Stadium/Arena Saga Omnibus

[who do you think]

4 hours ago, Red Comet said:

Dave Stewart is the face of the Nashville group. 

 

"Here's all our Linkedin bios, somebody rich come fund our pet project please."

[tBBP]

12 hours ago, Red Comet said:

Dave Stewart is the face of the Nashville group. Now, he’s still important because you need someone who was in the game because that helps with PR, but two things:

 

Number 1: No one is going to outright say that they are going to rip a team out of its home market. Even Clay Bennett didn’t say he was wanting to move to Oklahoma City until it happened despite every other sign screaming it. 
 

Number 2: I’d look at the Executive Committee. Those are the real big shots who are going to be making the decisions. I have hyperlinked the Music City Baseball’s board so anyone can see for themselves. 
 

As for the stadium? Well, Nissan Stadium is about to hit the dust. Just saying.   Disregard, this is actually the plan:

 

”Music City Baseball has carefully studied multiple possible sites in Davidson, Williamson and Rutherford Counties. Presently, we are focusing on a tract of land on the Tennessee State University campus, along the Cumberland River. This location would put the stadium less than four miles from downtown Nashville. We envision that the baseball stadium, which will serve as a sports and entertainment venue, will be part of a mixed-use family sports and entertainment district.”

 

And that's already caused a bit of controversy. It goes back a couple months, but the fact that TSU was even willing to sell some of their campus in the first place caused quite a bit of an uproar amongst some alumni, current students  and some in the community once reports got out. (This gets into some touchy areas, but because I know how certain posters get around here when topics of race get brought up, I'll leave that part out for now.) Worth noting—and I didn't even know this at first until reading that link—is that Eddie George, as in current TSU head football coach, is also part of that group, and at some point over the years developed a real estate development business of his own (good for him!). 

[tyst13]

11 hours ago, tBBP said:

Worth noting—and I didn't even know this at first until reading that link—is that Eddie George, as in current TSU head football coach, is also part of that group, and at some point over the years developed a real estate development business of his own (good for him!). 

Huh, that is good for him. A few years ago I saw a touring production of Chicago and Eddie George stared in it as Billy Flynn (the lawyer played by Richard Gere in the film). So he's really making the most of retirement.

Edited May 5, 2023 by tyst13
Correcting a typo (*lost to most)

[BBTV]

Phillies president Dave Dombrowski is also part of the Nashville group, and when hired, said he didn't anticipate anything happening there for years, but if something changed, he'd leave the Phillies when the time was right to get to work on that bid.

[GDAWG]

On 5/4/2023 at 9:35 AM, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Brody Brazil and Casey Pratt are reporting that the A's have only a month left to get the funding legislation passed in the Nevada legislature. They quote assembly speaker Steve Yeager (not the ex-Dodger catcher) as saying that there is still no bill, nor are there any concrete plans being discussed.

 

The legislative session ends in early June, and there isn't another one for another two years. (Which is ridiculous. But that's a whole other topic.) The governor has the power to call a special session; whether the governor would want to do that for this issue is anyone's guess.

 

Both Brazil and Pratt report that the A's agreement to buy the land for the ballpark near the Las Vegas strip is contingent upon the Nevada legislature passing the funding bill.  If there's no new legislation, then the A's could back out of the purchase. 

 

Pratt speculates that this would lead to a sale of the team, as the current ownership no longer has any leverage in Oakland, having burned its bridges there.

 

So there is still some hope.

 

The complete opposite of Zennie Abraham, who believes that the deal between the A's and Las Vegas will be done and they are as good as gone.  Abraham also doesn't understand why John Fisher would sell the A's when Las Vegas will do everything to placate him.  He says it's 100% that the A's will move to Las Vegas.  

[kolob]

It'd be interesting to see what happens IF the A's deal in Vegas falls through. There's no return to Oakland. And, like posters mentioned above Nashville doesn't seem like a viable option, not just because of the Nashville Stars group, but realignment issues. So, it really limits locations in the West. Which leaves Portland and SLC. And, I won't lie, I hope it's SLC. I'm a Utahn. I've wanted the major leagues here. And, I love the A's. I'd be a fan on day one.

 

Biases aside I also think SLC provides an easier move than to Portland, especially with being stadium ready even if they need to play in Smith's Ballpark for a couple years. It has the capacity and ability to add more if needed. Much better than in Summerlin.

 

But, I wonder what that does for Vegas' future status for expansion. Does it sour the whole market? Nevada politicians? I feel like it could. So does MLB expand to Portland? It'll be interesting to see what happens. But, I just have this nagging feeling that the A's deal in Vegas is going to fall through. Especially when you consider Mark Davis' feelings on the A's ownership group. There's no love loss.

[The_Admiral]

I think Oakland can be salvaged, I don't think Las Vegas will happen, and I'm sure they'll be in on expansion after this.

[Ridleylash]

23 minutes ago, kimball said:

There's no return to Oakland.

There's absolutely a return to Oakland if Fisher ends up having to sell the A's due to his own blunders; we've known that Lacob has already expressed interest in owning them and keeping the team in Oakland.

 

The issue between Oakland and Fisher is completely on Fisher, not the city; Fisher just wants someone who'll do whatever he wants them to do.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

23 minutes ago, kimball said:

It'd be interesting to see what happens IF the A's deal in Vegas falls through. There's no return to Oakland.

 

There's no return to Oakland under this ownership.

[kolob]

40 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

There's no return to Oakland under this ownership.

 

True. But, I don't see MLB returning to Oakland, especially if nothing is going to happen with a stadium. 

[Ridleylash]

23 minutes ago, kimball said:

True. But, I don't see MLB returning to Oakland, especially if nothing is going to happen with a stadium. 

Keeping a team in Oakland is better than contraction, which would be the only other realistic option since the league's effort for new franchises is entirely keyed on expansion, not relocation. Moving the A's to Nashville, Vegas or wherever knocks that market off the list of expansion options.

 

Plus, it's a market that has historically proven it can support the league with an owner that gives a about the team besides making as much money as possible for as little investment as they can muster. If/(more likely) when the Vegas bid falls through, I feel like Fisher will just end up selling the team outright and whoever buys the A's will pick the negotiations with Oakland right back up.

 

Besides, everything we've been learning of the A's dealings with Vegas has been things that are at best controversial and at worst outright stupid on their part in terms of endearing themselves to the Vegas locals. If that's the kind of stuff they're going to do to any city who has interest in them, then I would see interest drying up very quickly anywhere besides Oakland.

[Red Comet]

Oakland is going to have to have a wealth boom before any major league team ends up there again. It’s too small, too poor and too broke to have more than one and even that’s in question. 
 

Maybe they can take advantage of San Francisco’s collapse?

[BBTV]

4 minutes ago, Red Comet said:

Oakland is going to have to have a wealth boom before any major league team ends up there again. It’s too small, too poor and too broke to have more than one and even that’s in question. 
 

Maybe they can take advantage of San Francisco’s collapse?

 

You've made a few comments like this - I'm not sure you know much about Oakland.  

 

EDIT: at least the people.  Can't say about the city government.

[Red Comet]

5 minutes ago, BBTV said:

 

You've made a few comments like this - I'm not sure you know much about Oakland.  

 

EDIT: at least the people.  Can't say about the city government.

I’m not saying the people are bad or even anything all that negative. I’m saying that they tend to be poor or working-class and considering that CoL in California in general and the Bay Area in particular is already inflated to hell and back, that leaves even less money for disposable income than such a situation typically would. So, to get more support for a team, there needs to be more money flying around. Maybe Oakland can try to lure some companies looking for cheaper real estate from Silicon Valley but don’t want to leave California.
 

The city government is bog-standard incompetence but that’s every city. 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Red Comet

[WestCoastBias]

2 minutes ago, Red Comet said:

Oakland is going to have to have a wealth boom before any major league team ends up there again. It’s too small, too poor and too broke to have more than one and even that’s in question. 

 

I could say the same thing about a lot of rust belt cities if they were in this position. The only difference is they were willing to shell out millions of taxpayer dollars in awful new stadium deals and Oakland isn't.

[Ridleylash]

Just now, WestCoastBias said:

I could say the same thing about a lot of rust belt cities if they were in this position. The only difference is they were willing to shell out millions of taxpayer dollars in awful new stadium deals and Oakland isn't.

See: Calgary

[Red Comet]

Just now, WestCoastBias said:

 

I could say the same thing about a lot of rust belt cities if they were in this position. The only difference is they were willing to shell out millions of taxpayer dollars in awful new stadium deals and Oakland isn't.

Where did I say spending public money on a stadium was a good idea? 

[BBTV]

I think there's plenty of wealth in the East Bay to support a well-run team.  There's a ton of people with >$200k jobs (which are the same jobs that pay half as much in most other cities) being pushed out of SF and into the East Bay / Oakland (source... I know several first hand.) 

 

There's certainly more diversity in Oakland from both a demographic and socio-economical standpoint, but I have less than no doubt it could support a team if the stadium was right and the team was run well and not like it has been.

 

Saying Oakland is nothing but poors is simply inaccurate.

[WestCoastBias]

2 minutes ago, Red Comet said:

Where did I say spending public money on a stadium was a good idea? 

 

I'm just saying that a lot of people like to trash on Oakland because all their teams relocated but the same thing would happen in a lot more cities if governments weren't so desperate to keep their teams. 

[infrared41]

21 minutes ago, WestCoastBias said:

 

I could say the same thing about a lot of rust belt cities if they were in this position. The only difference is they were willing to shell out millions of taxpayer dollars in awful new stadium deals and Oakland isn't.

 

That is hardly the "only difference." I just looked this up. The cost of living in Oakland is 46% higher than the national average and housing is 99% above the national average. The cost of living in Pittsburgh is right at the national average and housing is 7% cheaper. In Cleveland, the cost of living is 6% lower than the national average and housing is 17% lower than the national average. We haven't even talked about the tax differences between California and the rust belt.

 

Sure, a job that pays 100K here in Ohio may pay 200K in Oakland, but the person in Oakland is still not doing as well as the person in Ohio is for all the reasons I listed above.