A's: So its true, if you build it, they WILL come. (San Diego: home, to buy)

[18Montclair]

Interesting article.

Home Game #2 of the Season Attendance In Depth

I thought Marine Layer's recent blog entry "Requiem for a Finley (Or Peterson Complains About Wolff's Complaining" was pretty interesting. However, I felt that the full story wasn't being told. It is true that the drop-off between Opening Night and the second home game of the season for the A's since they have moved to Oakland is stark. However, adding the Giants numbers in for comparison, we can see that the Bay Area in general trended roughly the same until the ballpark now known as AT&T was opened in 2000. Take a look:

http://whiteelephantparade.mlblogs.com/day2.gif (broken link)
http://whiteelephantparade.mlblogs.com/day2.gif (broken link)

[jade408]

I think so. In fact, I hate baseball and when Pacbell opened I made sure to find a way to get in there. (I lucked out and had a company that had season tix, and found some free tickets too)

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by jade408

I think so. In fact, I hate baseball and when Pacbell opened I made sure to find a way to get in there. (I lucked out and had a company that had season tix, and found some free tickets too)

Yup. Im not even really a Giants fan but I went to Pac Bell because it was new and beautiful. Wanted to experience that.

I have no doubt a new stadium in Downtown Oakland would do the same thing.

Of course, this is all wishful thinking until Major League Baseball decides what to do.

[Setsuko]

From what I read, it's not major league baseball as much as it is the A's horrible owner who doesn't like Oakland.

[llowllevellowll]

Great thread. You know me: there's no bigger proponet of a JLS stadium for them than me. I day dream about it at work almost everyday.

My favorite factoid: In the final decade at Candlestick Park, the Giants averaged nearly 4,000 per game FEWER in attendance than the A's have averaged in this most recent decade at the Oakland Coliseum.

Wolff needs to get on board because this is one of the most aggressive campaigns I've ever witnessed for a city trying to get/keep a team. If he doesn't want this, he needs to sell. My only concern is Brown's taking back of redevelopment funds, which Oakland has a surplus of. That's the only way I see Quan et al backing off.

Kalen, if you're here on April 1st for Opening day, there's a get-together for Let's Go Oakland: Keep the A's and they're giving away free Oakland 'StAy' t-shirts in the parking lot before the game.



Go A's! Trevor Cahill for Cy Young!

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by Setsuko

From what I read, it's not major league baseball as much as it is the A's horrible owner who doesn't like Oakland.

They never liked Oakland.

Even their official effort to build in Oakland was just a farce meant to appear as if they'd given it their best efforts. Any fool with a calculator can tell that their plan along 880 between Hegenberger and High Street was all a well crafted pipedream they knew was destined to fail.

And they are really foolish about their anti-East Bay snobbery because history shows if you provide us with a quality product, we will respond.

Its totally asenine to move to the South Bay, which is basically ONE county of 1.8 Million when the East Bay has 2.6 Million, Solano County is another 400,000 people, San Joaquin County is another 700,000 people.


There is much greater market potential to be made if they build in Oakland than if they move to the South Bay, which is not going to take San Mateo County with them if the As move to San Jose. Why on God's green earth would someone in Redwood City or San Mateo support the San Jose As when the Giants have been their team for decades? Hell, why would anyone in Palo Alto or Mountain View suddenly switch allegiances from the Giants? There's no reason to-especially since they just won the freaking World Series.

All of this incredibly relevant information may be lost on Lew Wolff's pea brain but not on Major League Baseball, which has been working closely behind the scenes with Oakland officials as we speak. I know that for a fact.

Whether the closed door meetings currently taking place between city leaders and MLB results in the team staying or going remains to be seen.

But Oakland officials dont deserve any slack either-we just saw two consecutive mayors(Brown and Dellums) basically turn their backs on helping the team find a stadium. So in that respect we shoulder blame as well.

Jean Quan on the other hand, really has taken this issue by the reins and I hope its not too late.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by Parti Rhinocéros

Great thread. You know me: there's no bigger proponet of a JLS stadium for them than me. I day dream about it at work almost everyday.

My favorite factoid: In the final decade at Candlestick Park, the Giants averaged nearly 4,000 per game FEWER in attendance than the A's have averaged in this most recent decade at the Oakland Coliseum.

This is a HUGE inconvenient truth that Lew Wolff and John Fisher(the real owner btw) would rather not be reminded of.

Wolff needs to get on board because this is one of the most aggressive campaigns I've ever witnessed for a city trying to get/keep a team. If he doesn't want this, he needs to sell.

I mentioned this before but a pro-Oakland group tried to buy the team before Wolff and Fisher came along but it was rejected by MLB owners-the first time a bid was ever voted down in the history of MLB.

I suspect it was because Bud Selig wanted his friend Wolff to get team.

I was royally pissed when they turned down the offer from Oakland.

My only concern is Brown's taking back of redevelopment funds, which Oakland has a surplus of. That's the only way I see Quan et al backing off.

Yes, Jerry Brown for some strange reason has been very hostile towards the idea of a new baseball stadium in Oakland--Im sure its mainly because of the cost to taxpayers and I must admit he has a great point.

Its amazing how these incredibly rich businesses owned by Billionaires are so addicted to tax money to pay for as much of these huge stadiums as possible.

So they make no bones about holding cities hostage which is dastardly.

Kalen, if you're here on April 1st for Opening day, there's a get-together for Let's Go Oakland: Keep the A's and they're giving away free Oakland 'StAy' t-shirts in the parking lot before the game.

I would love to but I'll be in Southern California thinking about my home team of course.

[sav858]

Half the people at the Giants game's aren't even paying attention to the game and are just there to socialize or whatever. For a good amount of people, going to a nice new stadium in a good location is about just having something to do rather than the game itself. People here just want something fun to do during summer and if you build them a nice stadium in a good location with amenities that can be used before and after the game, I guarantee people in the Bay Area will show up. San Diego is a bad sports town overall but a lot of people go to Padres games because it's a nice stadium located in the middle of a vibrant downtown with lots of bars, clubs, restaurants, etc.. Oakland has the potential to do something very similar.

I also feel if the Bay Area built a nice, more upscale horse racing track like Del Mar or Santa Anita, that would also draw lots of people during summer. That's another event that a lot of people in SD go to just because it's something fun to do rather than because they like betting on horse races. With all the wealth here, it is kind of disappointing the lack of nice sports venues here aside from Pac Bell.

[silverkris]

[quote=18Montclair;18406695Yes, Jerry Brown for some strange reason has been very hostile towards the idea of a new baseball stadium in Oakland--Im sure its mainly because of the cost to taxpayers and I must admit he has a great point.
[/quote]

Well, he's not much of a sports fan to begin with, and he saw how the city of Oakland got burned with dealing with the Raiders, so I'd concur he's not too thrilled about public funding for sports arenas - especially when budgets are really tight for other needs.

Dellums has pretty much been out to lunch as a mayor in many aspects - he was coaxed out of retirement to run and I suspect he really didn't want to be mayor, and it showed, sadly. I think de la Fuente would have been better since he's hungrier, but it's a moot point now.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Its totally asenine to move to the South Bay, which is basically ONE county of 1.8 Million when the East Bay has 2.6 Million, Solano County is another 400,000 people, San Joaquin County is another 700,000 people.


There is much greater market potential to be made if they build in Oakland than if they move to the South Bay, which is not going to take San Mateo County with them if the As move to San Jose. Why on God's green earth would someone in Redwood City or San Mateo support the San Jose As when the Giants have been their team for decades? Hell, why would anyone in Palo Alto or Mountain View suddenly switch allegiances from the Giants? There's no reason to-especially since they just won the freaking World Series.

Let's not forget that the SF Giants have publicly stated they will strongly oppose a move by the A's to San Jose. The Giants built their new ballpark with the proviso that the South Bay is part of their territory. The Giants' president, Bill Newkom, was Microsoft's legal counsel so you can expect that the team will threaten legal action if necessary.

I don't think Bud Selig will propose or allow a vote on a proposal for the A's to move to Santa Clara County unless will succeed...doesn't matter if he's Wolff's college friend or not.