and the delay is not really big news. Everyone knew that the move would be loosey between 2011 and 2012, with the optimistic hope of 2011. Now we know that the ERP will take a bit longer than hoped because the the old ERP wasn’t used as much, but its really not anything unexpected.

And again, lets say that the A’s do build a stadium in the Oakland parking lot.

a) Why would people go there when they already don’t go to the stadium they have now?

b) Why would you want to build a shiny new stadium in the middle of a rundown industrial zone?

c) Who’s paying for the stadium in the parking lot?

unfortunately Wolff is not just looking to build a baseball stadium. The “ballpark village” is the development, the stadium is just the centerpiece. There’s not nearly enough space to build a “village” in the Coliseum parking lot even after tearing down the existing stadium, and when they thought about going after some of the land north of 66th Avenue to make the space, it was clear there wasn’t going to be sufficient cooperation from the property owners or the City of Oakland.

Even the Earthquakes stadium proposal that Wolff and the City of San Jose agreed to this week (still needs City Council approval) features retail, office and hotel space as integral parts of the development.

This almost certainly represents nothing but an optimistic timeline being too optimistic.

If there was any chance of the A’s staying in Oakland - there is ZERO chance of it being in the parking lot - unless the City and County miraculously decide they can afford to pony up half a billion bucks to build it themselves.

The ballpark village is a non-negotiable aspect of any stadium proposal. There were a couple of spots that could have worked (Uptown and Broadway and 27th)—but, as far as I can tell, the ship has sailed on both (definitely on Uptown), they are committed to going a different direction.

(All of the waterfront locations have too expensive of environmental requirements and severe transportation issues)

Believe me - I’ve always specifically been an OAKLAND A’s fan - but the writing is on the wall, they’re only staying in Oakland until they can build a stadium elsewhere … and if it’s not Fremont, it’ll be further.

Yup … Fremont deal will keep getting pushed back … and back … and back … and back…. we’ll be 80 before it happens. Oakland A’s until 2012 (maybe) ... thank goodness.

as FSU does above. Why not there? It is cheap land right now that will never be available again. And close to everything including BART. Maybe the economic forces at work make taking another look at Oakland a viable option. The fact is West Oakland is gonna blow up at some point. It’s too close to the City to stay how it is for long.

Apple, Cisco, Ebay, Google, Electronic Arts, HP, Intel, SanDisk, Adobe, Sun, and Yahoo. How hard can it be to find funding and get approval for a freaking baseball team in Silicon Valley??? The A’s do not play in a small market like they are so frequently associated with, they play with a small budget. Something is not right here. There isn’t another region in the country where there are so many billions of dollars just sitting around. Minus the atmosphere and great fans (the ones that actually show up) the coliseum is absolutely the worst place to watch baseball in the entire league, well maybe we’ll call it a tie with the Marlins. Whatever forces be it at work preventing the A’s from getting a new stadium need to wise up if they want to keep the A’s around. There is no way they are staying in Oakland drawing less than 20k on a weekend. I really don’t even care where in the Bay Area they are, as long as they stay in the BA. I’m going to dread seeing them move to Vegas, Birmingham, Oklahoma City, Portland, Orlando, or wherever the heck else a team could be supported. Even worse, you can bet with a move to a new state the green and gold, and white shoes will be the first to change.

All of you will hate me for saying this but a good move for the a’s would be to move to Sac and put the Rivercats elsewhere. That city has so much space and crazy support to their teams. Sacramento Athletics its coming.

For one, as this news even shows, they are DOING the ERP. That costs $$$. And they have already invested a lot of money into the project already.

If they were to build in Oakland, they would have to scrap all that money they’ve invested in Fremont already.

but since the A’s have moved to Oakland, the reoccuring theme has always been that Oakland fans don’t show up to the games, no matter how good the team is. The only time we had decent attendance was in the late 80’s dyansty.

Then people complain that the A’s are building a new, privatly funded stadium just down the road, closer to the corperate sponsors. They want the A’s owners to just reach into their pocket and produce a stadium out of nowhere in Oakland as if it was nothing, taking all the debt on themselves with out anyway to finance it except from the funds they already have.

Well, I know its shocking to you, but the MLB is a business, not a public service. And Businessmen who manage to acquire that much money are not going to blow it all on a stadium, especially in a city where the fanbase has never supported the team, and the political leaders don’t want the team there anyways.

I am sure there are a good number of A’s fans who live in Oakland, but almost all of the A’s fans I’ve met at games are not from Oakland, but from surrounding cities.

As for Saftey, both Oakland and the Coliseum area (mainly thanks to the Raiders) have a reputation for being very unsafe. Is it warrented? I don’t know. But the perception is there, and it is strong, and it isn’t going away. And if people percieve that going to the Coliseum is dangerous, that A’s fans are dangerous maniacs who throw batteries and cell phones at players, get drunk int the stands and start brawls, and so on, then the casual fan will not show up, and will go to the “fan friendly” phonebooth park, along with all the corperate sponsors who want to be assosiated with that image.

Because believe it or not, A’s fans, non-A’s fans who have not been to the Coliseum do think Oaklnad is full of gangs who kill each other on the streets, and believe that Oakland fans are always rowdy and violent. Oakland really needs to fix its national image problem, and I don’t think welcoming the Raiders back with open arms and a fat checkbook helped. Even the Warriors, when they moved from San Francisco to Oakland didn’t take the Oakland name.

Well, when I get back to the Bay Area, I look forward to watching the San Jose Athletics from my seat at Cisco Field at Fremont.

ATHLETICS!!

nuff said.

2001: 19th
2002: 18th
2003: 17th
2004: 19th
2005: 19th
2006: 26th
2007: 26th

As one who lives far away from the Bay Area and only gets to visit the Colsieum once a year or so- I can say that I think the A’s have a great stadium compared to many others that I have been in. However, the neighborhood around the Colsieum has a lot to be desired, and the City of Oakland seems to care less if the team stays or not. I have been a fan for more than 35 years and would love to see the A’s stay in Oakland with an updated or new venue, but I can’t see the city doing it- the politics don’t seem to be there.

I am an A’s fan because I grew up in Oakland, was born in Oakland, and the A’s are my team. The attachment to the team formed at a very young age (from about ages 3 to 7) and has stayed. I have since moved from the bay area, California, and the USA for good but I will always be an OAKLAND A’s fan first and foremost.

But better Fremont than OKC as has been said before…..

Heck, if I become a billionare many times over somehow (and I am not off to a good start) I would build a stadium in Oakland….

Total hysteria. I have looked at the crime stats enough to say with confidence that there is no more gun crime in Oakland than SF or any other big city/met area in the US. No more burglary or assault or domestic violence in Oakland than SF. This is media promulgated bilge. That some are using this as an excuse to move the A’s is disgusting.

If you support the move to Fremont that is fine with me. But if you are supporting your position with false statements and fearmongering I am going to point that out.

The Coliseum may be in a bad neighboryhood in Oakland. That is not enough of a reason to leave Oakland.

Wolfish et al. obviously didn’t look hard at an Oakland location. There are options in Oakland. Fremont is not a done deal until they move dirt and sell tickets. I think there is some chance that Oakland will re-enter the conversation.

Where is the comparison to other like cities?

My bias: I’m an Oakland resident and a fan for uh… longer than I’m going to admit to you. Personally, I’d love a park on Broadway. I could walk to it. Awesome!

However! Publicly financed parks (even public/private) are BS, unless the city’s residents are getting a proportional cut of profits. And I don’t mean sales tax. I like the Green Bay model; the city owns the team and fans love the team. Granted, there’s not a lot to do in Green Bay but certainly even staying home in sub-30 degree weather is “something better to do.” But those wack-o’s put on their cheeseheads and show up in the worst of weather. Some part of that has to be related to a true sense of ownership of their team. (Dave Zirin is my fave sports writer; he writes very eloquently on this topic and others.)

I’ve been to other parks too… I love Safeco (great food, wide concourse) and Camden (intimate, close to action), but unless my team is playing there… it’s just novelty. I’m not as much of a fan of Mays Field as others because I find it overly cramped, but I really appreciate the food selection. The Coliseum concourse can get a cramped too, sure. But order delivery in “premium” sections and more (staffed) vendor outlets could alleviate some of that. I’d love it if there were bars and restaurants walking distance from the park to go to before and after the game… and it’d be great if it was well-lit and perfectly safe to walk back to my car (or BART) at midnight. Here’s the thing: all that is doable without moving to Fremont.

The Coliseum is ugly. Yup. It definitely needs help there. But it was a lot less ugly before Mount Davis. I really loved the view of the Oakland hills, and sitting on the east side, I enjoy the sunsets.

I’m just saying, a majority of our gripes about the Coliseum are fixable. And fixing our gripes would greatly benefit the people of Oakland as well… which, by the way, is the economic argument for having the team in any particular city in the first place.

I didn’t say “widen the concourse.” Where did you read that? Not in my post. And even Mount Davis has its moments:

In short, I said improvements in services and safety can be made that will mitigate the complaints people legitimately have about the Coliseum.

I just want to remind everyone that, even if you disagree that Oakland has a high crime rate, and that people are “Cherry picking” facts, you must agree on the principle point being made here: That it is the perception and reputation of Oakland that is hurting attendance.

People believe that they might get shot, robbed, murdered, stabbed, raped, whatever when they go to Oakland, and so they do not.