NFL Merry-Go-Round: Relocation Roundelay

[bosrs1]

I heard the Oakland A's were supposed to be moving into a new stadium. Is this true or false?

If it's true. What would the odds be of the Raiders temporarily playing at the Niners new stadium for a year or so while The Coliseium is renovated.

Yes it's true. The A's plan involves moving into Cisco Field in San Jose. However the A's are waiting on the go ahead from MLB to move to San Jose as the territorial rights the A's ceded to the Giants in 1992 when they were planning to move to Santa Clara County would have to be revoked. The Rays owner along with Lew Wolff (the A's owner) and Billy Beane have all indicated that the decision should be forthcoming very soon before the end of the calendar year (soon enough to effect this year's free agent acquisitions for the team) and the tenor of their responses seems quite positive on the matter. If they get the go ahead to move to San Jose the city and Wolff will finish up purchasing the site designated in downtown SJ just south of the HP Pavilion. They estimate they could have the stadium ready for opening day 2015. The current proposed design is in the rendering below. As for the "ballot measure" someone mentioned below, there may not even be one due to the current set up of the stadium project which would be an AT&T Park style 100% private stadium (SJ city law only requires a vote if taxpayer money is going directly into the stadium).

As for the Raiders they have three options currently. Either work with the Niners on the Santa Clara stadium which they've preliminarily discussed and which is the NFL's preference. Stay in Oakland and try to build a second NFL stadium in the area at the Coliseum site which is currently undergoing an environmental impact report. Or move back to LA to Roski or AEG's stadium.

[NJTank]

That stadium looks awesome I hope the A's get it.

[The_Admiral]

Cisco Field was a bunch of bad ideas. "A baseball stadium...with condos!" is not something that gets built in a recession, but more importantly, the Fremont site was inconvenient by car and downright inaccessible by transit, unless you were willing to take BART to a pedestrian walkway to a shuttle bus or some such daisy-chained nonsense.

[bosrs1]

Cisco Field was a bunch of bad ideas. "A baseball stadium...with condos!" is not something that gets built in a recession, but more importantly, the Fremont site was inconvenient by car and downright inaccessible by transit, unless you were willing to take BART to a pedestrian walkway to a shuttle bus or some such daisy-chained nonsense.

It made sense before the recession when the Fremont version of Cisco Field was announced back in 2006. Now that particular plan seems like folly, but we have the benefit of hindsight and a much different world than 2006. As for car access it was equal to what they have currently at the Coliseum. The big issue was the loss of direct BART access, which wasn't huge in their minds because they don't care so much about the people in Oakland that they'd still draw as they do the people in San Jose they'd acquire (people who don't take public transit to games anyway).

Public transit is one of the benefits of the new San Jose site though being that it's right next to VTA Lightrail, Caltrain, ACE, Capital Corridor, and the future high speed rail and BART extensions. Not to mention direct access to 2 freeways I-280 and CA-87.

[FiddySicks]

Ok so I know that this has been the question since the damn thing first opened, but isn't BART close to expanding to San Jose anyway? And for real this time? I heard somewhere that part of the plan for the A's moving to San Jose was that there had to be legitimate plans and funding in place to expand the routes that far south. That's been the "rumor" since I was a kid though, so I may have just heard that from some idiot on the train coming home from a game one day.

[Camden Crazy]

I like that rendering, but I LOVED the early designs of it:

[BBTV]

I really don't like stadiums that are "enclosed" like that (I know it's not really enclosed, but with the outfield stands / structures being as tall as the main grandstands, it has that effect.) I guess there's nothing to look at besides office parks, but I still prefer more of an open feeling.

[epper]

What I noticed on that new Cisco Field rendering is the 302 distance down the left field line. Guess that's one way to boost an anemic offense.

[bosrs1]

Ok so I know that this has been the question since the damn thing first opened, but isn't BART close to expanding to San Jose anyway? And for real this time? I heard somewhere that part of the plan for the A's moving to San Jose was that there had to be legitimate plans and funding in place to expand the routes that far south. That's been the "rumor" since I was a kid though, so I may have just heard that from some idiot on the train coming home from a game one day.

Nope. Part of the plan for the Fremont site was the hope that the Warm Springs extension would be granted to the BART system. But the San Jose stadium doesn't even have that in it. BART or no BART they're hoping to build in San Jose (unfortunately the BART or not attitude is because the owners don't feel the current fan base, what there is of it, that comes from points north is all that important compared to the new fans they'll acquire in San Jose.

As for BART itself however, yes the extension to San Jose is in the works. They're currently building the first leg from Fremont to Warm Springs. And the next leg after that from Warm Springs to Berryessa (inside SJ's city limits) has been approved w/funding. What has not been approved and may never be approved is the extension from Berryessa to Downtown San Jose which is the extension that would put a station right next to the ballpark and HP Pavilion. The problem is it would require a massive tunnel under downtown SJ and cost in the billions. However once the extension to Berryessa is complete the Bay Area will finally have a complete rail circuit as the Berryessa station will be home to both BART and the current VTA lightrail. The lightrail also links to Caltrain in Mountain View on the other side of Silicon Valley and Caltrain links to BART on the northern peninsula in Milbrae. So between the 3 rail systems you'll finally be able to go around the entire bay on rails.

[bosrs1]

As expected, Roski has sweatened the pot on his stadium plans now that the AEG downtown stadium has hit it's first significant snag with the league. Looks like Roski's dropping the "no cash" minority stake requirement of his plan and replaced it with a straight market value purchase of a portion of the team that moves in first. Suddenly his terms look a heck of a lot more palatable then his competitors.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-1011-farmer-nfl-20111011,0,5838238.column

He also had a pretty new rendering done.

[Gothamite]

Holy crap - look at that video screen.

All general admission on one side, facing the screen. That's pretty cool. Wonder if the sightlines extend out to the pavillion or if it's blocked by the hill.

So now Roski's willing to hand over all the land for the right to buy a percentage of a team in cash and at the market rate. That's going to put a lot of pressure on Anschutz to back way the hell down on his demands.

[leopard88]

From the "Let's All Read Into This As Much As We Can" department, that sure looks a lot like a Rams uniform on the player in the center.

[Gothamite]

And it also looks a lot like "USC" painted on the endzone.

[leopard88]

And it also looks a lot like "USC" painted on the endzone.

Nice catch.

[MadmanLA]

And it also looks a lot like "USC" painted on the endzone.

Nice catch.

Indeed...

Even though it's pretty much a moot point now, I've been thinking that either USC and/or UCLA may join in on the Farmers Field project, especially since they both play in relics. I say it's a moot point because there's a planned renovation of the Rose Bowl stadium in which UCLA signed a long-term extension recently, while USC (with Farmers Field literally right up the street from campus) is still working on gaining operational control of the Coliseum. In fact, they just built a new high-def video scoreboard over the summer on the west end of Coliseum.

For UCLA, it's certainly a shorter (and somewhat easier) drive from the Westwood campus east to Downtown, via the surface streets and Interstate 10, as opposed to driving from Westwood to Pasadena, where you have to take at least two highways just to get to the Rose Bowl, and it's a minimum 25-mile trip one way depending on which routes you take.

[STL FANATIC]

From the "Let's All Read Into This As Much As We Can" department, that sure looks a lot like a Rams uniform on the player in the center.

To be honest, even the Red and Black team looks like a Rams uniform photoshopped to different colors and a solid helmet.

EDIT: That's the one you were talking about. I'm dumb. In that case... even the guys on the right and left appear to have Rams resemblance.

[dbadefense1990]

As expected, Roski has sweatened the pot on his stadium plans now that the AEG downtown stadium has hit it's first significant snag with the league. Looks like Roski's dropping the "no cash" minority stake requirement of his plan and replaced it with a straight market value purchase of a portion of the team that moves in first. Suddenly his terms look a heck of a lot more palatable then his competitors.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-1011-farmer-nfl-20111011,0,5838238.column

He also had a pretty new rendering done.

What amazes me about Grand Crossing is the engineering cleverness behind building it. It's an NFL stadium to be carefully built on molehills and use all the advantages of the land to maximize the effort with little cost. Mountains will be used as support beams and placers instead of steel. An engineering mecca if the NFL does say yes to Ed Roski's idea.

[Gothamite]

That's why ie always preferred his plan, even though I'm almost always an advocate for downtown stadiums.

[Rockstar Matt]

The only reason I don't like the City of Industry proposal is because the stadium isn't even in L.A. and if I were to ever go to a game, the drive would take about an hour to an hour and a half depending on traffic. However Farmer's Field would be only a 30 minute drive and it's actually in Los Angeles.

[Still MIGHTY]

The only reason I don't like the City of Industry proposal is because the stadium isn't even in L.A. and if I were to ever go to a game, the drive would take about an hour to an hour and a half depending on traffic. However Farmer's Field would be only a 30 minute drive and it's actually in Los Angeles.

It's in Los Angeles County

I've also preferred the downtown, because of the downtown aspect. Industry would be a shorter drive for me, but eh. (As always in SoCal, drive times vary based on traffic, so who knows. I'm only taking two freeways to either location.) I don't think the difference between the two really changes much for an NFL game, at least for me. Usually, people aren't leaving to get to an NFL game right on time. Most people get there early, tailgate, explore around. There's things to do or party areas or game watching areas. (Both sites would have that in spades. Tailgating would be less for downtown, but again eh.)