Stadium/Arena Saga Omnibus

[Sykotyk]

I just don't understand why they wouldn't, if they were faced with an AAA stadium hosting the team, get them into Las Vegas Ballpark, deal with the small crowd, but start growing the fanbase asap. Move the Aviators for a few years if needed to avoid competing directly for dates or ticket sales. You'd at least have the fans of the city have the team branded Las Vegas playing in, proverbially, Las Vegas, and though the threshold to get in to see a game would be quite high with ticket prices, at least they'd be there. In Sacramento, or three years with triple-digit fan support in Oakland is not the way.

[FiddySicks]

4 hours ago, BBTV said:

Nobody there will care about or support the A's, but at least it provides people an opportunity to see star players on visiting teams, kinda like when some superstar is rehabbing in AA.

 

If I was in Sacramento, besides working on a plan to not be in Sacramento, I'd certainly buy tickets to see Ohtani and company.

Ehh. As long as I’ve been here I’ve wanted to see the Sacramento A’s become a reality. But not this way. That would be a real twist of the knife for my sports soul after all the I went through with that doomed Republic MLS bid. I’m not really that interested in going to MLB games anymore, but I think I’d still rather go the extra 100 miles west to see the Giants. 
 

Also, housing that clown show for 3+ seasons is basically a guarantee that the RiverCats are toast once this is all said and done. Absolutely not worth it in any way. 

[GDAWG]

 

Not A's or Rays related, but another MLB team is looking at replacing their old one.  

[Walk-Off]

Apparently, the White Sox have considered building a ballpark in Chicago's South Loop area at least twice before (and under at least two different ownerships).

 

Both links below are from SB Nation's South Side Sox blog.

 

South Loop Sox? (November 9, 2012)

 

South Loop Sox ... again (January 18, 2024)

[GDAWG]

25 minutes ago, Walk-Off said:

Apparently, the White Sox have considered building a ballpark in Chicago's South Loop area at least twice before (and under at least two different ownerships).

 

Both links below are from SB Nation's South Side Sox blog.

 

South Loop Sox? (November 9, 2012)

 

South Loop Sox ... again (January 18, 2024)

 

It's better than a move to the Suburbs or Nashville.  

[GDAWG]

Meanwhile, in Kansas City....

 

 

[BBTV]

A Chicago stadium with full skyline view would be freakin epic.  It's one of only two "iconic" skylines in the US (or at least one of two that has legitimately iconic buildings), and it's a shame that only the Bears stadium lines up for a view of it (though football stadiums by nature are too high all around to give that view.

 

I'm not sure if this proposed location is still considered "south side", as it looks pretty further north (though article I read on WGN says it's not far), but regardless of where a new park goes, it has a chance to be incredible.

[The_Admiral]

It's not the south side the same way that Bridgeport is, no, but would still be at 1200S (one mile south of the baseline, Madison Street) rather than 3500S (3.5 miles south: the first few miles go 12, 22, 31, 39 blocks for Reasons). "The South Loop" seems to be very elastic, but to the extent that it exists, all the highrises around Roosevelt would have to be considered the South Loop.

 

This could have been a huge game-changer for the Sox pre-pandemic when there were more people working in the Loop. A park at Roosevelt/Clark becomes a very attractive place for business outings and such. 

 

I hope it doesn't happen. It's a better fit for the Bears, in my opinion, and Comiskey is practically new anyway.

[B-Rich]

On 1/17/2024 at 11:32 PM, FiddySicks said:

Ehh. As long as I’ve been here I’ve wanted to see the Sacramento A’s become a reality. But not this way. That would be a real twist of the knife for my sports soul after all the I went through with that doomed Republic MLS bid.

 

Seriously, I looked to see if we had a "care" hug emoji like on Facebook to put on as a response.

 
I remember following and reading your posts during that time; it was NOT good and very disheartening just to read it.  I feel for what you went through being involved with it. 

[LMU]

 

[BBTV]

"we don't know anything about these renders, we don't know who made them, they may or may not have existed for quite a while, they're likely not official, but we do know for sure that they exit".

 

Brilliant stuff.

[Fowler2]

18 minutes ago, LMU said:

 

 

Frank Lloyd Wright Field it is then 

[schlim]

For anybody following the mess the Royals have created trying desperately to leave Kauffman Stadium, here's a pretty good rundown, and here's a story about Frank White's block to extend the sales tax.

[FiddySicks]

21 hours ago, BBTV said:

"we don't know anything about these renders, we don't know who made them, they may or may not have existed for quite a while, they're likely not official, but we do know for sure that they exit".

Are we talking about a baseball park or the movie Contact? 

[GDAWG]

21 hours ago, LMU said:

 

 

The location looks good and keeps the team in Chicago proper, but what are the odds it actually happens?  

[The_Admiral]

Reinsdorf is politically connected and not just some cloistered weirdo like George McCaskey, so more likely than the Bears moving to Arlington Heights.

[Dilbert]

The A's arent just looking at Sacramento, Las Vegas, Oakland, and San Francisco for temporary sites. Salt Lake City appears to be in play.

 

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/as-considering-triple-a-stadiums-in-sacramento-and-salt-lake-city-for-temporary-2025-27-home-per-report/

 

Salt Lake  might make more sense than you think. Smith's Ballpark is currently home of the Angels AAA club Salt Lake Bees. The Bees are building a new ballpark scheduled to open in 2025. University of Utah also uses Smiths Ballpark but they are looking into building a new on campus ballpark as well. With the Bees and possibly Utah out of the picture,  the A's would have the ballpark to themselves. Upgrade the park to major league standards, like they did for the Jays in Buffalo and they got a ballpark until they get Las Vegas built. Salt Lake sits about 500 more than Sacramento.  Las Vegas currently sits  nearly 4,500 less than Salt Lake.

[DustDevil61]

44 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

The A's arent just looking at Sacramento, Las Vegas, Oakland, and San Francisco for temporary sites. Salt Lake City appears to be in play.

 

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/as-considering-triple-a-stadiums-in-sacramento-and-salt-lake-city-for-temporary-2025-27-home-per-report/

 

Salt Lake  might make more sense than you think. Smith's Ballpark is currently home of the Angels AAA club Salt Lake Bees. The Bees are building a new ballpark scheduled to open in 2025. University of Utah also uses Smiths Ballpark but they are looking into building a new on campus ballpark as well. With the Bees and possibly Utah out of the picture,  the A's would have the ballpark to themselves. Upgrade the park to major league standards, like they did for the Jays in Buffalo and they got a ballpark until they get Las Vegas built. Salt Lake sits about 500 more than Sacramento.  Las Vegas currently sits  nearly 4,500 less than Salt Lake.

It was the big story around town yesterday. Currently, the AAA Bees plan to leave Smith’s Ballpark after the 2024 PCL season for the new stadium in Daybreak (on the southwest corner of the Salt Lake Valley) in 2025, but that still-under-construction ballpark is what the A’s are eyeing. Aside from a smaller capacity, the new ballpark as planned will have the facilities a Major League team needs, with separated bullpens and batting cages for both home and visiting teams. There’s not much of a geographic footprint to expand on at Smith’s Ballpark without tearing down nearby homes, either.
 

The seating capacity at the new park would be temporarily expanded from its planned 7,500 to about 11,000 for the A’s while the Bees remain at Smith’s Ballpark for the duration of their layover in Salt Lake.

 

https://kslsports.com/510099/does-having-two-stadiums-give-salt-lake-city-edge-to-temporarily-land-as/

 

Of course, I can see a (not very likely) situation where funding for the Vegas stadium is delayed or falls through and Fisher is forced to sell the A’s to the Big League Utah group (while being granted a Las Vegas franchise), who in turn would build their planned Power District stadium west of downtown Salt Lake.

[GDAWG]

3 hours ago, Dilbert said:

The A's arent just looking at Sacramento, Las Vegas, Oakland, and San Francisco for temporary sites. Salt Lake City appears to be in play.

 

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/as-considering-triple-a-stadiums-in-sacramento-and-salt-lake-city-for-temporary-2025-27-home-per-report/

 

Salt Lake  might make more sense than you think. Smith's Ballpark is currently home of the Angels AAA club Salt Lake Bees. The Bees are building a new ballpark scheduled to open in 2025. University of Utah also uses Smiths Ballpark but they are looking into building a new on campus ballpark as well. With the Bees and possibly Utah out of the picture,  the A's would have the ballpark to themselves. Upgrade the park to major league standards, like they did for the Jays in Buffalo and they got a ballpark until they get Las Vegas built. Salt Lake sits about 500 more than Sacramento.  Las Vegas currently sits  nearly 4,500 less than Salt Lake.

 

Plus, Salt Lake City has expressed interest in an MLB team of their own and they will want to use hosting the A's to "test the waters."

[kolob]

On 1/20/2024 at 7:05 PM, DustDevil61 said:

It was the big story around town yesterday. Currently, the AAA Bees plan to leave Smith’s Ballpark after the 2024 PCL season for the new stadium in Daybreak (on the southwest corner of the Salt Lake Valley) in 2025, but that still-under-construction ballpark is what the A’s are eyeing. Aside from a smaller capacity, the new ballpark as planned will have the facilities a Major League team needs, with separated bullpens and batting cages for both home and visiting teams. There’s not much of a geographic footprint to expand on at Smith’s Ballpark without tearing down nearby homes, either.
 

The seating capacity at the new park would be temporarily expanded from its planned 7,500 to about 11,000 for the A’s while the Bees remain at Smith’s Ballpark for the duration of their layover in Salt Lake.

 

https://kslsports.com/510099/does-having-two-stadiums-give-salt-lake-city-edge-to-temporarily-land-as/

 

Of course, I can see a (not very likely) situation where funding for the Vegas stadium is delayed or falls through and Fisher is forced to sell the A’s to the Big League Utah group (while being granted a Las Vegas franchise), who in turn would build their planned Power District stadium west of downtown Salt Lake.

 

Living close to Daybreak I'd LOVE for the stadium to house the A's to temporarily call the new stadium home. But, I think the most logical place will be the Las Vegas Ballpark IF the move is finalized. I have a hard time seeing anything else, especially because the A's will need to win fans over. This is definitely the LHM Group playing their cards, showing interest in hosting, etc. to be next in line for an expansion team.

 

HOWEVER.

 

I think there's more to this than just being next in line. I think the LHM Group is also putting themselves in position to either buy (buy into the A's) to have them relocate to SLC. They can easily play in Daybreak until the new stadium is built, while the Bees either share Daybreak with the A's or, more likely, extend their contract for a couple more years at Smith's Ballpark.  I'd much rather the A's (or established team) then an expansion team and with each passing day the A's to Vegas does seem a little bit less likely.