Oakland A's Attendance Woes Featured in Chronicle Today (London: bankruptcy, live in)

[ttocs99]

Originally Posted by Oakland Uptown

They need a smaller stadium in Jack London Square. It would do wonders for the team & attendance.


YouTube - Mayor Dellums Releases Proposal to Keep The Oakland A's in Oakland (Part 1)

I love Jack London Square, I hope they build there. Great area.

[Mr. Fantastic]

When Mayor Dellums stops gutting the police force, and lowers the 52% Oakland dropout rate, then maybe he can chat about stadiums without looking like a complete tool.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by sav858

Wrong again, the A's have a good fan base all over the East Bay, almost everyone I grew up with is an A's fan. You're not from the Bay Area nor do you know it or anything about it. I know you like to pretend you do since your life is so empty in Orange County but everyone in here knows how full of sh*t you are.
I never do and neither does anyone else in here because we know you're a sad lonely pathetic troll in need of constant attention.
Not surprised you missed the point or chose to ignore it.

Some folks forget that under the Haas family ownership, the A's actually were in league leaders in attendance - back in the glory 1988-1990 championship days. It wasn't just the fact that the team was outstanding, but also, very importantly, the ownership and management were dedicated in promoting their team and working with the community at large. So the A's CAN and HAVE drawn good attendance, but it takes a sustained effort to reach out to the community to help ensure support in good and bad times.

In contrast, Lew Wolff has seemingly done everything to alienate the fans - such as closing off the upper deck and eliminating the cheap seats, canceling the FanFest promotion, and generally acting in bad faith with the city of Oakland with regards to a new facility. It looks like he wants to drive down attendance in order to make a self-fulfilling prophecy about Oakland not being a good baseball town. It seems that his "business model" is to have a low budget team and make a profit based on the low overhead and the revenue sharing portion with MLB. Don't forget, he is primarily a real estate developer, and his aborted Fremont ballpark project was in conjunction with a shopping mall. The San Jose proposal is also joined with real estate development.

I seriously doubt the Giants are going to give up their rights to Santa Clara County in order to allow the A's to move to SJ. Mayor Chuck Reed is doing some wishful thinking. If that happens you can expect some legal action from the Giants - their president used to be the legal counsel for Microsoft.

[silverkris]

I've heard a lot of the usual drivel from a certain poster who endlessly cites the social and economic problems of Oakland as an explanation for nearly every issue - including lack of support for sports teams.

Well, let's look at Detroit - which is in pretty terrible shape, has been losing population for years, and has all sorts of difficulties, arguably worse than Oakland. They are supporting their baseball team, the Tigers, pretty well. The team has also went out of their way to do lots of community outreach, hold the line on ticket prices. And the team has become a sort of anchor for the civic society there.

If they can do it in Detroit, they can do it here.

[krudmonk]

Originally Posted by silverkris

Some folks forget that under the Haas family ownership, the A's actually were in league leaders in attendance - back in the glory 1988-1990 championship days.

That was with a World Series team in a better ballpark with miniscule salaries...and they still lost money.

Originally Posted by silverkris

Don't forget, he is primarily a real estate developer, and his aborted Fremont ballpark project was in conjunction with a shopping mall. The San Jose proposal is also joined with real estate development.

The San Jose plan is not tied to peripheral development, nor is there even room for it. The Fremont plan included extras but such amenities would be redundant in SJ or Oakland.

Originally Posted by silverkris

I seriously doubt the Giants are going to give up their rights to Santa Clara County in order to allow the A's to move to SJ. Mayor Chuck Reed is doing some wishful thinking. If that happens you can expect some legal action from the Giants - their president used to be the legal counsel for Microsoft.

The power lies with all 30 owners, not simply the Giants.

Originally Posted by silverkris

I've heard a lot of the usual drivel from a certain poster who endlessly cites the social and economic problems of Oakland as an explanation for nearly every issue - including lack of support for sports teams.

Well, let's look at Detroit - which is in pretty terrible shape, has been losing population for years, and has all sorts of difficulties, arguably worse than Oakland. They are supporting their baseball team, the Tigers, pretty well. The team has also went out of their way to do lots of community outreach, hold the line on ticket prices. And the team has become a sort of anchor for the civic society there.

If they can do it in Detroit, they can do it here.

There's no second option a few miles away for those in Detroit.

[silverkris]

I appreciate your answers, krudmonk.

Yes, all 30 owners in MLB have to decide on a location move. Remember, though, the Giants territorial rights including San Jose, are written into their contract with MLB, and such a move would trigger a lawsuit against MLB, which would be liable for the costs. I would think that the owners would not want to upset the revenue gravy train that they get from shared receipts from AT&T Park.

Just recently, MLB has slammed the City of San Jose with its proposed move to put a A's stadium proposal on the ballot for November. In response, the SJ City Council has just pulled the ballot proposal.

Yeah, I know Wolff is Selig's fraternity brother, but that isn't going to help.

I'm with Glenn Dickey on this one - I think Wolff should sell the team to someone who is committed to Oakland. And talk to someone in Oakland politics like De La Fuente, who knows how to get things done. I can understand that the city of Oakland is very wary of dealing with stadium issues, having been burned by Al Davis and the Raiders, but constantly trashing the city, its stadium and its fans backfires. I think the Giants learned that when they complained about Candlestick. In the late 1980's, Roger Craig banned the players from grumbling about the park, and said the Green Bay Packers used the cold and snow of Lambeau Field to their advantage, and likewise the Giants should use the cold and wind as a home-field edge. Also, the team started giving out "Croix de Candlestick" buttons to fans for staying for extra inning night games.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by Censorship Data

Krudmonk is biased because he lives in San Jose, the A's owners need to just sell the team you're right. A smaller 35K stadium at Jack London Square will fill up the seats and revitalize JLS.

well, my newspaper is the SJ Mercury and they are unabashed cheerleaders for an A's move to SJ. Fine, but they're ignoring the politics of MLB, and the fact that the SF Giants are going to fight tooth and nail to prevent that from happening.

Point is, IMO the hassles and hurdles that will be required for MLB to clear the way for an A's move to SJ all boils down to $$$. It's going to cost the other owners money to make it happen and they will not necessarily get more revenues in San Jose. Remember, a lot of A's fans live in Contra Costa County and it's a lot more convenient for them to go to games in Oakland (with the BART connection).

I think getting Dellums out of the mayor's seat will be a good start, not just for stadium issues, but overall. I don't think he really wanted the job in the first place and was coaxed out of retirement to run...and his disinterest shows. I voted for the guy as a congressman when I lived in Berkeley, and it's sad to see him tarnish his public service record like this.

[krudmonk]

Originally Posted by silverkris

I would think that the owners would not want to upset the revenue gravy train that they get from shared receipts from AT&T Park.

The owners wouldn't want the A's to become profitable so other teams pay less in revenue sharing?

Originally Posted by silverkris

Just recently, MLB has slammed the City of San Jose with its proposed move to put a A's stadium proposal on the ballot for November. In response, the SJ City Council has just pulled the ballot proposal.

Did you get that bull**** "slammed" line from the Chomical? MLB offered to pay for a special election in SJ. All Chuck Reed did was force MLB to speak on the issue because the city couldn't wait around forever without knowing anything.

Originally Posted by silverkris

I'm with Glenn Dickey on this one - I think Wolff should sell the team to someone who is committed to Oakland.

Who's available? People whine about some Dolich group from a decade ago, but were they even viable back then, let alone now? I'm not doubting them, just saying that potential owners don't always check out. That's why not anybody can buy a team in the first place.

Originally Posted by Censorship Data

Krudmonk is biased because he lives in San Jose, the A's owners need to just sell the team you're right.

I don't follow the A's or baseball in general. I'm just correcting misinformation in the thread. If the A's stay in Oakland, good for them and the town. ****ing relax. I'd rather the Earthquakes stadium go up at Diridon instead, but that's not gonna happen.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Censorship Data

Krudmonk is biased because he lives in San Jose, the A's owners need to just sell the team you're right. A smaller 35K stadium at Jack London Square will fill up the seats and revitalize JLS. Candlestick sucked and had poor attendance as well, the location was horrible for baseball.

Jack London Square can't handle the traffic. Brown was intent on having people LIVE in the city and now there's tons of loft housing there. And there's some retail, but where will you build it? You'll have to take down viable housing or retail to build it, let alone have all these people PARK? They aren't going to walk 11 blocks from BART.

Besides, once again -- who's gonna pay for this? Looks like I'm gonna have to cough up an extra 300 some bucks a year to pay for cops since our esteemed city council has decided that instead of doing their own job, they're going to make it a ballot item and since Oakland is primarily renters and they think screw the home owners, we don't have to pay for it, it will pass.

At some point, things have to go away, paraphrasing Ecclesiastes 3:1...

[NorCal Dude]

YouTube - Dionne Warwick - Do You Know the Way to San Jose