MLB Stadium Saga: Oakland/Tampa Bay/Southside

[BBTV]

With Oakland, isn't it as much about all the East Bay communities forming the market, with Oakland simply as the hub?  It's all technically the SF Bay metro area, but having a team on that side of the bridge makes it easier for people from Berkeley, Fremont, and elsewhere to attend, no?

[gosioux76]

59 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

Point of order: these were pretty sweet:

 

True. Those were pretty cool. But that was less a sponsorship as much as it was a charitable contribution. 

[beachperroAZ]

Why have the A's not tried other Bay Area municipalities in the East Bay?  They can't revive the Freemont project from 2006?

[Wings]

Getting John Fisher to sell the club would be the best option. There are few groups with deep pockets in the Bay Area that would buy the team in a instant and build their own ballpark.  

[Walk-Off]

On 5/13/2021 at 3:46 PM, beachperroAZ said:

Why have the A's not tried other Bay Area municipalities in the East Bay?  They can't revive the Freemont project from 2006?

 

From all that I have read on NewBallpark.org, a blog that has been chronicling the Athletics' quest for a new stadium since 2005, widespread "Not In My Back Yard" sentiments among residents and businesses across Fremont (particularly with regard to possible increases in road traffic) forced the A's to abandon their plans for "Cisco Field" (yes, naming rights were already sold) in that municipality.  By all appearances, the A's wanted a Fremont ballpark because, with the Giants still claiming exclusive ballpark construction rights in Santa Clara County, Fremont was the closest place to Silicon Valley where the A's could play while staying in Alameda County.  A desire for a maximum ability to tap into the wealth of both businesses and residents in Silicon Valley, which seems to be mostly in Santa Clara County and completely outside of Alameda County, is a very likely reason why the Athletics' ownership (then led by Lew Wolff, just as was the case during the pursuit of Fremont) tried and failed to prod MLB and the Giants into letting the A's move to San José, why the A's have appeared to act reluctantly in their attempts to get a new venue in economically weaker Oakland, and why the A's have shown no sign of trying to get a new ballpark in any East Bay locale other than Oakland or Fremont.

 

On 5/13/2021 at 4:17 PM, Wings said:

Getting John Fisher to sell the club would be the best option. There are few groups with deep pockets in the Bay Area that would buy the team in a instant and build their own ballpark.  

 

While the Bay Area may have plenty of groups (or even individuals) who are wealthy enough to buy the A's, how many of those groups or people are willing to accept MLB's mandate that Alameda County and Contra Costa County be the only places in the Bay Area where the A's may play home games, while the Giants keep enjoying an MLB-endowed exclusive right to play home games in pretty much all of the economically strongest counties in the Bay Area?

[BBTV]

27 minutes ago, Walk-Off said:

while the Giants keep enjoying an MLB-endowed exclusive right to play home games in pretty much all of the economically strongest counties in the Bay Area?

 

Is it really an "MLB-endowed" right when the A's ceded it 30 years ago?

[Walk-Off]

@BBTV, yes, the A's gave Santa Clara County to the Giants back when the latter team wanted to move to that jurisdiction.  However, the fact that MLB has let the Giants keep Santa Clara County all to themselves well after the Giants exhausted all efforts to get a ballpark in that county, and especially long after the Giants built and moved into their current stadium within the city and county of San Francisco, suggests to me that the "MLB-endowed" label fits quite well after all.

[FiddySicks]

A big part of the fault for that lands on the A’s shoulders too, though. The problem is the owner of the A’s gave up those rights free of charge for the “betterment of the league”, which, in hindsight was a really bad idea to begin with. But they also had a full decade to claim those rights back without issue, and just never bothered filing the paperwork. In the meantime, the A’s owner died and the team was sold, and then sold again. The Giants were also sold (I think) twice in that time span, and the current owners bought the club with those rights built into the valuation. It’s a crummy situation for the A’s, but the Giants reasons for keeping that territory are, I think, justified. And had the A’s not gotten themselves into this whole mess in the first place, I would probably feel a lot more sympathetic. 

[Red Comet]

This isn’t even the first time the A’s have been outclassed in their market by their National League counterpart after long overshadowing them to the point they want to move. Same thing happened in Philadelphia. 

[monkeypower]

On 5/12/2021 at 10:18 AM, DukeofChutney said:

Just a curveball question - what location would be the biggest surprise for the move?

 

Doesn't have to be one of the locations already mentioned. I'm thinking Seattle Pilots level of unexpected here.

 

 

Well the Regina Red Sox summer collegiate team have recently submitted plans to the City of Regina for a new stadium and the City of Medicine Hat started three million dollars worth of renovations to the baseball stadium there a couple days ago. The Medicine Hat A's were Oakland's Rookie League team for the 1977 season (before they switched affiliation to the Jays the year after) so there is a history there...

 

I think either of those would be pretty surprising and unexpected.

[neo_prankster]

But seriously though, where could the Athletics realistically move if it came to that?

[The_Admiral]

Nowhere. I don't think they'll move. 

[FiddySicks]

1 hour ago, neo_prankster said:

But seriously though, where could the Athletics realistically move if it came to that?

I honestly wonder if the league would still consider contraction at any point. 

[kimball]

12 minutes ago, FiddySicks said:

I honestly wonder if the league would still consider contraction at any point. 

 

Well, it'd have to be a league and player decision. And, after 2001, I don't think we'll see that happen again. My guess is the A's will either buy back rights to San Jose from the Giants or you'll see a Raiders-like move where the A's park themselves in Oakland for a couple lackluster seasons until they can move to either Portland or Vegas when a suitable stadium is ready.

[GDAWG]

2 hours ago, FiddySicks said:

I honestly wonder if the league would still consider contraction at any point. 

 

Players Association would respond with a stern "no" on that.

[Wings]

Personally I think Fisher will end up selling the A's to Warriors owner Joe Lacob and a bunch of his rich buddies. They'll build a new ballpark at the Coliseum site and try to revitalize the area around it. A soccer specific stadium for the Oakland Roots might be included in a revitalized complex. 

[DukeofChutney]

11 hours ago, monkeypower said:

 

Well the Regina Red Sox summer collegiate team have recently submitted plans to the City of Regina for a new stadium and the City of Medicine Hat started three million dollars worth of renovations to the baseball stadium there a couple days ago. The Medicine Hat A's were Oakland's Rookie League team for the 1977 season (before they switched affiliation to the Jays the year after) so there is a history there...

 

I think either of those would be pretty surprising and unexpected.

Well I think that is probably the most unexpect option should it come to pass. And, yeah its unlikely, but weirder things have happened in sports.

 

 

I should add, that my earlier comment about the Rays going to Oakland was tongue-in-cheek due to the rhyming of A's and Rays. Should've put an emoji in that post..

[GhostOfNormMacdonald]

52 minutes ago, DukeofChutney said:

but weirder things have happened in sports.

Idk what in sports history would be weirder than the Medicine Hat A's

[Joke Insurance]

On 5/12/2021 at 4:17 PM, McCall said:

SAN ANTONIO & AUSTIN (One or the other, basically close enough to be considered one market): Possibility.

SACRAMENTO: Not really.

 

Between San Antonio and Austin, which city do you feel would be better suited?

 

And why 'not really' for Sacramento? Just curious.

[monkeypower]

3 hours ago, DukeofChutney said:

but weirder things have happened in sports.

 

2 hours ago, NormMacdonald said:

Idk what in sports history would be weirder than the Medicine Hat A's

 

There are people here worried about little things like pOpUlAtIoN and fIlLiNg 81 NiGhTs A yEaR in the these other places, but Medicine Hat is rocking a population of 63,260, so put that one into the pro column.

 

The stadium is also already called Athletic Park, so that's another point for Med Hat.