Oakland A's Attendance Woes Featured in Chronicle Today (San Jose, San Francisco: 2015, condo)

[llowllevellowll]

Oakland's team isn't getting an A in attendance

Moments before the A's played the Texas Rangers on Monday night in Oakland, owner Lew Wolff looked at a mostly empty Coliseum and quipped, "Maybe they're delaying the game until the crowd gets bigger."
No dice.
The A's tiniest crowd in seven years, announced at 8,874 but appearing much smaller, exemplified the decline of the team, which once was the preferred choice for Bay Area baseball fans but has fallen on hard times.

A very interesting, but very sad story in the Chronicle today. I'm a huge, huge baseball fan and a huge fan of the City of Oakland, so it saddens me to see a storied franchise look to move because it happened in my once-home city of Cleveland with the Browns.

A few thoughts on the article:

1. Lew Wolff talks about his many attempts at a plan to stay in Oakland but his only real accomplishment was a full-fledged plan to move to Fremont. Newsflash, Mr. Wolff: Fremont isn't Oakland. Maybe he's not a liar, but a deciever seems appropriate to me.

2. Why does he appear surprised? They're talking about moving, the stadium is a dump (unless you're an old stadium geek like me - I've already been to 3 games this year), there are NO bars or restaurants near the stadium (unless you count Denny's), everyone is afraid to do anything but park in the $17 dollar lot because it's East Oakland.

3. You can keep the stadium in Oakland and draw better crowds just by a simple location change - Jack London Square anyone? That's how we revitalized Cleveland's downtown. If you build it, they'll come, and they'll do absolute wonders for the local service industry.

The entire thing is disappointing to me. Oakland as a city wants to revitalize its downtown, bring in wealthier condo-owners/buyers, and revitalize JLS - there really is no better way to do this than to a bring a beautiful, intimate park to JLS. Both sides really need to work harder and just find a solution.

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I still enjoy this old park, though... Here are a few photos I took from games this season (2 @ The Coliseum and 1 @ Anaheim - Yes, I love baseball lol)

4/5 - Mariners - A's - Opening Night

http://hphotos-sjc1.fbcdn.net/hs485.snc3/26540_656358141252_39105344_36495229_5784855_n.jpg (broken link)


4/10 - A's - Angels
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs485.ash1/26540_657251201552_39105344_36518873_3462003_n.jpg (broken link)


4/24 - Indians - A's
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-sjc1/hs296.snc3/28481_660060890912_39105344_36588852_3379329_n.jpg (broken link)

[Oakland Uptown]

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv4sB...eature=related

[18Montclair]

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)

Yup.

A new stadium in or near downtown would change things dramatically. And that is actually seriously being talked about now. I don't think its too late.
New A̢۪s ballpark in Oakland could reap $2.6B, study says - San Francisco Business Times:

[llowllevellowll]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Yup.

A new stadium in or near downtown would change things dramatically. And that is actually seriously being talked about now. I don't think its too late.
New A’s ballpark in Oakland could reap $2.6B, study says - San Francisco Business Times:

I hope you're right. We'll have to have a CD: Oakland meetup at Opening Day in the new park. lol

Ah, it'd be so spectacular - there are few things more special than visiting a park for the very first time.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by Puddy4LyF

I hope you're right. We'll have to have a CD: Oakland meetup at Opening Day in the new park. lol

Ah, it'd be so spectacular - there are few things more special than visiting a park for the very first time.

MOST DEFINITELY we'd have a CD meetup at a new ballpark.

There are so many potentially awesome sites in and around Downtown.

[NorCal Dude]

LoL.. beating a dead horse. I have found from my experiences in the East bay that a lot of people like to chop big game but don't walk the walk. The city of oakland is not much different. If fans cared so much they would *gasp* buy a ticket.

Its pretty sad when the sacramento river cats(oaklands aaa team) outsell their big brother. In fact its pathetic.

Let the team move to san jose where it can have some air. By 2012 when the marlins get their new stadium, the A's will have the worst stadium in the mlb, in one of the worst neighborhoods to boot (as a giants fan I was a victim of crime there twice).

Fair-weather bandwaggon A's fans have no one to blame, but themselves.

[llowllevellowll]

Originally Posted by NorCal Dude

LoL.. beating a dead horse. I have found from my experiences in the East bay that a lot of people like to chop big game but don't walk the walk. The city of oakland is not much different. If fans cared so much they would *gasp* buy a ticket.

Its pretty sad when the sacramento river cats(oaklands aaa team) outsell their big brother. In fact its pathetic.

Let the team move to san jose where it can have some air. By 2012 when the marlins get their new stadium, the A's will have the worst stadium in the mlb, in one of the worst neighborhoods to boot (as a giants fan I was a victim of crime there twice).

Fair-weather bandwaggon A's fans have no one to blame, but themselves.

A few things...

1. Business really is all about location, location, location. You can't run a successful business with a **** poor location, can you? Forgive me if I'm wrong, but how well were the Giants filling in their seats when they played in that DUMP over in Hunter's Point? And during the down years? I dare say it's a rather comparable situation, wouldn't you? Now... what happened when you got a ballpark where people could walk to and have a good time? Did attendance improve irregardless of record? Oh, well, look at that...

It isn't rocket science.

Why should people go to a ballpark that is a) antiquated, b) in a terrible neighborhood, c) not within walking distance of ANYTHING, d) no bars/nightlife. Why?! It doesn't make any sense.

And this is coming from a guy who's gone to 3 games - one where I drove to Anaheim to catch a game. It doens't make me more of a fan. I probably will only go to 1 more game this year (aside from games on the road when I'm in another city) and the reason is because of the above.

You don't need to move to San Jose to fill the seats to the A's.

[Mr. Fantastic]

Oakland is such a dump and East Oakland is one of the trashiest places to put a baseball stadium. The amount of people's cars that get jacked during games is insane. I'm not surprised they can't even fill 10,000 seats.

To be honest they could have a 5,000 seat stadium and move it right next to Jack London Square and still have trouble selling out a game. That's because the average Oakland Citizen makes $35,000 a year, and unemployment is almost 20% in the city. These people have more to worry about than spending $17 for parking at a baseball game for a team that hasn't had any relevance since the 90s.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by Mr. Fantastic

Oakland is such a dump and East Oakland is one of the trashiest places to put a baseball stadium. The amount of people's cars that get jacked during games is insane. I'm not surprised they can't even fill 10,000 seats.

To be honest they could have a 5,000 seat stadium and move it right next to Jack London Square and still have trouble selling out a game. That's because the average Oakland Citizen makes $35,000 a year, and unemployment is almost 20% in the city. These people have more to worry about than spending $17 for parking at a baseball game for a team that hasn't had any relevance since the 90s.

We've already covered many of these topics with you and you still make some ridiculous statements that can easily be debunked.

So basically your just trolling.

[Mr. Fantastic]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

So basically your just trolling.

You're just in denial.

Oakland is a dying city in many parts despite your rosey outlook on how awesome the city is. There is no real economic development in the city, no real attempt at revitalizing poor areas, and no real reason why anyone in their right mind would spend money to have fun in East Oakland unless they want an adventure in trying to find out who threw a brick through their driver side window and stole their iPod.