A voice from the past wrote the following letter to the Washington Post:

Regarding the Dec. 18 front-page story “Beyond Washington, Most Teams Cover Stadium Overruns; District Agreed to Pay Costs Exceeding Ballpark Budget,” about the District’s lease deal with the Washington Nationals:

First, when comparing the District with other cities, it is important to keep in mind that stadiums in Seattle, Milwaukee and Phoenix included roofs, a complicated design feature that makes a project trickier. The District’s stadium will be simpler.

The Nationals are contributing $5.5 million a year on top of $20 million upfront. Over the 30-year lease, this amounts to $165 million. Almost no other U.S. city is receiving that much rent; some teams pay just $1 million a year in rent.

Also, Camden Yards in Baltimore was 95 percent funded by that city. By comparison, the District’s stadium is funded almost exclusively by large businesses, the federal government and ticket holders — sparing average taxpayers.

Further, many ballparks, such as Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, are isolated. In the District, we’ve spent a little more to locate the stadium just 10 blocks from the Capitol. We’re creating a new neighborhood out of parking lots and warehouses; in a few years a formerly gritty corner of the city will be lively and productive, bringing millions of dollars in sales, property and income tax revenue into the general fund each year.

Finally, most maintenance costs at the stadium are the responsibility of the Nationals, not the city.

Our hope is that the enormous economic benefits that will flow to the city and its residents in years to come will demonstrate the wisdom of this investment.

ROBERT BOBB
City Administrator
District of Columbia

Robert Bobb used to work for the City of Oakland. He left for the District in 2003 to head up their ballpark efforts, among other duties. He’s exactly the guy Oakland needs for Wolff’s project. Now I know that there are plenty of issues with Bobb’s work in Oakland and his letter above has seriously flawed arguments (the large businesses are going to pass the taxes on to consumers, hello!), but I’ve pointed this out before and I’ll say it again: these projects don’t get done without a champion. That champion isn’t a politician or a person from the private sector. It has to be a bureaucrat who can pull the strings and work the phones to get things done. Considering what may have to be done to get a new A’s ballpark built, I wonder how it will get done in any Bay Area city without someone locally filling a similar role.

Ray Ratto has an excellent column in today’s Chronicle in which he tries to understand what the crux of the deal is in the A’s pursuit of the “Earthquakes IV.” Much of it has to do with land, but his issue is with the Wolff-Fisher group investing in a historically money-losing MLS franchise. Ratto’s conclusion is that it’s all part of a leverage deal, with the soccer part of it a necessary pill for the investment group to swallow to get it done.

What Ratto didn’t bring up is Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS+E), the Sharks’ owners who run HP Pavilion, promote other events in San Jose and recently failed as 11th-hour saviors of the Quakes. What is SVS+E’s potential role in all of this? SVS+E stands to have a major role managing operations of facilities and parking. If Wolff/Fisher partner with SVS+E, SVS+E will have control of promotions and management of two or three venues and virtually all parking around the area. Wolff/Fisher can infuse SVS+E with new capital to get a piece of the action and move things along more quickly. At the same time, new development will occur around the arena and ballpark that can provide a huge payoff (market rate condos, Santana Row-like mixed development). Does that last sentence sound eerily like Wolff’s Coliseum North development plan? I don’t believe it’s a coincidence.

If one looks at the San Jose ballpark-arena area, it is quite obvious that it is just waiting for an enormous amount of redevelopment to occur. To understand how this can take shape, it’s important to first recap other Downtown San Jose development-related news from the past several months:

• March – Wolff and partners sell a large portion of Park Center Plaza to a group headed by the sons of frequent business partner Phil DiNapoli. SJ Mayor Ron Gonzales stages a little rally in Phoenix outside the A’s spring training facility. Meanwhile, the city goes forward with the KB Homes development at Del Monte Plant #51 (Auzerais), making Diridon South the ballpark site by default.
• March/April – MLB approves the purchase of the A’s by the Wolff/Fisher group.
• August – Wolff unveils the Coliseum North development plan. Ballpark designs are released, which are not site-specific.
• September – MLB commish Bud Selig visits San Jose to speak at Commonwealth Club, meets with SJ officials prior to speech, repeats the “We are focusing on Oakland, we don’t like changing territorial rights” position.
• October – San Jose Water Company gets entitlements from the City of San Jose to start development of the SJWC parking lots (east of the arena/ballpark). Plans call for mid-rise residential and a high-rise office tower. Once construction starts, parking in the immediate area around the arena for arena events will be significantly reduced, which means that new parking will need to be built nearby to replenish supply. One of the SJWC board members happens to be Phil DiNapoli. SJWC is looking for an experienced development partner for the site instead of developing the site by themselves. (I’ll give two guesses as to who might emerge as the likeliest development partner.)
• November – SJ City Council approves the ballpark study for Diridon South, moves ahead on site acquisition efforts.
• December – Last minute efforts are launched to save Quakes from moving to Houston. The effort fails, but Wolff/Fisher/the A’s emerge as a leading candidate for a new Quakes MLS franchise. Wolff indicates that the Quakes should be in San Jose. Speculation begins on the San Jose ballpark site holding a stadium or stadia for both the Quakes and A’s.

The beauty of what Wolff is doing is that the plan is portable. Whether the stadium plan is based on a shared facility or separate facilities, it is portable and could be applied anywhere: San Jose, Fremont, or Oakland. It could be split between cities (where the Quakes stay in San Jose while the A’s stay in Oakland), but that would reduce or eliminate potential cost savings and investment value. From a practical standpoint, it’s excellent “neutral” positioning. Yet there’s a lot of evidence that points directly to San Jose. When looking from the historical perspective at the events that transpired above and the lack of progress in Oakland, everything seems to conveniently dovetail together, no?

I showed up a few minutes late for the EIR scoping session, but I think I got most of the pertinent points. The schedule is as follows:

• Public comments for this scoping phase are due January 3, 2006.
• The Draft EIR will be released sometime in late February, with a 45-day public review period to follow.
• The final EIR will be up for Planning Commission certification around May 31.
• June 20 is the deadline for any appeals.
• The plan will then be placed before the City Council for a vote. If successful, it will become a ballot measure in the November 7, 2006 General Election.

Other things of note:

• Several residents from local neighborhoods expressed concern about noise and traffic abatement. There is a distinct possibility that some streets in the Delmas Park area would be closed on game days/nights to better manage traffic. Soundproofing may have to be done on nearby houses and the ballpark would have to be built in a way that best mitigates noise and light pollution.
• Parking is going to be a problem, especially when the SJ Water lots are developed. Something will have to replace lost parking.
• The redone street grid will have some unknown impact. The Autumn Parkway development being planned for the area north of the arena is not budgeted at this time.
• Various ballpark configurations will be studied for their potential impacts and fitness.
• Alternate sites will be included as part of the EIR.
• District 6 councilman (and county supervisor candidate) Ken Yeager was present.
• I asked a question about PG&E’s willingness to reconfigure the substation on the site. This does not appear to be a feasible option, which means the substation would have to either stay intact or relocate.
• An option to dig a bowl for the stadium and place the field 15-25 feet below street level will be studied. I brought it up because I think it could help mitigate light, noise, and vertical (FAA) clearance.
• Initial drawings continue to have the ballpark in the northeast orientation. It also has the ballpark jutting into what is now Autumn Street. That would force Autumn Street further east, next to Los Gatos Creek. One of the drawings showed a park on the creek’s west bank.

We’ll see how it goes from here. No news on this expected until after the end of the year.

Several news outlets reported today that the Quakes are on their way out of town. To Houston, no less. There has been a lot of fingerpointing in recent weeks about who’s most to blame. It’s well known that ownership group AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group) had no interest in holding onto the team in the long term. The City of San Jose had done little over the last several years to improve the Quakes’ lease situation with SJSU. And SJSU wasn’t budging over the terms. Attendance wasn’t a big complaint driver because a well-developed fanbase and winning seasons. Revenue was.

That brings us to today, when MLS commissioner Don Garber thanked local fans and talked about a new team coming to roost in San Jose as early as 2007. The city signed a letter of intent with MLS to get a stadium financing plan in place. Judging from the message boards at bigsoccer.com, it’s no consolation.

Which brings me to an interesting A’s related bit of news. Quakes announcer and longtime South Bay sports media guy John Shrader mentioned on KNBR that one of the local investor groups thought to potentially save the Quakes or invest in a new team was led by none other than Lew Wolff and the A’s. No details were revealed beyond that, which is enough to start some wild speculation:

• How serious was Wolff about investing in the Quakes?
• Did he make any kind of proposal?
• Did the proposal involve a new soccer specific stadium?
• Or was it more along the lines of a shared stadium situation?
• If so, where? San Jose? Oakland? Elsewhere in the Bay Area?
• Does this mean he actually has designs on the A’s moving to San Jose?

Obviously, any number of conclusions can be drawn from this tiny bit of information. Garber mentioned that talks with Wolff and the A’s will continue into the new year. It can’t be denied: Wolff’s connections to San Jose and the Bay Area are as strong as ever, as evidenced by his willingness to entertain Quakes talks. And that should come as a relief to A’s fans who fear a move to Vegas or Portland.

Spiraling costs and debates about the direction and financial stability of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority caused VTA to pull its request for $750 million in federal funds today. While this isn’t directly related to the ballpark, it at least for the time being kills one of the arguments for a San Jose ballpark: BART access from the East Bay. That news will come into play with the upcoming environmental impact report, which will have to take not having BART into account.

That isn’t to say that BART coming to the South Bay in the future isn’t completely dead, but it will push the expected operation date of 2017-2018 out several more years. It’s possible that VTA will move to an alternative, one that doesn’t involve the expensive downtown San Jose subway that would run underneath Santa Clara Street. Since feasibility of the Fremont/Warm Springs extension is dependent on the South Bay extension, it’s quite possible that Warm Springs (which did not receive federal funding earlier this year) is not happening anytime soon either. That could create a similar albeit lesser negative effect on a Fremont ballpark.

Remember this?

Well, I just received word that the site’s slated for some new construction along with new construction already present (perhaps the Acura dealership?). So a ballpark is not going to happen along Auto Row. That’s one less option.

As far as Wolff’s Coliseum North plan goes, apparently the analysis is still in progress. I’m trying to find more detailed info on that analysis. Stay tuned.

There are some mighty eyebrow-raising quotes from Lew Wolff in John Shea’s Chronicle report on Barry Zito’s status:

The payroll is increasing about 10 percent, Beane said, and Wolff, whose focus is building a new ballpark, confirmed it’ll go deep into the $60 million range after the A’s signed Esteban Loaiza to a three-year, $21 million contract.

“I’m just hoping we get positive fan reaction with our attendance,” Wolff said. “Billy continues to field a fabulous team, and I hope fans who didn’t support us in the past will start to. It’s a very big goal for me. I’ve got to find out how strong we are in the local market.

“We’re trying to put the most quality team on the field. We just don’t want to go to the playoffs.”

That sounds like a challenge to the A’s fanbase. Not that signing Esteban Loaiza is going to equate to 2,000 extra season tickets, but it looks like Wolff is trying in earnest to get more momentum behind the team before the season begins. Signing Loaiza, keeping Zito (which many don’t think will happen), and bringing in a name free agent slugger such as Frank Thomas should create some buzz around the team.

Wolff hasn’t shown any Jeffrey Loria-like tendencies, so there’s no valid reason to believe that he’ll conduct a fire sale if fans don’t come or if he doesn’t get a ballpark deal. There’s always the possibility, and A’s fans know too well how good Charlie Finley was at ripping his team apart.

Buried in a MLB.com article about Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria’s economic justifications for conducting a fire sale of his roster is a tasty little nugget about Las Vegas. The quote comes straight from MLB COO Bob DuPuy.

Las Vegas is ripe for relocation, but there are concerns from the league regarding betting on baseball. When Las Vegas officials made their pitch to the Montreal Expos, who eventually became the Washington Nationals, the issue of betting wasn’t resolved.

“Las Vegas made a very attractive proposal,” said DuPuy about the city’s efforts to attract the Expos. “There are issues with regards to Vegas indicated during that proposal. [There was] no willingness to take baseball off the books. I know that’s a very, very serious issue with the Commissioner.”

Taking gambling off the books isn’t a complete dealkiller, but it has to be pretty close. As much as the major sports would love to be the first to get a share of the big money that comes to Vegas (and stays there, as the ad says), none of the leagues wants to be remotely associated with gambling. That goes double for baseball, which still has the stench of the steroids scandal all over it. Though I wouldn’t be surprised with the notion that if one league were brave enough to enter Las Vegas despite the sport still being on the books, the others would be falling all over themselves to be next.

Merc reporter Barry Witt corrected an assumption I made on an earlier post’s comments page, and he was also nice enough to alert me to some preliminary environmental review efforts that San Jose is undertaking regarding the ballpark. So far the city has published a “Notice of Preparation” and a “Scoping Meeting Notice“. The latter document has maps and a graphic depicting a ballpark on the Diridon South site with the PG&E substation moved to the fire training facility. Since the city just proposed the fire training site for a soccer stadium, the inconsistency here is baffling.

The scoping meeting, at which the public can comment on how the environmental review should proceed, is scheduled for Thursday, December 15 at 6 p.m. The location will be the new City Hall, Room W118-119.

I’ll start off with the graphic. To help you with your bearings, south and I-280 are to the top. Downtown and CA-87 are to the left.

The ballpark is on the now familiar Diridon South site. Across Park Avenue is the fire training center, which is should be converted into a public park, perhaps with parking for some 600 cars underneath. The park could have a small playground and playing fields for soccer/football and baseball/softball. To top my wish list for the park, it should be named after the late Pat Tillman. I have to admit a bias regarding Tillman because though I didn’t know him personally he was a contemporary of mine, but regardless it’s hard to find a more fitting, interesting former San Jose resident for whom a park could be named than Tillman.

The soccer stadium is located on what is currently an equipment rental facility. The company owns several parcels spread among two blocks of Dupont and McEvoy Streets south of Park Ave. I’ve gone by there several times while checking out the Del Monte site, and I noticed that it’s really underutilized. One parcel at the entry to the site is for sale. An office building in the middle of the facility is empty and has a for lease sign on it. There’s a good amount of open space there. Neighbors include a couple of auto repair shops and a welding company. The area is rectangular in shape, and could accommodate a 22-25,000 seat soccer stadium with little trouble. If the street grid were realigned, a compact but spacious soccer stadium could work very well there. A partial roof would be required to help mitigate noise. Of course, there would be issues with acquiring the land and moving the equipment rental company, but that comes with the territory.

One small note: the PG&E substation has been realigned next to the ballpark (in grey). If this can be done (the amount of land is the same if not the shape), it would cut down on the potential costs associated with moving the substation.

I spoke at tonight City Council Open Forum about this site. We’ll see if, like my suggestion to Oakland about the Broadway Auto Row site, anything comes of it.