be required. If the A’s were to buy all of Diridon land and pay for the Autumn Parkway project, I suspect that the city attorney will rule that no referendum is necessary. If the A’s don’t pay for Autumn Parkway, chances are that a referendum will be needed – even though the project would impact more than just the ballpark. Call it a hunch.

Keep in mind that we still haven’t heard what the status is of the remaining land buys. By not acting on a referendum now, the City can wait up to a full year to do the remaining acquisitions, even if they require eminent domain.