It's Official: A's Open Season in Japan
by athleticsBB4life on Nov 14, 2007 7:29 AM PST
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Print[EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, the A's are opening the season in Japan. As the home team. So unless many East Bay people want to spend a lot of money to travel to Japan, we'll be missing the A's "home opener". I still don't get why it's a home game for the A's and not for the Red Sox since I'm pretty sure that the crowd will be strongly partisan for the team that actually HAS Japanese stars playing for it. Ugh. - Blez]
The A's and Red Sox will start the 2008 season in Japan.
The five days of festivities include regular-season games between the two clubs on March 25 and 26, exhibition day-night doubleheaders against Nippon Professional Baseball teams on March 22 and 23, and an off-day workout sandwiched in between on March 24.
"The Oakland A's are very excited and honored to be opening the 2008 season in Japan," Michael Crowley, the team's president, said. "Baseball is truly a game without borders and we are pleased to have the opportunity to be a part of the game's growth on the international level."
Incentive for the A's to sign Fukudome?
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Home team
What bothers me is that the A's are going to be the home team for both games. That's two fewer games in the Coliseum.
Wouldn't it make sense for the Red Sox to be the home team with Matsuzaka and Okajima on their roster?
Not unless we resign Yabu
by franks a lot on Nov 14, 2007 7:34 AM PST up reply actions
Yeah
I don't understand why they don't make each team the "Home" team for one game each, then play a 2 game series each in Oakland and Boston. That seems to be the most equitable solution, but of course MLB is rarely equitable.
I understand why
Playing a game in Boston makes like 3x as much revenue for MLB as playing one in Oakland.
That being said, I suspect Oakland is being paid quite handsomely for the trip. I suspect the trip bonus will be pretty important for the poorer-paid players on the roster, financially speaking.
And let's face it, playing in front of a 50% Red Sox crowd in Oakland isn't exactly a "home" game, either.
This is indeed an incentive to sign Fukudome. As I've said before, his "salary" is not really his salary, if the promotional and marketing campaigns are executed correctly. The A's could recoup millions each year in profits from those.
Marginal returns for the A's
A's-Red Sox games at the Coliseum are among the highest revenue dates on the A's schedule, nearly $1 million per game date. I can understand a positive return on an A's-Royals game scheduled in Japan, but A's-Red Sox? Marginally better based on normal gate/concessions revenue.
Now, if MLB were giving the A's incentives, say from the commish's discretionary account, it would make sense. It may be yet another unstated rule that the have-not (revenue receiving) teams have to go along with.
You mean because
more people will be cheering for Boston than Oakland? Heck, that happens in Oakland...
I agree, that's my only problem with this...
The A's lost two home games, and I doubt we will get 100% of the ticket sales revenue. If anything, it will be a 50/50 split with Boston (and knowing MLBs crush on the East-Coast-Big-Market Teams, as well as how long it took them to convince Boston to sign on for it), we probably will come out no better than even with what we would have expected from two games in Oakland, but we'll be playing in a hostle environment.
It would be very interesting to see what the deal actually looks like...
by ZeroIndulgence on Nov 14, 2007 12:29 PM PST up reply actions
March 25-26 are Tue-Wed
Will they be part of the Sac Fly ticket plan? With airfare & accomodations? ;)
26th is my birthday...
..trying desperately to figure out if there's any reasonable way for me to go over there for the occasion..not coming up with anything...
Sports Bar!
It's the next best thing to being there! Or something.
Do they have sports bars in Japan?
Karaoke sports bars.
Where you get to guest-announce
part of the action, and a script is scrolling by telling you what to say?
Yeah, they do ...
but they cater mostly to futbol (soccer) and rugby ... which, conveniently get broadcast live from Europe in the late evening, Tokyo time.
When I was over there a month or so ago, my buddy and I tried to go to a sports bar for the Niners-Seahawks (he's from Seattle) game -- it was starting at 5 am ... the same time the bars closed.
I'd say this is good for the A's becuase
they have to be making money by agreeing to this trip. They're sacrificing two sellouts at McAffee (surely a season opening series vs. Boston would result in sellouts) for this trip. I'm sure it is worth it to them financially.
We still face Boston Opening night here in Oak.
The Japan games are actually March 25th and 26th then we come back here and play April 1 & 2 vs. Boston. So its not that bad, but it does take 2 Boston games out of our schedule which hurts. If Crowley is all for it, I'm sure we're being compensated..
But in terms of signing Fukudome, I don't think these 2 games are going to change much on that front. Assuming that the A's marketing and promotional campaign would rise to capture all additional revenue from such a signing just doesn't seem to be the A's way of doing things. If it were, would we not have doen so when we signed Yabu?
by GusanoQuemador on Nov 14, 2007 9:14 AM PST up reply actions
30-year-old former MVP/star
=/= 36-year-old washed up relief pitcher.
Fukudome's team just won the Japan Series, too. His profile in the country couldn't be higher right now.
Still Seems like we would have tried
by GusanoQuemador on Nov 14, 2007 9:42 AM PST up reply actions
The pay-off of marketing a former MVP to an
entire nation would presumably be much greater than the pay-off of promoting Ellis for a GG or Haren for the Cy, so I think it makes sense even if it is unlikely.
If I remember the schedule from 2003 correctly
The A's-Mariners games were scheduled for the evening, Tokyo local time. The time difference from Tokyo to Oakland is something like 16 hours. So, a 6 p.m. starting time in Tokyo is a 2 a.m. start in Oakland. So either stay up extremely late or set a 2 a.m. alarm. The start time would be 5 a.m. in Boston, and those of you in Europe could actually watch a game in the middle of the day.
{starts caffeine-loading now}
< starts adult-diaper-delivery service >
< patents smell-resistant truck liner >
I'll say
I'm much more likely to be up at 2:00 am than 5:00 am
We'll have to go to bed early
to be up by four (or five). Then I'll have to leave for work before the game is over.
Fuck you, baseball fans.
You guys ever heard of a VCR?
It's two ****ing baseball games.
Out of 162.
I think you'll survive.
me neither ...
I did ... but then I realized that I don't own any video cassettes ...
Paul i like you
but i want to know are you the fat guy with glasses from American Inventors?
No, I'm the title character from "Bones"
except not female. Or an anthropologist.
Translation: I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
It's in season three
but, if you haven't seen it, you haven't seen it... just like I haven't seen "Desperate Housewives," and have no plans to start.
I bring it up only because the title character is, like me, almost comically ignorant of popular culture.
and yet you know that ...
I didn't know that ... all I know is that the chick's name is bones and it has the guy from Buffy ...
Oh its that one
Haven't seen it but yep seen banners in the internet with the Buffy guy.
Now why we know so much about Buffy ...
Well, when would you start it?
1 p.m. Tokyo? That's 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT ... Good for West Coast fans, but not so much for East Coast fans -- and yes, both coasts would have to be taken into consideration.
Unless there's a massive change in the planet's time zone structure, someone's going to lose sleep over this -- figuratively and literally.
by FormerHuntsvilleStar on Nov 14, 2007 5:52 PM PST up reply actions
They should start it so that it will show at 8
eastern, 5 pacific ... 11 am in Tokyo ... maybe noon in Tokyo, 6 PST, 9 EST ...
Sounds about right...
I recall the Yankees-Rays and Cubs-Mets series in Japan starting at 5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. PT.
by FormerHuntsvilleStar on Nov 14, 2007 5:46 PM PST up reply actions
Haren vs. Beckett.. woo hoo
I'm there. Actually, as a fan, I'm happy to see the As playing in Japan. I also think the players are excited for it as well. Of course, we can speculate about possible Japanese player signings that can results from this but in the most basic of terms, this is a chance for us to gain international and national exposure (and hence $$$s). I also think this takes virutally all the what ifs off the board and forces the As to remain competitive. I think the expectation is for both teams to field the strongest teams possible and with all the As have to gain, I don't see them without any major pieces. The proper course of action is to stand pat with a few clever additions.
I think the trip sets the rotation in stone of Danny, Joe, Bionic Rich version whatever we are on, Chad, and Duke (consideration given to whatever is the backup plan once the batteries run out on Bionic Rich)... with Street as our closer and a hitting core centered around Ellis, Swisher, Chacez, Buck, and Barton. If we defeat the WS champions, the buzz/momentum would be huge and could easily carry us into the playoffs. (Not to mention the increased fan interest).
by AsWin on Nov 14, 2007 11:59 AM PST reply actions
Can't we just send the Rivercats?
I thought they were amazing against MLB this year and they still managed to win the AAA championship.
It would keep our regular players in tune for a regular start of the season, and let's face it - if the games are from 2am to 5am, who in the U.S. is really going to see it?
by GreenAndGoldFish on Nov 14, 2007 1:10 PM PST reply actions
Will season-ticket holders...
...get a discount for two missed games?
Like others have said, it comes down to money. If it didn't, they could just as easily split the games... one home game each.
This is good for the A's
Tons of exposure via ESPN who will replay the crap out of this. Big time for Haren/Harden. It's also during Spring training, so if Billy wanted to last minute deal anyone... The team must be getting buku bucks for it. And they'll have a week to recover, and will not lose much because they play the Sawx the next week. Win win. Nice job.
by A'sfansince1970 on Nov 14, 2007 1:32 PM PST reply actions
That should be fun
I'll get to watch that game with all these Red Sox fans here in Boston at the wee hours of the morn.
Man that's gonna be a bad couple of days if we lose.
In all seriousness though
It will be kind of fun to see the attention our team ought to inevitably get from this for once.
by walk off bunt on Nov 14, 2007 2:13 PM PST up reply actions
Of course it's good for us.
Consider:
Huge hype and exposure.
Opportunity to showcase our young'(g)uns.
Direct flights from Tokyo to Vancouver when Harden twangs his elbow.
How often do you get to play in the Fukudome?
Amen to that
I hope we spoil everything by having our guys whoop up on 'em.
We did it last year.
Here's to AN Day in Tokyo
by oaklandSMASH on Nov 14, 2007 3:49 PM PST up reply actions
Starters
So, presuming Haren and Harden (or Blanton) start the games there, will they start the other games once the regular season "starts" again? We could get two Haren starts before ever having to deal with a 3-5 starter.
That's a good point
But I'm still not excited about it.
by Tyler Bleszinski on Nov 14, 2007 4:59 PM PST up reply actions
this is a plot by Lew to spoil my bet with mikeA
*&^%% Lew Wolff!
I'm OK with it
Let the fans in Japan have their fun.
I thought this quote from Billy Beane was rather funny:
"The book is huge over there, I guess, so I'm like a David Hasselhoff type or something," Beane joked. "I'm one of those guys who has this random celebrity status, like a John Tesh or something."
by FormerHuntsvilleStar on Nov 14, 2007 6:04 PM PST reply actions
True story:
I bought my copy of the book at a Kinokuniya (essentially the Japanese version of Borders-- there's one in SF, too) in Tokyo.
great, you are fan too!
will add you to my hasselhoff newsletter (that makes three of us in north america)
Isn't Moneyball's Japanese title
"LITTLE CASH TEAM MAKE BIG HAPPY PLAY: FUN TIME!!"?
by oaklandSMASH on Nov 15, 2007 8:48 AM PST up reply actions
301 people think it's a bad idea
...for the A's to increase their exposure to the japanese market? At the cost of what, one friggin' home game? This isn't the NFL, one game is nothing for an MLB team.
Why wouldn't MLB
step up and say it's fair to make it 1 home game for each team? Rather than, I don't know ... give one team a competitive advantage that could easily be avoided. It's so transparently corrupt anymore, I don't even know why I watch.
by Bleeding the Green and Gold on Nov 14, 2007 9:13 PM PST reply actions
Baseball is a plutocracy
just like all the rest of this society.
I'm not sure why you were expecting anything different.
there's no way
MLB would let the World Series champions be the home team in Japan.
Yeah, that's right, I'm sayin' it - RACIST!
:-P
by popcornjames on Nov 15, 2007 10:24 AM PST up reply actions
Bad
Don't the teams that play the Japan starter usually start off slow, something the A's do without timezone help. How is this good? Do we need extra losses early because no one is awake?
Some discussion going on
over at JapanToday.com. At least one A's fan in Japan has commented. Oddly, according to this story, Nippon Professional Baseball says that the exact dates and venues won't be announced until mid-December.
While there are certainly going to be more people cheering for Boston (or for Matsuzaka and Okajima) I bet there will be a fair number of A's fans (I hope to be one of them, though I'm not sure), and I doubt Japanese fans would express any hostility to the A's or any other visiting team with no history. I bet Swisher becomes a minor media star for the week.
Travel Miles
Is anyone else worried about the effect that these additional thousands of miles of travel and shortened spring training schedule will have on the team? It seems Oakland is consistently among the league leaders on travel miles year after year, and this certainly isn't going to help...
well..
as bad as it may be for jet lag and such, it is good for me! i have never seen the a's live and i moved to japan less than three months ago. while i doubt i will be able to get a ticket, it is still pretty exciting. for the team, i think it is probably a bad thing though. maybe they will expand their asian scouting?
I at least have a chance to see the A's in person
after several years of being a fan from afar. I think the last time I saw a game at the Coliseum was somewhere in the 1999-2000 range. Of course, I have to be able to secure tickets, which may not be that easy given the marquee value of Red Sox here.
Anybody here actually going to Japan??
I remember back in 2003 on the A's official site, there was a group of maybe seven fans or so(some Bay Area residents, some ex-pats in Japan) going to the A's/M's games. Obviously the games got cancelled.
It would be interesting to see if anybody from AN makes the trek out and to hear their stories.
Look for the white guy
I will be in Japan, and will attend the games. I will be the white guy in the A's jersey, shouldnt be too hard to miss. I can only hope Kaz Tadano will be on the roster.
by AthleticSupporter24 on Nov 15, 2007 11:47 AM PST reply actions
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