Clorox CEO talks about keeping the A's in Oakland (San Jose: lawsuit, legal)

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by Stephen1110

Back in 1998:

Developer: San Jose Is `Big-League' Option for A's - SFGate

He is delusional and out of touch with the state of things in 2013.

[Stephen1110]

Originally Posted by jade408

Jinx!!!!

who owes who the Clorox Field tickets? lol

[llowllevellowll]

Originally Posted by crescent22

The A's owe Oakland nothing; they've been treated like dirt ugly stepchilds in their stadium to the point where the facilities are environmental hazards, let alone horrifyingly negative recruitment vehicles for free agents with Oakland doing zero to fix it or do a new park unless threatened with relocation.

The A's have a .531 record over the last 25 years with a substantially below average payroll spend and they couldn't even get above median attendance in the league in the best years (for attendance) around 2006.

You can't blame the product.
You can blame the park - that's as much the city's fault as anyone's.
You can blame the #2 status behind the Giants - the region will support a loser if they have no competition- look at the Warriors.

Now look at the above and tell me why the A's should invest in a park even closer to the Giants one.

Put up the f____ money. Baseball franchises are rare assets and used to subsidization by over 20 examples in the last generation. Stop the community asset BS.

In the final 10 years the A's have played in the Coliseum vs the final 10 years the Giants played at Candlestick Park, the Oakland A's actually had better attendance than the Giants by more than 4,000 fans per game. The reason it's such an apt comparison is that the in each decade, both franchises saw some disappointing seasons and some very exciting ones. San Francisco, for instance, saw quite a lot of Barry Bonds during that time. The A's had some stellar seasons during that time also.

I'll bet that statistic surprised you. Giants fans would have you believe now that they have their kitschy little ballpark in SOMA that they've always been such terrific baseball fans. The truth is that no one wants to go out to ballparks that are ill-placed in the ghetto with nothing but industry and bad neighborhoods surrounding them where you can't walk to anything, have ugly facades and views, and have no amenities when inside.

You have it backwards, poster from New York, Lew Wolff treated the city and its fans like dirt, not the other way around. Imagine how many more fans would be showing up if Lew Wolff didn't go telling the fans he's moving them away - if not San Jose, then another state. Go tell the fans in the right field bleachers that they're treating the A's like dirt. When you get the Coliseum rocking, it's the loudest baseball park I've ever been in (and I've been in 16 of them, including playoff games in Cleveland, New York, and Arizona). I've never seen a fan-base so raucous. For me, I'm nearly as die-hard a baseball fan as they come and I have a hard time rationalizing the fact that I'm helping to support Wolff when I go buy tickets. I know plenty of people who boycott Wolff altogether.

And you know another thing that irks me and it never gets publicity? How about in the playoffs last year when fans were begging for Wolff to open the tarps to allow for a 52,000-55,000 seat sell-out. Absolutely begging for tickets or a way in. And he denied them that ability by refusing to open up any more seats. In fact, he took away seats to a sold-out playoff game by eliminating Section 316 behind home plate for the media. It was a travesty on all levels. Why was it done? Because Wolffs whole game is to get people like you to agree with him that Oaklanders don't go to ballgames and that he must find a way out. He intentionally hurts his bottom line by limiting capacity in a manner to keep season attendance low. If Wolff wanted to, he could most certainly open all seats for quite a handful of games to increase attendance and profit. Boston, New York, San Francisco, fireworks nights, etc, etc. He doesn't. There's a reason he doesn't. Shrug. I don't blame anyone that boycotts supporting him.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by Parti Rhinocéros

In the final 10 years the A's have played in the Coliseum vs the final 10 years the Giants played at Candlestick Park, the Oakland A's actually had better attendance than the Giants by more than 4,000 fans per game. The reason it's such an apt comparison is that the in each decade, both franchises saw some disappointing seasons and some very exciting ones. San Francisco, for instance, saw quite a lot of Barry Bonds during that time. The A's had some stellar seasons during that time also.

I'll bet that statistic surprised you. Giants fans would have you believe now that they have their kitschy little ballpark in SOMA that they've always been such terrific baseball fans. The truth is that no one wants to go out to ballparks that are ill-placed in the ghetto with nothing but industry and bad neighborhoods surrounding them where you can't walk to anything, have ugly facades and views, and have no amenities when inside.

You have it backwards, poster from New York, Lew Wolff treated the city and its fans like dirt, not the other way around. Imagine how many more fans would be showing up if Lew Wolff didn't go telling the fans he's moving them away - if not San Jose, then another state. Go tell the fans in the right field bleachers that they're treating the A's like dirt. When you get the Coliseum rocking, it's the loudest baseball park I've ever been in (and I've been in 16 of them, including playoff games in Cleveland, New York, and Arizona). I've never seen a fan-base so raucous. For me, I'm nearly as die-hard a baseball fan as they come and I have a hard time rationalizing the fact that I'm helping to support Wolff when I go buy tickets. I know plenty of people who boycott Wolff altogether.

And you know another thing that irks me and it never gets publicity? How about in the playoffs last year when fans were begging for Wolff to open the tarps to allow for a 52,000-55,000 seat sell-out. Absolutely begging for tickets or a way in. And he denied them that ability by refusing to open up any more seats. In fact, he took away seats to a sold-out playoff game by eliminating Section 316 behind home plate for the media. It was a travesty on all levels. Why was it done? Because Wolffs whole game is to get people like you to agree with him that Oaklanders don't go to ballgames and that he must find a way out. He intentionally hurts his bottom line by limiting capacity in a manner to keep season attendance low. If Wolff wanted to, he could most certainly open all seats for quite a handful of games to increase attendance and profit. Boston, New York, San Francisco, fireworks nights, etc, etc. He doesn't. There's a reason he doesn't. Shrug. I don't blame anyone that boycotts supporting him.

A thorough evisceration.

+1

[krudmonk]

Oakland is still paying for Mount Davis, which they built for the Raiders, who are now tarping it off. That killed the baseball stadium in which the A's played. Oakland built half a new arena for the Warriors, who are now much closer to leaving than the A's. Oakland killed Uptown for the A's. Who mistreated whom?

And that's not in defense of Wolff/Fisher. Stop polarizing everything.

Originally Posted by Stephen1110

I see you getting pissy. Are you Lew Wolff?

I didn't read everything, but anyways, i guess its not okay for a community to ***** when ownership of a community asset decides to not strengthen the community in Oakland, instead wanting to strengthen somebody else's.

This is you being pissy. Why does ownership need to invest in Oakland? Oakland should be building itself and making ownership want to build there. That is not my particular philosophy, as I'm not a millionaire, but it is how **** works. I'd like sports business to match your ideals, too, but demanding charity is ridiculous.

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Wrong.

Lew Wolff deliberately proposed a fantastically impossible project that involved acquiring several blocks of privately owned properties, knowing well it couldnt happen. The drawings were ABSURD with grassy fields and lowrise blocks which resembled a suburban office park.

He proposed it just to say he tried to justify his southward march.

On the other hand a stadium on the Howard Terminal site is an addition to an already active redevelopment area that has hundreds of new housing units and room for even more, including a $1.5 billion development slated to break ground next year.

I didn't say anything about his Oakland proposal in particular, just his main profession in general. It's okay for the A's to play in a grand real estate venture so long as the residential side is constructed by someone else. There is little rhyme or reason here, just raw bitterness.

[Stephen1110]

Originally Posted by krudmonk

Oakland killed Uptown for the A's. Who mistreated whom?

A's ownership was already negotiating with Santa Clara county officials, they showed no public interest for uptown.

[crescent22]

This is funny- Rhino in the same post says fans won't go to a bad ballpark, but that the fans in Oakland are hard-core supporters. That's two-faced double talk at its worst.

Every single baseball city has its hard-core fans; Oakland does too- just that there aren't enough of them and you can't run an MLB franchise on 10,000-15,000 of them.

I looked at this 10-yr Coliseum vs Candlestick stats- I think your statements are false. The A's winning record 2003-2012 is .520; the Giants 1990-1999 is .508 and the A's were competing against AT&T Park the last ten years during a tech recession.

"When you get the Coliseum rocking, it's louder than any other place"? That's ridiculous. Not a single MLB player would agree with you. Acoustics and the Coliseum architecture alone make that an impossibility. Fenway, Yankee Stadium, Busch, anything with a roof, Coors, Citizens are all louder than Oakland.

Blaming Wolff gets you nowhere, absolutely nowhere. You need to be blaming the city for being impotent about a new facility.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by Stephen1110

A's ownership was already negotiating with Santa Clara county officials, they showed no public interest for uptown.

Yup, from the get go it was nothing but smoke and mirrors.

[18Montclair]

Another awesome article.

Oakland Athletics: Former Executive Andy Dolich Says San Jose's Lawsuit is a 'Brushback Pitch' Thrown at MLB

[crescent22]

What requirement did A's officials have to consider Uptown? They are going where the money is. Why are you blaming them. Blame yourselves for having no money.

City officials are playing you. The Blame Wolff movement was concocted so you don't blame the city.