04.06.11
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SJRA’s party ends, SJDDA’s begins

Wary of Governor Brown’s intent to dismantle redevelopment and weary of budget woes, the San Jose Redevelopment Authority laid off nearly half of its staff and is ready to cut almost all of the rest, according to the Merc’s Tracy Seipel. Some city backers feel SJRA’s work is unappreciated and unfinished, while redevelopment detractors consider the agency a bloated, wasteful example of government overreach. SJRA has been winding down its work over the past year, with only a few projects remaining.

Other than a much-hoped-for baseball stadium in downtown San Jose, a 700-plus-unit housing development in the area north of downtown’s San Pedro Square and infrastructure improvements within the agency’s 21 project areas, there isn’t much left on the agency’s plate.

Of course, there’s the fact that the City created the San Jose Diridon Development Authority last month. This “Son of RDA,” as I coined it then, will have the power to do virtually everything that SJRA can do now, except that it will be restricted to a specific part of downtown San Jose including the ballpark site. The lawsuit by the county that threatened the newborn agency? Settled. SJDDA currently has no website, no specific projects, and no end date. For now its only limitations are what the City and various public and private interests dream up for the district. That includes a ballpark, San Jose’s “Grand Central Terminal,” a small mixed-use development, just about anything.

So while Dandy Don Meredith may be singing while SJRA head Harry Mavrogenes turns out the lights, it’s likely that some of the agency staff, including Mavrogenes, will end up with similar jobs at SJDDA. Mavrogenes was a signatory to the joint powers agreement.

Redevelopment is dead. Long live redevelopment. Especially if the City makes it happen.

Update 4/8 2:10 PM – The first payment made by the City to the County as part of the settlement was made on schedule, with additional payments forthcoming. When you have to make a $21 million payment with only a few weeks to spare, costcutting measures such as layoffs have a good chance of happening.

04.06.11
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Bloomberg profile on Wolff

Update 12:50 PM – Several items have been added to the end of the post.

Last, Bloomberg’s Nadja Brandt put up a profile of Lew Wolff in which he indicates that his LA-based real estate firm, Maritz Wolff, is looking to sell up to $1.8 Billion in various luxury hotel properties by 2015. There’s one interesting takeway.

  • Wolff helped keep the St. Louis Blues in town when they threatened to move in the late 80’s. He and partner Philip Maritz were part of a large business consortium that built a new arena, now known as Scottrade Center, which kept the Blues in St. Louis.

That doesn’t mean the comparisons to Wally Haas should start. But it does show that Wolff has had crucial experience in this realm that stretches way back. Coincidentally, that consortium, Clark Enterprises, ran the Blues and arena at a significant loss for several years before eventually selling the team to Bill Laurie.

Both San Jose and Oakland partisans will be fixated on a couple other takeaways. Chief among them is this easily misinterpreted quote:

“I have no emotional ties to any property,” Wolff said. “They are inanimate objects. That’s the only way we can be fair to our long-term investors who trust us to do what’s best.”

In the ongoing effort to demonize Wolff, his detractors will seize upon that as a sign that Wolff is a cold, emotionless moneygrubber. The Blues experience would seem to belie that. Wolff is neither saint nor devil. He’s laying out his vision for what he thinks is the best path forward for the A’s. Unless someone steps in to buy the team from Wolff and Fisher with a mindblowing offer, that vision is going to be seen through. Which leads me to this:

“Where it may make sense to sell is if you’re in a gateway city with a trophy hotel that doesn’t need significant capital expenditures,” he said. “Bidding for those has been crazy.”

Extend Wolff’s contrarian real estate investment philosophy to owning a team, and it would appear that Wolff intends to hold on until his vision, a new ballpark, is achieved. There’s no bigger capital investment for a sports franchise than building your own stadium. After that, who knows?

Also, it’s a bit much to think that these hotel sales will suddenly mean hundreds of millions will get plowed into a ballpark. That’s not how it works. A ballpark will be financed just like every other ballpark because no one invests cash in a stadium these days and it’s crazy not to take advantage of low interest rates.

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In other news, Evan Weiner has a good overview of the history of territorial rights and franchise moves.

The SNY (Mets) and YES (Yankees) networks are under pressure to renew carriage deals with satellite providers Dish and DirecTV.

A vigil will be held tonight in LA for Bryan Stow, the Giants fan who was beaten outside Dodger Stadium after last Thursday’s Opening Day game. The Giants will dedicate their Friday opener to Stow. The reward for his assailants’ arrest has been upped to $100,000. Stow is a 42-year old Santa Cruz paramedic and father of two.

If you haven’t read it yet, read Josh Koehn’s feature for Metro from last week. It’s about San Jose’s efforts thus far, and when coupled with Robert Gammon’s 2006 Fremont-oriented piece for the East Bay Express, should bring anyone with a passing interest up-to-date.

Oakland City Attorney John Russo appears to be on his way to becoming the next Alameda City Manager.

Cuts to Caltrain service will not be as bad as once feared, though the Giants and some secondary stations are getting the brunt of it.

  • Weekday service will be slashed from 88 daily trains to 76.
  • Special service, such as Giants pre and postgame trains, will be cut.
  • Four lightly used stations will be closed on the weekdays, several more will be closed on the weekends.
  • Fares will rise 25 cents.

It could have been much worse.

04.05.11
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More contraction B.S.

Forbes’ Mike Ozanian mused about contraction yesterday:

From what I am hearing, I doubt there will be any baseball at Tropicana Field after 2014 even though the team’s lease runs to 2027.

The funny part is that in the comments, someone pointed out to him that a second team would have to be contracted to make it work, which he casually acknowledged and then pointed the finger at the A’s.

Today the blowback has begun, from Craig Calcaterra’s brief and annoyed response to a much lengthier one from Maury Brown. That follows what Ken Rosenthal wrote six weeks ago, which I deconstructed in short order. None of the sensible arguments against contraction have changed. They’re just not noisy or loud enough.

Consensus appears to be that MLB is doing this to win concessions against MLBPA, which I find barely plausible at best. Instead, I think it’s more appropriate to look at the more hidden agenda. The endgame for the A’s and Rays would involve having New Yorker Stuart Sternberg own Mets and Los Angeles resident Lew Wolff own the Dodgers. Nevermind that Wolff owns less than 10% of the A’s, he could conceivably bring on big money partners to take on the rest of the Dodgers, a team with a $800 million franchise value.

It’s far more likely that interests in the two largest markets in the country want in on some kind of ownership piece and are on the outside looking in. They see Sternberg and Wolff as ways to get in The Lodge, and the greater the FUD spread about Fred Wilpon and Frank McCourt, the better their chances are. MLB is happy to entertain the notions for now, since they ultimately have the power to act on them – or not act on them, which is most likely. That’s a great strategy, as long as you’re only looking at things through a very narrow scope. Big picture, none of this makes any sense. As I argued in February, MLB has to get its own house in order before confronting MLBPA on any major issues. To get the Mets and Dodgers healthy and properly functioning again, it makes more sense to get new, non-crony blood owning those teams. There will be willing buyers, it’s just a matter of whether prospective buyers will balk when they look at those teams’ debt positions.

The debt and revenue problems for the Mets and Dodgers have far greater implications leaguewide than the A’s and Rays getting a combined $50 million in revenue sharing every year. When the Mets and Dodgers have large revenue and attendance drops, it hurts the league much more than changes to the A’s and Rays’ revenue profiles. While MLB could deal with all four teams in one fell swoop, a deeper look reveals that it’s not nearly as convenient as it appears. Wilpon and McCourt continue to be wrapped up in nasty litigation battles, and while McCourt’s divorce proceedings could end soon, the Wilpon-Madoff mess could stretch throughout the rest of the baseball season, if not longer. And if Bud Selig is as paralyzed by the Dodgers’ situation as he is by the A’s-Giants T-rights ordeal, nothing improves. Would that lack of progress and decisive action surprise anyone out there?

04.04.11
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A Royal Dilemma

Two home games remain for the Sacramento Kings, before they presumably fire up the moving vans and head south for Anaheim, whose city fathers welcome to soon-to-be Royals with open arms, a much more updated arena, and a much richer and larger fanbase. One real hangup remains: the Maloofs owe the City of Sacramento $67 million of a loan they inherited from former owner Jim Thomas, plus a $9 million prepayment penalty on that loan.

Sacramento has gone so far as to write Anaheim a letter informing them of the Maloofs’ current debt obligations in an effort to influence Anaheim away from the franchise. So far, that letter has ony drawn scorn from the Maloofs, who don’t want Sacramento interfering in “business matters.” Anaheim approved $75 million in relocation costs and improvements plus a practice facility for the team, which just about seals the deal. On the Kings website there are no efforts to sell season tickets for the 2011-12 season, and the only promotional item is Fan Appreciation Night on the 13th, the final game in Sacramento Kings history against the hated Los Angeles Lakers. Thomas was seen last Friday in one of the Maloof brothers’ courtside seats, probably to see the team he brought to Cowtown play for the last time.

That leaves the matter of outstanding debt, which the cash-strapped Maloofs have promised to pay but haven’t said how they would do it. If they default, they will lose the arena and the 183 acres that surround it, plus Sacramento would get a $25 million stake in the Anaheim Royals. Chances are that the Maloofs don’t want Sacramento to have any stake in the team, so it could offer up the arena, land and a smaller cash payment to settle up. Two weeks ago, San Jose and Santa Clara County settled an ongoing debt issue in part by transferring real estate from the City to the County. It’s not hard to see the Maloofs offering the same kind of deal, since a) they won’t need the arena after they leave, and b) It’s a good asset the City could get for a song, warts and all.

Assessed value of the entire property comes to $61.7 million, with $45 million of that in the arena and practice facility. The assessed value of the arena may be overinflated due to the state of distress that the arena is in and the renovations it needs going forward. The assessed land value is a mere $16.7 million, or $91,000 per acre. Right now, even with that pittance of a land value, for a revenue-needy city such as Sacramento it may as well be worth nothing. There will undoubtedly be some in city government who feel that way. Then again, there are serious long-term strategic opportunities should Sacramento move to acquire the arena.

The uncertain future of redevelopment makes acquiring the land a risky proposition. To fund any improvements to the land, the City would have to create a redevelopment district from which they could collect tax increment after the land was flipped to a developer. (In short, this is the practice of landbanking.) As attractive as the land may have been 10 years ago, it’s not the least bit attractive right now – unless someone is dying to build right now. Given Sacramento’s horrendous housing market, that seems highly unlikely – though that hasn’t stopped recent Sacramento arena proposals from including a large infill housing development component. In any case, should redevelopment agencies cease to exist after this summer the City would have to rush to approve the deal and the creation of the redevelopment district.

The point of accruing tax increment would be to fund improvements for the arena, whose leaky roof and outdated, cramped quarters are pushing the Kings to vacate their premises. If Sacramento is to have any hope to attract a future NBA franchise, at least $250 million in improvements would have to be in order. That would include the following items:

  • Fix the roof
  • Dig 20-40′ further down (a la Oracle Arena) to create a more spacious, flexible event floor
  • Add a club concourse and seating
  • Add another suite level and revamp suites
  • Redo the seating bowl and replace seats
  • Replace scoreboard and signage

If Sacramento were not to worry about getting a replacement team, it could opt for a more modest ($50-100 million) spiffing up of the arena, which would focus on must-fix items such as the roof and the back-of-the-house. The City could immediately turn management of the venue over to a dedicated operator like SMG, AEG, Global Spectrum, or SVSE. The purpose of the arena would be to continue to attract concerts, ice shows, and other non-team entertainment to the region. The arena could have enough improvements to be once again included in the NCAA basketball tournament rotation. All of this has some significance, as the closest large indoor venues to the City are the 8,000-seat UC Davis Pavilion and 11,000-seat Stockton Arena. Those venues are 20 and 50 miles away from Sacramento, respectively. The outdoor Sleep Train Amphitheatre is 30 miles north in Wheatland and ony operates in the summer. Those distances would leave an entertainment black hole in the capital city if the arena were not to continue operating. Even with the mistrust of Maloofs and the need for cash, it may be an offer that Mayor Kevin Johnson and the City Council can’t refuse.

The future of basketball in Sacramento looks bleak, to put it mildly. Even if it were to get a brand new arena deal done in the next six months, there’s no guarantee they’d ever get a NBA franchise anytime soon. That’s Mayor Johnson’s strategy at this point, and it may be the only sound one if you hold out any hope for major pro sports in Sacramento. Johnson could turnaround and pitch the ARCO site to the A’s, but the gloomy market there makes funding a $400 million ballpark extremely difficult, let alone an arena renovation. There are forces who want to forego ARCO and build an arena downtown, as expensive and complicated as it sounds. It’s going to be tough to get a good deal in place, and I don’t envy the decision makers up there one bit.

04.04.11
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Santa Clara to authorize 49ers to sell naming rights

On Tuesday, Santa Clara’s City Council/Stadium Authority is expected to approve a small procedural change in the financing for the 49ers stadium. The change is fairly simple: Allow the 49ers to sell the naming rights to the stadium instead of the Stadium Authority. Doing so could reduce overhead for the Authority, which is important since it has no money of its own with which to operate.

Under the terms of the agreement (PDF), the 49ers – er, Stadco – would have 2 years to get the naming rights deal done before the task reverts back to the Authority. If a broker is used and is successful in getting the deal, it would get 5% of the top. The top of what, you ask? Well, the City isn’t willing to say. But they and the team have had a number in mind going back to when the stadium concept was hatched. Remember this?

$7 million a year for 40 years. That’s $280 million, or 40% of the $700 million naming rights deal announced two months ago between AEG and Farmers. The 49ers could be gunning for a higher figure because of what the Farmers Field deal represents. Then again, TBA Stadium won’t be domed so it won’t be flexible enough to hold nearly as many events, so perhaps a 40% deal is in order. If the 49ers have an on-the-DL Raiders agreement in their back pocket, it could provide impetus towards a higher number. Any increase over that $7 million per year figure could reduce pressure to sell Seat Builder Licenses (PSLs), which could in turn make financing the whole thing much more feasible.

The article mentions Yahoo! as a neighbor, though not as a naming rights partner. In 2007 I heard that Yahoo! was the likely candidate, though the company has since been knocked down several pegs and is still in a state of recovery. At this point they may not be the best choice, though they are certainly no fly-by-night operation. Intel may be a better partner, as would – you guessed it – Cisco. Both Intel and Cisco advertise heavily on ESPN and on other national sports broadcasts, so this would be right up their alley. However, you have to wonder about what Cisco’s possible deal with the A’s represents. Is Cisco’s naming rights worth more if the ballpark is in San Jose, not Fremont, and not tied to a land deal? Possibly. Would Intel or Cisco pay more than twice as much for naming rights to a NFL stadium than a MLB ballpark? That’s unclear. As much as I thought that the days of throwing funny money at stadia were over, the Farmers deal went and reset the playing field – even if it never gets built. We’ll find out over the next couple of years if it’s merely an outlier or the start of a trend.

On a tangentially related note, the Florida Marlins are looking to get a naming rights deal for its domed ballpark done sometime within the next month.

04.02.11
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It’s up to the fans

Trib reporter Angela Woodall’s writeup of the Keep the A’s in Oakland tailgate ends with the following quote by Let’s Go Oakland’s Doug Boxer:

“Now it’s up to the fans.”

He’s absolutely right. It is up to the fans. It has always been up to the fans. If the A’s had 34,000 – heck, 30,000 – filled seats every night, there would be no question as to whether or not the A’s could and should stay in Oakland. It’s really that simple. 30,000 a night would show that there were enough season tickets, walkup sales, suite and club buys to make it work. That is the challenge. That is why the question exists.

We can go on all day and night about ownership, or marketing, or the stadium, or a roster without huge stars. What about the fact that the team we love is the Oakland Athletics? Our team. Our passion, which for me has been for 30 years, for the guy sitting next to me tonight at least a decade more. If – and this is a big if – MLB’s process is legitimate, there’s a very simple way to prove that the fanbase here is that rabid.

I’ll gladly trade a little elbow room for some butts in seats. After all, there’s no passion in an empty chair.

03.31.11
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A’s sign 4-year radio deal with KBWF-FM 95.7 “The Wolf”

The A’s press release is available now.

For some part of the next four years, A’s games will be broadcast on 95.7, KBWF-FM, a.k.a. “The Wolf.” It’s a country station, broadcasting with a Class B license atop San Bruno Mountain at 6,900 watts. The coverage map from radio-locator looks like this:

While 6,900 watts is not the most powerful of signals, KBWF is augmented by a 186 W (that’s right) repeater near Mt. Diablo, which is meant to help the station’s coverage in Contra Costa County. The FCC’s service contour map can be found here, though it should be pointed out that the single line in that map reflects the same coverage as the red line in the map above.

Perhaps the biggest and most unknown takeaway of all of this is the fact that the deal was with Entercom, the radio giant that owns Sharks broadcaster KUFX. Entercom isn’t looking to sell individual stations, so the chance that it might unload one of its properties to a non-radio entity like the A’s is slim. It’s unclear what this means for KTRB. The A’s press release makes no mention of Comerica Bank-owned station. If this was yet another hardball tactic in ongoing negotiations, it may push the bank to take a less hard line stance. As for KTRB, the A’s pursuit of the station is over according to Susan Slusser. Via SuSlu’s Twitter feed:

The #Athletics pursuit of 860 AM is at an end. They offered more than double what it was worth and had signed letter of intent to buy.

#Athletics VP Ken Pries on the receiver’s motives for terminating team broadcasts: “You can speculate. Leverage? Up the offer? Hardball?”

If the receiver for 860 AM was trying to play hardball, she lost big-time. Only the #Athletics had incentive to overpay for troubled station

Pries says the team will now try to find affiliate in Monterey area with demise of 860 AM. #athletics

That last tweet is for Bleacher Dave. If the A’s simply thought the price was too high, it’s possible that KTRB’s existence as the other sports radio station in the Bay Area will be short-lived, as whomever buys the station will surely go with a different format.

We can’t end this without a joke, this one from Ken Arneson:

So I’m assuming that the A’s new radio station “95.7 The Wolf” will soon change its name to “The Wolff”?

It’s a sad day for the many of us who wanted an alternative to the KNBR hegemony. At least the A’s have a broadcast deal going forward. How long this one lasts… well, we wouldn’t be A’s fans if we knew.

P.S. – Wherever you are in the Bay Area, please turn on KBWF and let us know how the coverage sounds. The signal is constant day and night, so it should not be affected by the transmission power rules that plagued previous stations.

P.P.S. – Pre and postgame coverage will remain as is with Chris Townsend doing the honors (he is employed by the A’s). Over the last couple of months, KBWF has garnered a 1.1 rating, good for 26th in the San Francisco market (#4 nationwide) and just above rival country station KRTY, which pulled in a 1.0. In the San Jose market (#34), KRTY gets a 3.1 while KBWF (13th) pulls in 0.7 (30th).

03.30.11
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State Budget Talks Collapse

The word from the Capitol tonight is that budget talks have broken down. Governor Brown took to YouTube to explain his side of things, laying blame on the Republicans for holding out for more cuts.

Brown says he’s not given up on the process, but it sounds more and more like the Democrats are going to try to do this on their own. What that means is highly uncertain at this point. It could mean Draconian cuts, it could mean getting concessions from public employees unions – just about anything is up for grabs at this point. That anything includes redevelopment. Safe again for the time being, redevelopment was supported by the Republicans in a smaller, compromise plan. It remains to be seen whether some (or many) Dems will start supporting redevelopment again or if they stay unified behind the Governor.

One thing’s absolutely certain: This isn’t getting resolved anytime soon.

03.29.11
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Baseball Season means it’s time for Homeroom

Updated 7:00 PM – The Merc’s Tracy Seipel has a Q&A on the A’s-to-San Jose effort.

I went to the A’s ticket office to pick up some extra seats for this weekend, and while I was there, I figured I’d check out a little eatery I’d heard about, Homeroom. Located at 400 40th Street in the Temescal neighborhood, Homeroom is only a few blocks east of the MacArthur BART station and a few more blocks from Fenton’s Creamery.

Homeroom’s thing is Mac ‘n Cheese. As American as baseball or apple pie, mac ‘n cheese is perhaps the ultimate comfort food, and is clearly my favorite American food. When I heard that a restaurant dedicated to serving up the dish was opening in Oakland, I squealed like a little girl. Today just happened to be a day I could partake in cheesy goodness, so off I went.

The decor is reminiscent of an elementary school classroom, with a wall-sized chalkboard in the back. Tables are made out of refinished remnants of old gymnasium bleachers, a huge plus in my book.

Seeing that this was my first visit, I chose the Classic, which is the simple Cheddar-based version with no toppings. Breadcrumbs are great from a textural standpoint but don’t impart much flavor, and bacon, frankly, is a cheat. Just about anything can be improved with bacon, so I wanted to see what the dish was like without embellishment. Mac n’ Cheese is generally a vegetarian dish, but they also had a vegan option and just about everything can be ordered gluten free.

The menu has both wine and beer pairing suggestions. The proprietors are apparently big beer coinnoisseurs, since they do occasional beer-food events and had spent some time puttin together the solid, but not exceptionally long list of beers. I asked for a Racer 5 from Bear Republic, but it was out and they had Acme IPA from North Coast instead. I went for the suggested beer for the Classic, Lost Coast’s Downtown Brown, which inevitably was a very good idea.

Texture is everyting when it comes to mac ‘n cheese. I wasn’t disappointed. Sharp, molten cheddar had the perfect balance of heft and creaminess. Portion size at $7.50 was just right. The brown ale took the edge off the sharpness. Lather, rinse, repeat. Dessert was a homemade oreo cookie, sweet but not cloying. Total bill was a shade north of $18, not including tip. I went mid-afternoon, hoping to avoid the reportedly long lines.

It’s too bad the Broadway Auto Row concept never gained traction, either 4 years ago when I sketched it out or last year when Let’s Go Oakland was looking at sites. Homeroom and Fenton’s would be great for families attending a day weekend game to simply walk over to these establishments. With some luck, Homeroom will continue its early success and attain the kind of longevity experienced at Fenton’s. Even though it’s a ways from the Coliseum and not within walking distance of Victory Court, Homeroom is worth a visit. Perhaps not everyday as you were mandated in grade school, but once in a while, maybe every other homestand. How else are you going to try the various great mac ‘n cheese variations they have on hand?

03.28.11
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Radio update and other news for 3/28/11

The weekend came and went with no movement on the KTRB front. Strangely, the Bay Bridge Series will be broadcast on former flagship KFRC-1550 AM. Why? I don’t know, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to have a Plan B. Still holding out for a final resolution, which Rick Tittle suggests could be coming today. Time for a poll.

The Chronicle’s Ron Kroichick wrote what amounts to a eulogy for the Sacramento Kings on Saturday. Worth reading.

In related news, details are emerging about the deal that will bring the Kings to Anaheim. Not included in the $75 million relocation cost are the payment terms of existing debt the Maloofs have with the Kings.

The Maloofs inherited the terms of a $70 million loan from the previous Kings owner when they bought the team, and there’s a reported $67 million left on the loan, which also stipulates a prepayment penalty of $9 million.

That $76 million would have to be paid in full if the Kings relocate or else the Maloofs would lose their arena and the City of Sacramento would acquire a $25 million stake in the team.

Wondering how the 2022 World Cup in Qatar can occur in the hot desert with no domed stadia? Try artificial clouds.

That thing hovering over the stadium? That's a cloud.

Attendance at the Cactus League is down, leading me to believe that it’s oversaturated. From USA Today’s Bob Nightengale:

The Cactus League has essentially been divided into the haves and have-nots, with nine of the 15 teams located on the economically troubled west side of Phoenix. Instead, fans in Arizona are choosing to watch games on the Valley’s east side, where the San Francisco Giants, Rockies, Diamondbacks and Cubs are responsible for more than one-third of the Cactus League’s draw.

AEG chose Gensler to be the lead architect on the downtown LA football stadium, if it happens.

gojohn10 is promoting a worthwhile fundraiser event.

Please join me in supporting Children’s Hospital Oakland by attending an A’s game. I am organizing a fundraiser for the Aug 13th game vs Texas. This is Ray Fosse Bobblehead day and will likely be an important game that will propel the A’s toward the AL West Crown. Tickets are in the Plaza level and are $20 (regularly $24). $8 from every sale gets donated toward the hospital.

If you are unable to attend the game, please consider purchasing a ticket or two anyhow, and donating them. We will be working with various departments in the hospital to identify patient families in need and we will donate as many tickets as possible so that the kids and their families can be present at the game too!

Tickets sales have to go through us and are on sale at the hospital. Since this is inconvenient for most of you, I can purchase the tickets for you if you paypal me. For more information contact me at the email I’ve set up for the event: ballgame@mail.cho.org.

P.S.
I want to sell as many tickets as possible so I am willing to split up the seating so pro-Oaklanders and pro-SJers can enjoy the game in peace 😉

Thanks,
John

More on the radio situation as it happens.

Update 4:00 PM – Rich Lieberman has the latest. Have the A’s walked away from the table? Is it like going to a car dealership and getting up to leave as a negotiating tactic? We’ll see.