07.27.10
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Notes from a movie set

Got to the set at 10:30. Line took an hour to process. Two release forms.

Craft services is skimpy on anything good. Party mix, granola bars, coffee. Yippee.

We’ve been moved three times along the 3rd base side. I’m pretty sure I’m not in any shots. Yes, the tarps are off.

There’s a problem with actor Stephen Bishop, who plays David Justice. Evidently casting forgot to make sure he was left-handed like Justice. It’s made for some comical throws back to the infield.

There are a few dozen paid extras in the crowd, sometimes in designated areas such as Diamond Level seats.

Philip Seymour Hoffman was here but by the time we got in he was relaxing in street clothes. He left around 1.

About 20 minutes in I realized that the scene being filmed was the KC comeback from 11-0 during game 20 of The Streak. Nothing like reliving the most panic inducing moment of the 2002 season.

They’ve reenacted the Michael Tucker double (and Justice’s reaction) over a dozen times.

The guy playing Eric Chavez is maybe 5’9″. The guys playing Miguel Tejada and Randy Velarde are 6′. Huddy looks like Huddy.

Diamond Vision is playing every highlight loop from the last decade, it seems.

Anything else? I left before the last scene, which has the crowd in the LF bleachers. Glad I did the unpaid extra thing, wouldn’t do it again.

07.26.10
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A’s ratings much better but still terrible?

Today, a report at SportsBusinessJournal shows TV ratings for the 30 clubs. Despite a 46% increase in viewership on CSN California, the A’s have placed last in both ratings (1.23) and viewers (30,792 households). Ratingswise the A’s are actually tied for last with the Angels, but the Angels’ much larger SoCal market nets more than double the eyeballs.

You’ll remember that 2009 was the first season on the new CSN California network, and as expected it encountered growing pains. Many non-Comcast cable systems didn’t carry the network at first, and there’s always that adjustment period for fans as they grow comfortable with the new channel.

Interestingly, the A’s rating at the beginning of the season was 1.6, though that was a small and not properly representative sample. As the A’s continue to improve on the field, the ratings recovery should also continue, perhaps even approaching a 2.0 rating, or roughly 50,000 households. Both the A’s and CSN have to be encouraged by the increase, as the audience should only get stronger over time. The eyebrow-raiser is the Washington Nationals, who have finally emerged from their malaise over the past few years with an initially competitive team and a must-see horse in Stephen Strasburg.

Perhaps even more important is the size of the market. Plenty of small and mid market teams have to perform quite well to get 30,000+ households, which speaks to the Bay Area’s importance. If they were ever to move out of the Bay Area, maxing out in a small market could prove more difficult there than here. Add to that the Bay Area’s affluence, and even in second place it’s a difficult combination to beat.

07.25.10
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Regionality: The New Revenue Stream

Is it possible that the A’s v. Giants rumble for the South Bay is a lot more complex than we even imagined? I mean, Bud Selig keeps saying so. Should we not believe him? Is it possible that the concept of MLB territory is evolving and this dispute is less about right now and more about an emerging revenue stream?

I caught myself pondering this question last week as the All Star Game was struggling to keep my attention. Honestly, my pondering began with a question like “When was the last time I cared about an All Star Game?” Oddly enough, I thought of the 1988 Triple A All Star Game in Buffalo, New York. It was the first Triple A All Star Game to feature all 26 Triple A affiliates and it was televised on ESPN. I remember waiting for the game to start as I sat in a 1950’s era ranch style San Lorenzo home staring at my grandparents 20 inch TV. Jim Kaat and Gary Thorne were waxing poetic about the beautiful new Pilot Field in Downtown Buffalo and the future stars about to take the field.

At the time, my main reason for being so excited was that I would get to see the player I thought would be the 4th Rookie of the Year (after Canseco, McGwire and Weiss) in a row for our Green and Gold heroes, Lance Blankenship. As a baseball card collector, I was also interested in seeing one Gregg Jefferies, a player I had heard about in card shops as a rookie card one needed to possess. They didn’t disappoint! Blankenship was 1 for 3 with a stolen base, while Jefferies was 1 for 2 with a Home Run. Other notable names that participated in the game? Bob Geren, Geronimo Berroa, Mike Devereaux, Joey Cora and Sandy Alomar.

Thinking about the game reminded me how much minor league baseball has changed.  It seemed that, back then, MLB teams didn’t think much about how the distance between the parent club and it’s top affiliate impacted business. The A’s Triple A team was 772 miles away in Tacoma, WA, for example. While that seems like quite a distance, it was nothing when compared with the over 3000 miles that separated the Chicago White Sox and their top affiliate in Vancouver, BC. I threw a quick spreadsheet together and discovered that in 1988, the median distance between a Major League team and it’s Triple A affiliate was 559 miles. (ed. note- This number is based on Google maps and is hardly precise, but close enough to illustrate the point)

If we juxtapose the conditions in 1988 with the conditions in 2009, it is easy to see a trend towards greater regionalization. Consider these things:

  • The median distance between MLB teams and their top affiliate is now only 315 miles.
  • In 1988, there were 2 Triple A affiliates that played within 200 miles of their parent club. Today there are 12.
  • Today there are 3 teams with their top affiliate over 1000 miles away, the greatest distance being the 3600 miles that are between Toronto and Las Vegas. In 1988, there were 6 teams that were separated from their top affiliate by more than 1000 miles, 2 well over 2000 miles.
  • The Braves moved their Triple A affiliate from Richmond, VA after 43 years. The Gwinnett County Braves are just over 30 miles from the parent club
  • The San Diego Padres (or at least some members of the teams ownership group) are actively working to bring the current Portland Beavers (next season Tuscon?) closer to the mothership. Possibly as close as San Marcos (36 mi.) or Escondido (31 mi.).

With MLB Advanced Media generating profits from the web, Fox Sports paying big bucks to broadcast national games, the advent of MLB Network, Regional Sports Networks extending the reach and frequency of each teams broadcasts, and most teams having a newish piggy bank for a stadium… Are minor league affiliates the next money maker for the MLB clubs? Or could there be a different reason for the decline in median distance? Is the shrinking distance between the clubs and their affiliates  about efficiency or marketing or both? Or could it be simply that expansion in the 90’s brought big league baseball closer to existing Triple A cities?

It seems to be all three. Teams are investing in minor league affiliates to make money, closer affiliates help the baseball operations staff by allowing for things like more efficient use of scouts or potentially quicker player call ups and the MLB expansion of the 90’s created the opportunity for MLB Clubs and their Triple A affiliates to move closer together.

Minor League Investments

The Padres are just one of a growing number of ownership groups that are finding it beneficial to invest in the minor leagues. The Braves, Giants, and Red Sox have all made investments in minor league teams at some point in the last decade. While I don’t expect that every team will be out buying up the 150 or so major league affiliated minor league teams across the country, I imagine most are kicking the tires on limited investments.

I find this particular quote from the above linked article to be telling:

“We’re on the record and excited about operating a Triple-A franchise in Padres’ territory,” Moorad said. “And we want to break ground, start turning shovels of dirt within four to six months.

“To be clear, though, our ownership group — not the Padres — will make the deal that makes sense to all parties.”

Is it possible that this view of expanding the reach within their territory by collocating a Triple A franchise is one of the issues that the Selig Panel is reporting on? It seems so.

Efficiency of Baseball Operations

Picture this hypothetical situation that a GM might face. The trade deadline is fast approaching and you are not sure yet if you are a buyer or seller so you need to get good scouting reports on potential targets as well as understand the recent performance of your minor league assets. Your top free agent acquisition is about to go on the shelf with elbow trouble and you aren’t sure who to bring up to take his roster spot. You want to send your most trusted scout to report on both scenarios. If your Triple A team is 80 miles away, and playing at home, and your High A affiliate is even closer, and playing a potential trading partner… It suddenly becomes a few days of driving around the adjacent Metro Area to get an on the ground report rather than a series of plane flights all over the country and back, assuming the two affiliates are playing nearby.

It’s less expensive, your scout is presumably more alert and when you call him on a whim and say, “Ben Sheets elbow is barking, should we call up Bowers, Mortenson, or someone else?” You can expect to get a better answer.

In a scenario that probably more applies to our A’s… Rehab assignments can be monitored by the GM himself if he wants, for crying out loud.

The Changes Since Expansion

Of the markets that hosted Triple A teams in 1988, 2 (Phoenix and Denver) were “promoted” to the bigs and 6 (Calgary, Edmonton, Richmond, Old Orchard Beach Maine, Tuscon and Vancouver) were “demoted” on out of Triple A baseball.

With 4 new Major League teams creating a need for 4 additional Triple A markets, the total new Triple A cities in the past two decades is 12. The new cities, since 1988, are Charlotte, Durham, Fresno, Lawrenceville (Gwinnett County, GA), Allentown (Lehigh Valley, PA),  Memphis, New Orleans, Reno, Round Rock (TX), Sacramento, Salt Lake City and Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre.

With Triple A teams dropping below the Canadian border, and closer to existing MLB franchises, all while new MLB teams were being established closer to existing Triple A cities (Colorado Springs/Denver), it seems only natural that teams would look to realign their minor league affiliations to take advantage of the opportunity to expand their reach into adjacent metropolitan areas. With the growth of Regional Sports Networks, minor league affiliates outside of traditional MLB territory, but inside an expanded TV market, became of greater strategic value.

In conclusion, it is all speculation as to what role this evolving view of the value of minor league affiliates in an extended metro area may hold for big league clubs. That said, it is clear that even small market teams are looking to the minor leagues as potential sources of future revenue. While I am not sure this is something that Selig’s panel is looking into, thinking about it (and mentally squinting really hard) definitely makes me understand some of the delay.

07.23.10
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Full Text of Ballot Measure

Just got Mayor Reed’s memo as I was headed out the door. Here is the full text of the ballot measure to be discussed at the August 3rd session:

Should the San Jose Downtown Ballpark and Jobs Measure be approved to authorize, but not require, the use of Redevelopment Agency funds, with no new taxes, to acquire and clear a site for a baseball stadium, fund related off-site improvements, and lease the site for a professional baseball team where the team would pay all on-site construction costs, operation and maintenance costs, generating new tax revenues for City operations?

I’ve added a link to the complete memo, which is four pages long and includes previously mentioned material, such as San Jose’s negotiating principles. More on this later tonight.

5:40 PM – the Mayor’s office has a response to Selig’s statement:

To bring Major League Baseball to San Jose, we first need two processes to occur: We must seek the approval of San Jose’s voters, and we must seek the approval of MLB.

The Commissioner’s process will move forward at a pace of his choosing. We respect their process, but we need to move forward with our process as well.

Our process is simple: we have exactly one regular citywide election scheduled in the next 23 months, and that’s in November. For the City of San Jose, it’s now or never.

August 3rd is the last day to obtain City Council approval to place items on the November ballot, and our Sunshine rules require that we file policy memorandums today. Sunshine and open government are cornerstones of San Jose’s decision-making process, and we will have a fully transparent process moving forward, just as we have over the past fifteen months.

With a strong statement of support from San Jose voters this November, we believe that we can remove any hesitation by Major League Baseball in recognizing the self-determined “territory” of San Jose’s residents.

Regarding any concern expressed about the timing of our decision, Mayor Reed’s staff sought to schedule a conversation this week between the Mayor and the Commissioner, but was unsuccessful. The Mayor has requested a meeting with the Commissioner’s office for next week to discuss the issue more fully.

Is that it for tonight? I sure hope so.

07.23.10
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Mark it down: August 3rd

Though the San Jose City Council remains in its July recess, Mayor Chuck Reed is moving forward to put a ballpark measure on the November ballot. While there’s been a lot of FUD regarding whether or not San Jose would do this, within City Hall there hasn’t been nearly as much drama. Call it the media’s version of the dog days of summer. Even Glenn Dickey got a word in late tonight.

As expected, San Jose’s posturing didn’t really amount to much, as it’s clear that they can’t really compete until all of the boxes on their checklist have checkmarks. Tonight’s news has an unnamed league source confirming this:

“Part of the problem is, Lew doesn’t have San Jose sewn up. It’s not like there’s a stadium ready to be built,” said this person, who refused to be identified because he isn’t authorized to speak for the league.

“If there was an approval, that could make a difference. It’s hard to say, ‘OK, Lew, you can have it,’ and then have them go through the voting process and end up losing.”

As recently as last week, Reed had said it would be up to Wolff whether the city should put a stadium measure on the ballot absent baseball’s approval. On Thursday, Wolff praised the mayor’s proposal.

“This is another element that would make the process more viable, just like acquiring the land and finishing the” supplemental environmental impact report, he said. “The more unknowns that can be out of the way, the better.”

As expected, Wolff also fell in line once San Jose got moving. While there will be representation from opposition groups, it’s highly likely that the Council will approve placing the measure on the ballot, especially because Wolff and a booster group will be picking up the tab.

It’s good to know that new opposition group Better Sense San Jose is headed by Shasta/Hanchett resident Marc Morris, and not an astroturf group. Morris has been present since Day 1 of the process, questioning the figures all the way, and all of his concerns should be properly addressed by the City and the A’s.

The real question at this point has to be: Will the Giants do something now that the A’s and San Jose have a “working relationship?”

9:43 AM – As a counterpoint, Congresswoman Barbara Lee penned a plea for Selig and MLB to focus on keeping the A’s in Oakland, which would help revitalize the city.

3:42 PM – The commissioner’s office has put out a response. In the statement, Selig voiced his disapproval for how San Jose is moving forward without his blessing. Is Selig doing his best Claude Rains impression? We’ll find out sooner or later.

Here’s the full text of the statement. Those of you who are reacting, what’s missing from the statement?

“We were surprised and disappointed by the news today in San Jose about the stadium referendum. We were not part of the process and had no knowledge that a decision to proceed with the election had been made. A ballot referendum is premature and completely independent of the ongoing work of the committee which has been in place to thoroughly study this situation.

“There is an established process in place and the committee will continue its work unaltered by these actions. Consistent with the ongoing evaluation of the Oakland A’s situation, the committee will meet with me once again this Monday. As I have said before, the object in this very complicated situation is not to get it done as fast as possible, but to get it done right.”

The question is not, “Why did Selig put out the statement?” The proper question is, “Why doesn’t MLB ask San Jose to wait for them to complete their work?”

07.23.10
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Cuban cleared to bid on Rangers

A day after The Decision in San Jose, an auction for the Texas Rangers is expected to occur. The proceedings on August 4th are sure to be even more interesting, now that billionaire/Mavs owner Mark Cuban has been cleared to bid on the team.

If Cuban wins, I’ll officially be concerned for the A’s and the AL West. Cuban is already legendary for the perks he provides to the members of the Mavericks roster. Expect that and more with the Rangers. It’ll threaten to escalate the Rangers-Angels rivalry into something approaching Yankees-Red Sox. Now that’s scary.

Even worse, Cuban has spent the last several years crunching numbers, running proprietary algorithms, and measuring performance on everyone in the NBA, from players to coaches to referees to sportscasters. (Okay, maybe not sportscasters.) If there’s a guy who can and will hire enough of the right people to really crank up a team-building model based on sabermetrics, it’s Cuban.

At least Cuban can’t fix the oppressive August Texas heat. Then again, I wouldn’t put it past him to invest in a retractable roof of some kind.

07.21.10
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Date to place ballot measure may be moved up

The oft-mentioned date for San Jose’s City Council to approve placing a ballpark measure on the November ballot has been August 3rd. However, it’s possible that the date may be pushed up to July 28, if not the August 3rd agenda may be out by then. A memo is expected to emanate from the Mayor’s office by the end of the week.

In the offing, I have received multiple reports of San Jose residents taking surveys on a potential ballpark measure. At least one resident has taken a survey this week, indicating that fine tuning of the ballot language may be finalized. We should know something by the end of the week.

07.21.10
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More whining + CFL building boom, who knew?

With newspapers laying off employees left and right and slimming down the old broadsheet, you’d think that precious inches wouldn’t be wasted on, well, no new news.

Since there isn’t any news, scribes are forced to get comments from Lew Wolff and Jorge Leon/Doug Boxer, who have have a nicely adversarial relationship. This time, Chronicle baseball writer John Shea and Merc columnist Bruce Newman take stabs at the issue. I had warned you good readers a couple of weeks ago that we were heading into a quiet period. Too bad that’s not stopping the media. If anything substantive happens before August 3, I’ll be shocked.

Well, here’s one rumor that’s a good likelihood: Expect that August 3rd vote to move a ballpark initiative forward. As much as San Jose is whining about the commish and his panel, they’re not going to risk losing all momentum by trying to wait MLB out in vain.

….

Up in the Great White North, various CFL cities are in the process of replacing their oft-utillitarian stadia with updated or new venues. Whether they’re talking amenities in Calgary and Edmonton or new digs in Regina and Winnipeg, it sure looks like the CFL is undergoing a cycle of building similar to that seen with the four major sports leagues. While stadia in large markets (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver) have usually been domes, the smaller markets typically had outdoor, 30-35,000 seat venues with minimal creature comforts. (Keep in mind that this is a sport with a $4 million salary cap.) Most of these upgrades look either partly or entirely government-funded, which doesn’t look so great.

Quick sidebar: Years ago I went on a series of business trips to Calgary. One of my contacts there was a guy who was also a high school football head coach. Curious about this, I asked which rules the team played by, Canadian or American. He laughed and replied, “American.”

7/21 10:30 AM – You might like ESPN SportsTravel’s article on the farthest seats in baseball. With distances! And pictures!

07.18.10
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2010 Ballpark Tour

It all started as a favor to my younger brother. He will be matriculating at that bastion of academic excellence known as Arizona State University, and he asked me to help him move down there. Since I was going to be out of town for a spell, I figured it’d be worth finding out how long I could string out the trip as an extended ballpark journey. I had been looking at other windows to do it, including early and mid-September. In the end, a trip starting in early August made the most sense in terms of flexibility and scheduling.

Unlike the trip I had taken to the East Coast two years ago, this one will have a different mode of transport for most of the duration: train. I’d been longing to take a long train trip for several years now, and the cost and hassle of either driving thousands of miles or coming in and out of airports everyday was not particularly compelling, so I looked to the rails as an alternative. Amtrak has a series of rail passes which can work well for such a trip. I purchased an 8 segment/15 day pass for $389 with no additional taxes or fees (thanks, government subsidized passenger rail). I’ve made partial reservations on some trains and will soon lock in the rest, though I know I can easily make changes prior to and during the trip. The journey is compressed enough that it’ll require a single one-way plane trip from Dallas to Kansas City, but beyond that everything’s ground-bound and quite leisurely. Train travel is something I recommend to everyone looking for a change of pace. It’s not perfect, but you may find it suits you with some planning.

Enough background. Here’s the itinerary.

The downside of this two-week stretch is that I’ll barely miss the A’s at Minnesota on August 13-15, but I’m trying to make up for that by checking out the Kane County Cougars on August 16. I’d like to check out young lefty Ian Krol while I’m there, but from the looks of things I’ll be catching a game a couple of days before or after his scheduled starts.

In total, I’ll be going to 12 sporting events, including 8 MLB games, 3 MiLB games, and 1 exhibition NFL game. Interspersed in the trip will be several ballpark and stadium tours, plus visits to other venues such as the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City.

I haven’t decided what the posting frequency will be for the trip, whether it’ll be per event or per day. I’ll try to do a local “trial run” prior to the trip. What do you think of the trip? Do you have any suggestions for places to eat, watering holes, etc? Drop ’em in the comments.

07.15.10
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W’s New Owner Is… Not Who You Think

Just coming across the wire is a report by CNBC sports business stud Darren Rovell, who says that the Golden State Warriors are being sold for a a record $450 million. While it was almost assumed that the winning bid would be put forth by Oracle head honcho and billionaire Larry Ellison, it now appears that the winner is a group headed by Kleiner Perkins managing partner Joe Lacob and Peter Guber of Mandalay Entertainment.

Mandalay is the interesting piece here, since they’ve been acquiring minor league franchises by the truckload over the last several years. They even have a history in the Bay Area, as they almost bought the A’s from Schott/Hofmann in 2001. Now that they’re in charge, it’ll be interesting to see what they do with it. Note: Mandalay is not affiliated with the Mandalay Bay casino, which is owned by MGM/Mirage.

Update 1:13 PM – Now the other shoe drops. Tim Kawakami has just posted a Twitter update with a quote from Larry Ellison:

Whoa. Ellison statement: “Although I was the highest bidder, Chris Cohan decided to sell to someone else.”

Kawakami also has a blog post explaining further, with a full statement:

“Although I was the highest bidder, Chris Cohan decided to sell to someone else.  In my experience this is a bit unusual.  Nonetheless, I wish the Warriors and their fans nothing but success under their new ownership,” said Larry Ellison.

Cohan decides not to sell to Ellison out of spite? What a jerk.

Update 1:27 PM – Damon Bruce is lining up Sal Galatioto, head of Galatioto Sports Partners, the firm hired to broker the sale. Also, Darren Rovell has a followup on Twitter:

Ellison’s bid was a few million more, but it was too late. Bid was put in hours before agreement was signed w/Lacob+Guber

Hours before? Something smells fishy…

Update 1:49 PM – Galatioto was just interviewed on KNBR-1050 by Damon Bruce. He refuted Ellison’s assertion, saying that Ellison’s bad was late by weeks, not by hours. He said that Ellison tried to disrupt the negotiation process after the bids were submitted and narrowed down. If true, it seems to fit Ellison’s M.O. Not saying that this doesn’t happen from time to time, it’s just that Galatioto Sports had to follow its own rules. Better luck next time, Larry.

Just wondering: What happens to naming rights on the arena?