Thanks.

THE A's ARE FINALLY GETTING A NEW BALLPARK!!!!

IN THE BAY AREA!!!

Whether one loves or hates the Fremont move, we should all admit the reality that Wolff et al decided Oakland wasn't going to happen from before the day they bought the team.  I will forever despise Wolff for blowing off Oakland and lying about it along the way.

All that said:  I may still support the Fremont plan when more facts are in.

Love them politics!

It'll be a reasonable drive for pretty much anyone in the area not from SF or Richmond.

My feelings will hinge a lot on the name ... I'm willing to accept that Fremont is just an Oakland suburb housing our team, so if the name doesn't change, I won't mind too much. The Fremont A's, East Bay A's and, especially, the Silicon Valley A's will be tough to stomach. As much as I've ragged on the halos (who aren't and never have been from LA), I could deal with the Oakland A's of Fremont.

I think this is fabulous news. They need a new stadium desperately and if it can't be in Oakland, I am more than happy to welcome them to my home town! They are still in the East Bay and that is what matters most!

Recently I have been driving past the area where the ball park will be and I could almost see a ghostly image of the new stadium. It is as if a ball park was meant to be there.

I know this won't happen before 2010, but I am glad that we are seeing things moving. The questions will all soon be answered and speculations will turn to facts. This is the first step on a very exciting road. This is going to be some very fun years we have coming up! Can't Wait!

About the name, I doubt they will have the Fremont name associated with the team.  Why would they, do they want Fremont to become some tourist destination, or have the desire to be a "big city"?  Doubtfull.  Fremont is suburbia with a few light industry tech companies in the warm springs area.  I think all Fremont cares about are the tax dollars this would bring in.  

Fremont to Oakland = 26.40 Miles

Throughout the '80s, I used to sit out in the great old left-field bleachers (with a number of future ANers).  That was the Coliseum I loved, a stadium that, despite its multipurpose origins, was a great place to watch a ball game.  But it hasn't existed for years. I can't say I'll much miss today's Mac, though admittedly, I've been living away from the Bay Area for years now, and I've only been to three games in the new configuration.  Still, when I have been to A's home games in recent years, it's always been a little sad.  At any rate, I won't find it hard to say goodbye.

I'm really eager to learn two things in the coming months, or perhaps years:

1)What will the public transportation access look like? (I dearly hope for BART, or at least a BART to bus/walk design thats not a headache. (Taking BART into San Francisco and then walking the rest of the way to The Phone Book isn't particularly bad. If it's at least along those lines I'll be alright.

2)What do we call them? I want to see them just stick to being called the Oakland A's. I could live with San Jose A's, and I suppose even East Bay A's. But, as Blez mentioned, nothing silly, and I'd rather them not be the Fremont A's.

My reasoning:

• "Fremont" adds precisely nothing to the marketing value of the team (which would, not to get all reztips, probably be an improvement over the negative connotations of "Oakland")
  
• "Silicon Valley" is both geographically incorrect and is likely to incur the wrath of Magowan
  
• "Oakland," as stated above, is probably gone, less for reasons of geography than for the negative connotations it brings to the minds of the intended audience demographic
  
• "Golden State" I would guess has little chance, as (a) the Warriors don't have enough of a crossover audience with the A's or the target demographic, (b) still retains implicit assocations with Oakland, (c) has no real chance of building a geographic affinity (who inside the state actually ever calls CA "The Golden State"?)
  
• "East Bay" has the geographic affinity and actual geogrpahy going for it -- but excludes San Jose and environs from the geographic target
  
• "San Francisco Bay"/"... Area" would probably get Magowan's knickers in a twist, and would reinforce the "San Jose = 2nd-tier city" messaging

The problem is the city has been burned in the past and most of that is thanks to Al Davis and the Raiders. Yet, they welcomed Davis back with open arms about a decade ago. Meanwhile, the A's have put out a much better overall product for years - the best in the East Bay by far when compared to the Warriors and Raiders (the Sharks are South Bay) and they can't get anywhere on a new ballpark in Oakland.

Maybe they don't REALLY need one. Enough people have said they do that there have been threats of contraction or a move in the past. At least if Fremont happens, we get a new ballpark and we keep the A's in the Bay Area. Fremont is 27 miles from Oakland and I live almost right between the two. It won't make it any harder for ME to go to games and the A's want a piece of that South Bay pie. There's still a big corporate influence down there and that means more money for a team.

I hope it works. A's baseball in Fremont is far better than no A's baseball in the East Bay at all. It's also a little weird. I remember when my brother and I were kids and my father took us to the Baylands racetrack. To go to A's games in the same area some 25 years later? Feels strange.

Thanks.

Yes, yes, I know. To those of you on the home front it seems like they're moving "away", but to those of us looking from 800 miles away, they haven't left town at all. So now they're 20 miles down the street. No big deal. It still means when I go back to visit my friends in Oakland I'll be able to see a home A's game. Not like if they were moving to Las Vegas or something.

What town they're in makes less difference than things like how well the BART will connect to the stadium, how efficient the parking lot is, etc.

To build a ballpark in an area so far away from public transportation (the most optimistic Warm Springs BART projections don't have it open before 2013, and that's assuming many hurdles including financial are met -- and even then it won't be near the ballpark), and so far from the center of the Bay Area fanbase for the A's, means some pretty gnarly 880 traffic for fans who can drive or are willing to do so. It also may mean assuming that the decrease in fan attendance from the farther reaches will be made up by new and increased southern fan base attendance (or maybe fan numbers aren't as important?)

All I can say is "Good Luck". I can tell you I won't be going to many games to a ballpark that I cannot reasonably reach via public transportation.

As for Wash: I'm happy for him, and feel the Rangers made a good choice. His loss to the A's will be significant.

As a young teen I would take bart to games by myself and I have many many memories of sitting in the wooden bleachers....

This just makes me sad...

A part of me, a part of my youth, is going to die when the A's say goodbye to Oakland for the last time.

Not to say people aren't perfectly within their rights to complain, but, "I'm through with this team," over this is stupid. Plain and simple.