It’s been six months since the last progress report. This is a snapshot of where four teams are as of today.

Nothing’s changed here on the progress bars since February. The development app hasn’t been submitted yet, and recent presentations have been good on the conceptual level but have been short on details. The unique funding method is dependent on rezoning industrial land to commercial/residential, so you’ll see the top two bars move together or not at all.

Last week, Marlins President David Samson and Bud Selig both let loose the veiled threat of relocation, saying that there hasn’t been much progress on either the site-finding or financing fronts. Magically, today the University of Miami announced that its football team is relocating to Dolphin Stadium starting in the 2008 season. The “U” will vacate the 70-year-old Orange Bowl for at least $1.5 million more in annual revenue and a better parking situation, though they will lose the tradition and intimacy that came with the “OB.” According to this link the City of Miami-owned 31-acre site is worth $19-22 million for both the land and stadium. The team prefers the 9-acre Government Center site downtown, but acquisition is considered far more difficult. Now that the ‘Canes are locked into a 25-year deal at Joe Robbie/Blockbuster/Pro Player/Dolphin(s) Stadium, there’s extra pressure on both the city and the Marlins to complete the deal. The Marlins’ existing lease at DS expires after the 2010 season, and it’s unlikely that the two resident football teams will tolerate a baseball infield beyond that. For the Marlins, there are still problems bridging the remaining $30 million that needs to be financed. Additional parking in the form of garages will probably need to be built to placate nearby residents’ concerns.

Yesterday an arbitration panel ruled in a split decision that the downtown ballpark site, which was taken via eminent domain, is worth $24.8 million, or over $10 million more than the deposit plunked down by Hennepin County to take the land. The original owners of the site had pegged the land to be worth $65 million. The decision is non-binding and both sides can appeal after a 48-hour cooling off period. Complicating matters is the dissenting member of the three-person panel, who filed a separate report that appraised the land to be worth $33.8 million. While the land is already being cleared for construction, the groundbreaking ceremony hasn’t actually happened yet. Originally targeted for August 2, the ceremony was postponed in the wake of the I-35W bridge collapse. If one starts the clock on September 1, the Twins will have 32 months to get everything ready for Opening Day 2010 – a huge improvement over the stadium’s prospects last February.

The Nat’s ballpark appears to be progressing nicely, even as it zooms way past budget and DC pols are looking under every couch cushion to fund it. There remain issues involving parking and transportation planning, but as far as the ballpark goes, it’s on track.

I can’t forget to mention the New York stadia. There are six new venues either in planning or construction stages in the New York metropolitan area. The combined value of the two baseball stadia, one football stadium, one soccer stadium, and two new arenas? Nearly $5 billion. The venues:

• Prudential Center (2007) – NJ Devils, $400 million
• New Yankee Stadium (2009) – $1.3 billion (including park relocation and transit costs)
• Citi Field (2009) – $610 million
• Giants/Jets Stadium (2010?) – $1.3 billion
• Barclays Center (2009?) – Brooklyn Nets, $1 billion (exclusive of ancillary development)
• Red Bull Park (2008) – Red Bull New York, $100 million

Now that’s out of everyone else’s league.

The title of this post comes from a sign in Philadelphia’s Wachovia Center, home of both the 76ers and Flyers. Might as well hang it from every venue in the Bay Area, since it’s just as valid a description here as it is back east.

Comcast quietly took majority control of FSN Bay Area at the end of June, and knowing their history they’re going to put their stamp on the channel sooner rather than later. FSNBA hasn’t shown signs of change yet, but expect rebranding to occur this fall as the baseball season ends and the new Sharks’ and Warriors’ preseasons begin.

What else should we as the viewing public expect? First off, the SportsNite program shown on Comcast SportsNet West (Central Valley) should become a staple here. CSN also tends to have pre and postgame shows more frequently than FSNBA, so that should be expected too. FOX will still own 40% of the channel, but it remains to be seen whether they will contribute FOX-sourced content or become a silent partner. I for one would not be saddened to be rid of the litany of failed generic highlight shows proffered by FOX Sports Net.

On most Comcast digital systems one can find Channel 400, or Comcast SportsNet West. There’s already a discontinuity between the Central Valley version and the Bay Area version due to the channel’s focus on the Kings and other Sacramento-area teams. It would make sense for 400 in the Bay Area to become the overflow channel that is currently FSN+ (410). Channel 400 could be renamed CSN2. That would free up capacity for some other niche channel in Comcast’s “Digital Sports Tier.” The likeliest possibility would be Johnny-come-lately MLB network, which is slated to launch prior to the 2009 baseball season. Comcast owns an equity share of MLB Network, which gives both parties incentive to feature the channel prominently.

In the Central Valley the situation is a little more complex since both FSN and CSN occupy expanded basic cable channels. Blackouts would still be in effect for certain properties such as Warriors telecasts. Comcast may find it hard to combine programming, so my guess is that they’ll keep them separate as CSNBA and CSNW. There is no Channel 400 in the Central Valley so they would have to create one if they wanted to have a CSN2 offering.

An opening also exists for an A’s-branded network should they be interested. While Comcast bared its teeth when MLB along with the Nats and O’s started MASN, the cable provider has shown a willingness to entertain additional regional sports networks. The catch? They want a cut, of course. A prime example of this is the Mets’ SportsNet New York, of which Comcast and Time Warner have equity shares. Should the A’s decide they want in on this party, an equity share appears to be the admission fee for placement within a cable system. There is a potential for the A’s as Comcast may help defray some startup and operational costs. For the A’s, caveat emptor applies as despite the success of many RSNs success is not guaranteed. This deal would be open to the Giants as well – they may be even more interested since their ratings are consistently higher than the A’s.

There are other forces at work for Comcast. Recently they won a lawsuit filed against them by the NFL. Comcast wanted to move the ever-growing NFL Network to their Digital Sports Tier and charge a little extra to boot in order to make up the cost. The NFL wanted the channel to stay in the regular digital lineup with no separate premium, so they sued (and lost). Now that NFL Network is on the separate tier, viewers are forced to consider more thoroughly the $5 per month package. What’s in the Digital Sports Tier? Depends on where you are. It is supposed to include most of the following:

• NFL Network
• NBA TV (in some markets)
• College Sports TV
• FOX Soccer Channel
• Speed Channel
• TVG Horseracing Network
• FOX College Sports (multiple regional channels)

All of these channels take up residence in the 400-420 zone. The peripheral ESPN channels such as ESPN Classic and ESPNEWS are not in the list above even though they are usually in this range because of the exclusivity of ESPN’s multichannel package deal with the cable providers. I don’t think it would be easy to move a CSN2-type channel to the extra-cost tier. It would make sense for them to push other new RSN’s such as an A’s or Giants channel to that tier – and it would give Comcast justification to charge extra for that tier.

As for satellite? DirecTV pioneered the concept of a special sports tier years ago. So it’s pretty much business as usual. Dish has their own as well.

East Bay Express writers Robert Gammon and John Birdsall have put together a nice exposé on the not-so-goings-on at Jack London Square. Gammon, as you may recall, co-wrote a well-constructed recent history of the A’s in Oakland and their southerly overtures.

Developers Jim Falaschi and Hal Ellis Jr. bought the property for a song in 2001, thanks to connections with bossman Don Perata. They pitched a retail and residential concept around the Slow Food movement, with a fancy farmers market and organic food restaurants that would purportedly put the development at the SF Ferry Terminal to shame. Six years later, previous tenant restaurants have been driven out amid rising rents and concerns about gentrification. The Harvest Hall remains unbuilt. Worst of all, the developers are moving to create office space within JLS, a use completely at odds with the original project intent.

Jack London Square was not originally considered a candidate site for a future Oakland ballpark, instead the nearby Howard Terminal was. Not that JLS alone is big enough (other surrounding parcels would’ve been required), but it would’ve been interesting to see what would’ve happened if JLS was a candidate site. It’s hard to find too much fault with the JLS developers given the volatility of the real estate market, especially in Oakland. Still, there’s a sense of major miscalculation at very least, if not complete misdirection on their part.

A Fortune article shows that the $1.2 billion new Yankee Stadium could bring in a whopping $253 million per year in revenue to the pinstripers.

Think about that. $253 million. They’re not even selling stadium naming rights or seat licenses. That’s enough to fit the Yankees’ current payroll including Roger Clemens plus the inevitable $25 million in luxury tax they’ll pay at the end of the year, and still leave enough for a couple of Scott Boras clients and a little profit. All that makes the Yanks’ ginormous radio and TV money pure gravy. Scary, isn’t it?

Worst of all, the $51 million mortgage will be at least partly deductible, probably 40%. Since they get to hold that revenue back, the other 29 teams get to indirectly pay for the new Yankee Stadium. Of course, the same goes for the Mets and their new digs. And everyone else that has new stadia or renovations on their dockets, including the A’s.

Back to the Bombers. Like all teams, they’ll pay one-third of their stadium revenues into the big revenue sharing pool. That doesn’t mean they’ll pay 1/3 of $253 million, they’ll probably have some slick holding company/vertical arrangement that allows them to hide some of it. After they’ve hidden some of that away, they can take the stadium expenses deduction. Only after those two methods of gaming the system do they pay into the pool, plus they get dinged by the luxury tax. But if the stadium expenses deduction effectively or largely cancels out the luxury tax, it’s really no skin off Steinbrenner’s ass, is it?

Think of it like filling out a long form 1040. You’ve got your mortgage interest deduction (akin to stadium expenses), charitable contributions, and perhaps other deductions. Then you pay in and because you’re in the higher tax bracket, you’re supposed to pay more. The poor teams get their own version of tax credits (like our EIC) and head right for the check cashing place. It’s not altogether that different from MLB, except in terms of scale.

Cisco Field is a third way, using non-baseball revenues such as housing development rights sales and commercial leases as an outside revenue stream to pay for the ballpark. I can’t think of a proper analogy at the moment, can you?

Remember this?

It’s from the original animation pack the A’s released in November. I guessed (correctly) that the comparison showed Cisco Field (yellow/red) against AT&T Park (gray). To me, this has always been the most impressive part of the presentation. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to visualize the advantage, and for two decades now fans in other cities have been accepting extremely set back second and third levels despite being told the experience was better just because, well, they were no longer sitting in a multi-purpose stadium. Or some rickety joint with 16-inch seats.

The 3-D nature of the graphic above sort of detracts from the message, as all of the visual elements make the comparison fade into the background. There is a better one shown recently, and it makes the contrast stark, as it should be. This came from the city council preso a couple of weeks ago:

That’s better. Ah, but now there’s a wrinkle, and it’s smack dab in the middle of the pic above. A big, purposeful, and truly retro – column. Unlike any other recently built ballpark’s main grandstand, this one dives right into the lower deck.

Before you react, I’m already ahead of you. The dreaded words obstructed view immediately come to mind. There’s nothing about an obstructed view seat that says modern. A seat behind a column promises to be pretty crappy. There may be some back-and-forth about what fans consider an obstructed view and what the team considers an obstructed view. It may not even have a discount, although it most certainly should be cheaper. So I’m not going to make excuses for the A’s out of respect for the poor souls who make be shocked when, upon getting to the seating bowl for the first time, are treated to a nice view of green painted steel. Yes, it is that bad.

Then again, it isn’t really that bad. Why not? Consider this:

• Look at the cross-section, dammit! Upper deck folks will be twice as close as anything built since WWII. Translated into an A’s fan’s current experience, it’s the difference between sitting in 317 and sitting in 326. What, you say those sections don’t exist? Ummm…
• The not-so-ultimate sacrifice. Those 10,000 upper deck fans don’t sit as close if not for the sacrifice of a few lower deck patrons. I’ll make a rough estimate that less than 1% of seats qualify as obstructed view – defined as those with the hitter and catcher blocked. That’s about 300 seats, or about 10 seats per lower deck section, which may be overestimating things a bit. The best way to deal with this would be to never sell these as advance seats – no season tickets, no phone/web/package sales. Instead, sell them as “day of game” only seats at an appreciable discount, say 20-25%. Chances are those fans won’t spend too much time in those seats anyway, as they’ll migrate over to one of the many standing room areas, or if the place is far less than packed, they’ll “keep someone else’s seat warm.”
• Intimacy invites noise. Having fans closer to the action should make the place more naturally noisy. That effect will be counteracted by the increased number of cell phone squawking, gameplay ignoring attendees. Still, the potential’s there.
• It’s cheaper to build and run. Pulling the main grandstand about 25 feet conserves nearly 1/2 acre in terms of the ballpark’s footprint. That should also translate into reduced overall use of concrete and steel, plus more efficient systems from field lighting to air conditioning. Best of all, the saved space could be used for other uses, such as landscaping or ancillary buildings such as a museum or some of the village structures.
• Ready for expansion. Should the ballpark prove so popular that an extra 3,000 seats (4-5 rows) are needed, it shouldn’t be too difficult to add to the back of the upper deck. All the designers have to do is build sufficient load bearing capacity into the skeleton and devise a method for adding rows. They could even use an aluminum upper deck (Stanford Stadium) that could be quickly torn down and replaced by a larger structure.

This doesn’t mean that columns are guaranteed. In fact, I haven’t seen a drawing that actually shows columns. However, that column isn’t in the cross-section for show, so there must be something to it.

That brings us to this week’s poll question. It’s a pretty simple one, and there are only three choices. The question is: What do you think about columns at Cisco Field?

• Works for me
• Whatever
• They suck

I was going to use “Panther” as the first option, but I realized over the weekend that the team that’s supposed to use “Panther” should be using “Rat” instead.

Last week’s poll question shows an overwhelming number of fans want more than 32,000 seats. I didn’t vote myself, but I’d like to see at least 35,000.

Note: I had planned to post this last weekend in honor of the awakening of Nick Swisher’s then-slumbering bat.

While the A’s were in Anaheim last week, Lew Wolff spent an inning in the TV booth with broadcasters Glen Kuiper and Ray Fosse. The exercise was a effectively a shameless, 15-minute plug for Cisco Field, with a few words for critics who’ve been grousing about the plan. During the discussion, Wolff alluded to Nick Swisher’s interest in one of the condos that will overlook the park. While I’m sure Swish can afford a sure-to-be $1 million-plus party pad, he might want to consider looking elsewhere in the ballpark for options.

One of those options probably won’t be a bunker suite, a swanky, hidden burrow underneath the seating bowl and supposedly first conceived for the Bushes at what was then The Ballpark in Arlington. I wouldn’t be surprised if current veep Dick Cheney had a command center running out of Rangers Ballpark with the way that stadium ran right over public process, but I digress. Cisco Field will most certainly have at least one bunker suite and perhaps more, space permitting.

Players often get suites on a per-game or annual basis for friends and family. For the inaugural season of Qwest Field, three Seattle Seahawks each grabbed a field-level “Red Zone” suite. At Cisco Field, a new seating option will be introduced that could prove extremely flexible: the minisuite. Wolff originally described the concept as a 4 or 6-person box with separate restrooms and other facilities. However, it’s a little more than that, as you can see from the pic below.

Yes, there are four seats facing the field with a two stools on a rail and a wetbar behind them. The french doors are a nice touch, giving the boxes a very cute look. But it’s what’s behind the doors that makes it interesting.

As you can see, the four boxes share a common lounge area. There’s a buffet, additional seating areas, flat screen TV’s, even a fireplace (!). I’m sure there’ll be neat Cisco-conceived technological touches. Not sure where the restrooms are.

The A’s are going to offer 40 of these boxes at Cisco Field just above the field club level, 15 rows from the backstop. Supposedly they’ll be sold to medium and small businesses that wouldn’t normally consider getting a large 12-person suite. Minisuites should serve as a niche between club seats and large suites.

Something tells me these will really take off, and not just for the initial audience. A group of players (and their wives) may want to pool resources to get a block of four minisuites. The same could apply for various professional groups such as law firms. In this era of consumers seeking out VIP treatment and ultralounges, this concept fits extremely well. I wonder if it will end up eating into sales of other premium seating options. During the 90’s, baseball purists bemoaned the emergence of suites, envisioning future stadia with virtually all seats replaced by air-conditioned, sealed boxes. The minisuite concept and its successors will give the purists more grist for the mill, that’s for certain.

MLB Advanced Media won’t do everything after all. Or at least it seems that way after MLBAM and ticket reseller StubHub partnered up on a 5-year revenue sharing agreement. StubHub, a subsidiary of eBay, is already the big player in this market with a handful of upstarts and megaseller Ticketmaster nipping at its heels. The deal isn’t exclusive as some teams already have existing technology at their disposal, but that should change gradually as those agreements expire.

The secondary ticket market isn’t one frequented by A’s fans due to the normally plentiful supply of regularly priced and discount seats, even for walkups. As the team moves into new digs, this should change somewhat – though the A’s aren’t predicting constant sellouts. I personally have only bought tickets using the Giants’ Double Play system once, and I liked the experience.

If you had free time to head to Detroit next Friday, you could catch the A’s-Tigers tilt in a lower level suite for $2700. Or a single mezzanine seat for $26. I’ve seen drawings of the minisuite feature that will be introduced at Cisco Field, and I have zero doubt it’ll be seriously popular, especially from a resale standpoint (if the A’s allow it). But that’s for tomorrow…

If you’ve come looking for up-to-the-minute transaction news, you’ve come to the wrong place. In the world of stadia, there are a few items of note.

• Detroit’s city council is moving forward with plans to demolish Tiger Stadium, though it is unclear if any developer is willing and able to take on the task of redeveloping the northwest corner of Michigan and Trumbull. Legendary Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell has stepped in with plans to maintain and preserve important sections of the ballpark (with a third party). The concept includes a scaled down, 10,000-seat stadium and mixed use surrounding it. The field would be preserved for youth baseball use. Enough financial contributions have poured in to maintain the ballpark in its current state for the next year.
• Washington Metro is considering a reduced “ballpark fare” to entice fans going to the new DC ballpark (opening in 2008) to utilize mass transit. According to the article, the fan mix is projected to consist of 49% that arrive via transit, 40% via car, and 8.5% via bicycle or on foot. The 49% figure is far higher than Oakland’s 15-20% and even more than New York’s 13-30%. The difference here is that the DC ballpark will have extremely limited parking at the outset whereas Oakland and New York already have 7-10,000 spaces in their respective vicinities.
• The Twins are expected to break ground on their $390 million (and rising) downtown stadium on Thursday. There’s still the outstanding matter of how much the land acquisition will cost, somewhere between $13.65 million (the county’s pledge) and $65.38 million (the previous landowners’ estimate). Opening Day is scheduled for April 2010.

I also wanted to address something in Barry Witt’s article from last week:

While there’s much to be determined about what would go into the village, a set of deed restrictions filed last month by Wolff, Cisco Systems and ProLogis – the real estate company that owns Pacific Commons and plans to sell the ballpark village site to Wolff – reveal uses that will be excluded.

Those uses include Goodwill stores, laundromats, card clubs, veterinary hospitals, funeral homes, porn shops, gas stations, massage and tattoo parlors, churches and beauty schools.

The explanation can be boiled down to two words: property values. Many of those types of establishments inhabit less monied neighborhoods. It’s all in the interest of keeping potential housing prices high and profitable. Gas stations and churches don’t quite fit the profile, and for those I sense the issue is space. There is an existing Shell station less than a mile away and two more just over the freeway along Auto Mall, so it’s not as if the area needs additional petrol purveyors. As for churches, there’s already a growing trend of new churches converting previously industrial land for their use, so perhaps they are the real trendsetters here.

12 days ago I asked the question, “How would the Piccinini group have been different?” Responses were fewer than the previous poll question, but the results for this one are nevertheless interesting.

• Downtown Oakland ballpark – 18 (28%)
• New Coliseum lot ballpark – 10 (15%)
• Stayed in Coliseum indefinitely – 9 (14%)
• Moved elsewhere in Bay Area – 11 (17%)
• Moved out of Bay Area – 15 (23%)

No definitive answer here, and there’s no accounting for motivation. Unlike the last poll, I can group the answers. So I did just that, with the first three options thrown into a “Stayed in Oakland” group, the final two a “Left Oakland” group. In doing so, the tally looks like this:

• Stayed in Oakland – 37 (59%)
• Left Oakland – 26 (41%)

Some might say that staying in the Coliseum indefinitely wasn’t a realistic option, but I wanted to put it out there anyway to gauge interest. “Stayed in Oakland” would’ve won regardless of the third option’s inclusion.

The voting trend during the week proved pivotal. Results were fairly even for the first 4-5 days, but gradually tilted towards “Stayed in Oakland” during midweek.

This week’s poll question is pretty simple: “How big should Cisco Field be?“

Linh Tat’s article in the Argus addresses the school situation:

Besides opening an elementary school, A’s officials said they are willing to consider offering a specialized technology or health program for students, tutoring, math and reading programs, internships and scholarships. A program recognizing Fremont’s teacher of the year also was suggested.

“These are just our ideas that we would love to explore with you. . . . We really think there’s a great opportunity to get creative,” said A’s official Keith Wolff, son of team co-owner Lew Wolff.

and…

“Our commitment is to whatever the student population is (that’s) created by the village,” Keith Wolff said. “We’re going to need to work with the district to serve them. That will be an obligation.”

The A’s project $10.7 million in developer fees will go to the district, but both sides acknowledge the fees won’t be enough to build the school on their own. There are four questions that come out of this challenge:

• Where in the village will the school be located?
• How big will it be?
• How much will it cost beyond the amount covered by developer fees?
• When would it open?

With the A’s and Cisco partnering with FUSD, it could become quite a desirable grade school.