The Athletics have been stuck in a bit of a holding pattern this offseason due to their stadium situation, but they may be drawing closer to a resolution. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that Bud Selig plans to meet with Giants executives within two weeks in an effort to accelerate a decision about whether the A's will be allowed to relocate to San Jose.
The Giants draw a significant portion of their fan base and corporate sponsorships from counties south of San Francisco, and they are adamantly opposed to relinquishing their territorial rights to the South Bay. A source tells Rosenthal that the Giants must draw at least 3.2MM fans to break even on their $130MM payroll next season after drawing 3.4MM fans this season. They can't afford much of a slip.
If the Giants refuse to yield their territorial rights, Rosenthal says one solution would be for MLB to purchase the Athletics, secure a stadium deal in Oakland, then resell the club. It would be similar to what they did with the Expos in 2002. The A's have agreed to expand the seating capacity (32K) of the proposed Cisco Field design as one condition of the move. Essentially, Selig has to balance the best interest of the Giants with the best interests of the game.
Does this mean Selig will kill one of the most historic teams in MLB like he did with the Expos?
EDIT
Weird double post.
Why. They moving back to Philly?
What is historical about the Athletics in Oakland? They have been there since the 60’s.. That is not nearly as long as many other teams have been in their current location/city and not as long as some teams (by far) have played in their current stadium.
It’s not about them being historic in Oakland, it’s just them being a dynasty that no one seems to notice anymore. And the last time Selig got involved in something like this, the team relocated and changed it’s name (Expos). And I don’t want that to happen to the A’s because I like them.
“And I don’t want that to happen to the A’s because I like them”
You are letting personal feelings dictate business decisions and that is a mistake.
I am a big marlins fan also, but that does not mean that they have much better of a future in Miami as doe the Athletics in Oakland for almost the same reasons. The only difference is the somehow swindled the people out of a stadium already, but have the same lethargic fans support that never seems to change from season to season.
Should MLB step in and bail them out every year also in other ways? How about Pittsburgh next? They are a century old and in many ways, one of the keystone teams of the game. Should MLB bail them out?
Selig understands the limits of his power and will not cross those lines, as much as he wishes he had the power do do so. Sure, he will talk, bribe and continue to sway the other teams as much as he can, but in the end each team is going to act in it’s own favor when it comes to a situation like presents SFG-Oakland.
It’s not about them relocating.
Bud Selig will kill the team and rename it just like the Expos. I don’t care if they relocate. I just don’t want them to change their name.
Ahhh.. Teams do not always change name. Charlie O kept the A’s name when he moved them from Philly. Tho the Senators changed when think they ended up as the Rangers, or was it the Padres? i forget when several teams changed back then close together.
If was a fan of the team, as I am of the Fish would be more worried about the existence rather than where they play. IMO, the Fish are doomed even though they got that new stadium and hope they end up in a city that will support them in a few years.
I will still be a fan..It is the team I like, not particularly the city as it seems you are of the Athletics as well.
One day however it is almost inevitable for several teams to just disappear unless they go to different cities. Several current large market owners (IMO) are going to get fed up with supporting them, or rather keeping them on life support year after year and yes.. Those marlins I like are one of them if not relocated to a viable market. Places outside of the USA are a area not flooded also. Am a fan of moving into countries not tapped. mexico and perhaps even Japan
What the A’s need is a new stadium , preferable one in Jack London square (oakland)
but since the city has no money and im not sure really want them there , they need to move down the peninsula which actually used to be there territory they gave it to the giants for nothing, and the A hole owners of the GiGantes wont give it back, so that is all bud dbag selig is doing , because the A’s are dying in oakland right now
The Expos changed their name because they were named after the World’s Fair in Montreal. Once they moved to DC, the name no longer made any sense and needed to be changed. The name “Athletics” would work in any city and would not be changed.
Does this mean Selig is going to kill the A’s like he did the Expos?
seems like Bud is trying to go out with a bang . . . . I can’t wait until you’re gone, Mr. Selig.
It’s not the Giants fault that Oakland is a HORRIBLE city with a HORRIBLE fan base! A’s should move to Portland!
not a bad idea actually…
The A’s want to move to a city where they can build a solid fan base in San Jose. They in fact gave the Giants the territory they now want back and the Giants are refusing. It sets a precedent in sports that will see future teams refuse to give up territory rights to other teams.
Factor in that the A’s management will just sell off all the talent, leaving the cupboard bare and that would be a black mark against MLB. Posters are correct and mlb would then buy the team and relocate them to a city like Portland. I could see Oakland trading their pitching staff to the Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Rockies, or San Diego in spite, so the Giants chances of ever competing again decreases dramatically.
The Giants need to remember one important detail. If they embarass the commissioners office, you know who controls the umpires, yep – the commissioner’s office. Watch the strike zone shrink dramatically and bad calls galore against the Giants for years to come, leaving them looking up from the basement of the NL west. They should know by now that Selig doesn’t like to be embarassed by any team. He already helps the Yankees and Red Sox win games every year through the umpires. Well, that can go the other way too and when the Giants start losing with help from the umpires, they can then ask themselves if it was really worth it.
A baseball conspiracy theorist!! The last paragraph made me giggle, thanks bro
Yes, Baseball management is like the mafia.
Both teams from Oakland and San Fran are fighting over territory. And if San Fran doesn’t lighting up the Commissioners office is going to do “Bad Things” to them and the A’s will unload their pitching staff on the Dodgers. And that would finish the Giants off.
That would make a awesome movie script for a FICTIONAL movie.
A’s are going to move into a place where they can get a publicly funded arena, and I believe Portland has said before that they wouldn’t do that.
Anyone feel free to prove me wrong, I’m just going off recollection.
San Jose won’t pay either….see 49ers
you got it right
thanks.
I really wouldn’t mind seeing Salt Lake City getting an MLB team, I think they could support one; just check out their support of the Triple-A Bees.
Salt Lake City A’s.. Hmm..
I wouldn’t mind seeing the Salt Lake City Sweatrings becoming an MLB team in my lifetime
Portland recently lost its AAA team. I don’t think that’s viable.
Because they ran out of time in finding a plot to build their stadium. They had two pieces of land picked out, but both deals fell through due to the public trying to save what they considered a landmark, and another piece of land that the neighbourhood didn’t want converted into baseball. Given that, the team ran out of time and was forced to temporarily play down in Tucson.
Thank Oakland sometime for your giants not moving to Tampa bay, they’re the ones that should have moved
Thanks. Now bugger off.
They should move to Sacramento. Just swap the Rivercats for the A’s, and tack on the upper deck that Raley’s Field was built to support. It’s close enough to Oakland for Bay Area fans to travel, as Sacramento fans have always had to do to watch the Giants or A’s. People might actually care about the A’s in Sacramento.
No one in the Bay Area would travel to Sac. Are you kidding me? You obviously must not be from the Bay Area!
Why not? Sacramentans drive to SF to watch games.
Because they don’t have many options for things to do.
Anything you can do in SF, except the tourist traps, you can do in Sac. World-class dining, nightclubs, art etc. Plus the bars don’t charge $15 a drink just because the guy pouring it has a stupid mustache. Biking and walking trails are more extensive and prettier and we’re an hour from good skiing. The only reason to leave Sac for SF is Giants or Niners games.
It IS the Giants fault, actually. The A’s SAVED the Giants back in 93 when they were going to move to Tapma Bay by giving them these rights to san Jose because the Giants expressed interest in moving there. Then they didn’t move there, and kept the rights AND got a new park in downtown SF. The A’s fanbase was BETTER and LARGER than the Giants until the Giants got a hew park, and all the casual fans went there, because its nice. Just let the A’s move to SJ and everything will be split again.
Boom boom pow pow pow pew pew pew!
Oakland has such a storied franchise with so many incredible players and memorable moments associated with that team. It would be a somber sight to behold if they relocated to San Jose.
it would be better than toiling away in Oakland with no fans, no stadium, no money, etc.
I’m not saying it wouldn’t be better for the team. It just would be sad if it came down to that.
It was sad to see the Expos leave Montreal too, but we got over that quickly.
How about the Montreal A’s. I like the sound of that.
I’m sure they thought the same thing when they moved from Philadelphia, and then from Kansas City
Probably so. I wasn’t alive during all those crazy shenanigans though so I couldn’t say.
Yeah, just like most of their world series wins are from the Philadelphia A’s….
I mean lets be honest here, Baseball is not exactly full of a history of stability once you go beyond the 80’s. Just because most kids alive have never heard of most of these teams that we have right now being in other cities and the only time it’s happened has been with the Expos, doesn’t mean it’s either new or shocking when a team bails on a city, even a good ones.
I mean seriously, the majority of the history of the West Coast teams is imported. Dodgers, Giants, A’s, all came from somewhere else and had tons of history before they all came to California.
That goes for every sport, so what’s your point..
The Athletics franchise has 9 championships. 5 in Philadelphia, 4 in Oakland.
The Dodgers have won six world series. Five of
Them have been in LA. Of their 11 Cy young winners, only one was in Brooklyn. Plenty of history on the west coast
Cy Young awards weren’t given out before the mid 50s
Fair enough! Then you could go with ROY awards. Four in Brooklyn, twelve in LA. Point is with any of these teams there has been plenty of history in California.
ROY didn’t start until 1947 just 10 years before the move to LA and Jackie Robinson was the recipient. Jim Gilliam, Don Newcombe and Joe Black all one for Brooklyn 4 in 11 years is a pretty good ratio.
Another fact probably useless but fun
Only 14 ROY have ever made the HOF not a good ratio
Nevermind.
I call complete BS on the notion that the Giants “must draw 3.2MM fans to break even on their $130MM payroll”. Doing simple math it seems like they would easily profit quite a bit on their payroll just by getting that many fans in the door. Not to mention that there are so many other ways they rake in money as well.
Did you notice that it was completely ignored that the Giants receive 1/30 shares of all merchandise sold by teams and they also receive a share of the luxury taxes from teams spending over the limit through payroll. If there are five teams over the limit, the amount rises substantially to a 1/25th share of all the money five teams are taxed.
Then the Giants need to stop giving Huff like 10MM, and they can afford to let their farm players get up to the MLB level and not worry about sellouts nightly; which we all know is complete BS to begin with.
Maybe if the Giants stopped throwing away money on players like Zito, Rowand, and Huff they wouldn’t have to “draw” as many fans to the stadium!!
Giants brass should tell Selig where to stick it.
No. Giants owe this to the A’s, considering the A’s are the reason the Giants are still playing in SF anyway, and for free at that. The A’s used to own the territorial rights to where the Giants park is today. They gave away those rights FOR FREE in order to keep the Giants in SF and not force them to move to Tampa Bay.
A’s ownership could have told the Giants to stick it 15 years ago when this occurred, but they didn’t. They believed that a 2 team market in the Bay Area was the right thing for baseball.
Now the Giants won’t return the favor unless they get a massive payday. This is one of the most selfish and disappointing things I’ve seen from a team that should be supporting their local rivalry.
What you’ve written is a bit off the mark. The territorial rights were shared.
Wally Haas agreed to allow the Giants to hold those rights exclusively
when the Giants were exploring a South Bay stadium. When that didn’t
work out, Haas never asked to go back to a shared territorial rights
scheme as he did not feel it necessary. The A’s never had exclusive
territorial rights over counties of the South Bay.
Also, it is simply incorrect to say the A’s are the reason the
Giants are still in SF. The only reason the Giants are still in San Francisco is because a Peter Magowan-led group bought the
team and drew up a plan for a privately-funded stadium in San Francisco.
Before that there was already a deal in place to sell the team to a
group based in St. Petersburg, Florida. When you look at what happened in the early 90s and why the Giants stayed in San Francisco, the A’s really don’t have much to do with it.
Haas giving up the territorial rights extended the Giants’ life in the Bay Area. Had he not done that, the Giants were set to move immediately to Florida. So in a way, yes, the A’s are responsible for the Giants staying in the Bay Area.
Regardless, the A’s did what they could to help the Giants out in this situation. Isn’t it time the Giants did the same?
The Giants were seeking a vote for Santa Clara county, Haas granted the Giants exclusive territorial rights to Santa Clara as they were shared between the club. It had nothing to do with San Francisco. He did this simply because the Giants drew more fans and this could help him draw more fans
This sounds to me like a Giants fan trying to reason with their ownerships greediness right now.
I don’t understand how this could have helped him draw more fans. If anything, it would have been in Oakland’s best interests to not grant them the rights, and then watch as the Giants moved to Tampa and the A’s got all the baseball fans in the Bay Area.
I don’t understand how many fans actually drive up (No BART) from SJ to go to Giants games? The A’s are closer to SJ, I have done no research but logically doesn’t that say the A’s would have more casual walk-up fans than the Giants, just because of where they are?
Selig should just give the Giants whatever money he gave the Orioles when the Expos moved to DC to the Giants, easy, problem solved.
There is a commuter train that starts in San Jose and ends in San Francisco about a block or two away from AT&T Park. There are also two possible freeways to take from San Jose to San Francisco (101 and 280). Covering the distance between the two cities might take a little time, but it is by no means difficult. During my four years of undergrad study in the South Bay, I never once found it too inconvenient to get to AT&T, although I could understand if a casual fan might.
Getting from the East Bay to San Jose by car is also quite easy depending on traffic; however, as far as I know there is not yet a convenient means of public transportation from the East Bay to San Jose. BART ends in Fremont, and though I believe they are extending it to San Jose, at this point in time the option of taking BART directly from the East Bay to San Jose does not exist. (NB: You could potentially take BART from the East Bay to Milbrae/SFO and then transfer onto the Caltrain and take that into San Jose, but at that point you’re practically circling the entire Bay Area just to get to San Jose.)
You sound to me like an ignorant A’s fan. It got them out of the area, the risk of the Giants building a new stadium in the area would have been gone, or they move to St. Petersburg
haha, well it’s pretty possible to be an A’s fan and ignorant at this point. There aren’t enough of us around to be that way!
But in all seriousness, if that’s the way you feel, then you shouldn’t be opposed to the A’s moving to San Jose. If you’re claiming the A’s motive was to get the Giants out of the area by moving to San Jose or Santa Clara, then it shouldn’t be a problem for the A’s to move there, because it gets them further away from the Giants.
I’m asking this seriously, though. I mean, right? Wouldn’t the Giants then be more in favor of the A’s moving to San Jose then building a nice waterfront stadium in Oakland, hypothetically?
The answer is no, because Giants ownership will do whatever they can to move the A’s out of California, or continue to let them rot in the “Mausoleum.”
I have no problem with the A’s moving to SJ, but im not in the Giants front office and sadly they dont feel the same way, thats just how it is. MY opinion is if the A’s could draw better then it could increase fanfare in the entire bay area, resulting in better numbers for both teams. I think the Giants heads want to monopolize the area, in term hoping for more income in tv deals and attendance.
I really wish the city of Oakland would help them out a bit more, finding an area to build somewhere in the city. The Coliseum is by far the worst stadium I have ever been to and the Oakland franchise deserves better. Frankly, I find it sad that a triple a team can have a nicer stadium than the big club
Except for the territorial rights. That are kind of ruining the A’s right now.
So, there is that.
I’m talking about the Giants early-90s situation on its own. The territorial rights didn’t end up making that big of a difference at the time because Magowan’s group bought the Giants and kept them in San Francisco. It’s only now that the City of Oakland and the A’s are committed to being completely obstinate in dealing with each other that these territorial rights are a huge issue.
I agree that in theory the A’s should be able to find a place in Oakland, my personal dream scenario would be to find a place also on the water and at best, actually have views of the Giants park from a new A’s park and vice versa, that would be one of the coolest things in baseball.
But sadly the Giants view that as a nightmare and the city of Oakland has done absolutely nothing to help the A’s even find land to buy, and are far from helping them build a stadium, but even if it was privately financed the city of Oakland would still stand in their way, hence the SJ move.
Also I’m really no fan of all this total BS Giants revisionist history going on. Look guys, just admit it, you were attending zero games at Candlestick when they played there. When they were at Candlestick from 1990-1999, the Giants were always between 8th and 13th out of 14 teams in the NL, never higher. The A’s were 2nd, 3rd and 4th in AL attendance from 90-92 when they were a great team and also had good figures from 00-05 when they had to face a much better park for walkup fans close by, they would have been way higher up had they too been in a nice new park in SJ.
All this contraction talk is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard too, San Jose deserves another pro-sports franchise way more than Portland or Vegas or Montreal does. The way that city supports the Sharks would increase even more with a baseball team, as NHL isn’t as popular as baseball is in the bay area, and nationwide. I wish the A’s would get a new park in Oakland, and if not, I hope they can move to San Jose.
“Look guys, just admit it, you were attending zero games at Candlestick when they played there.”
Sorry, I’ve been going since the mid-80’s. I loved Candlestick.
The crux of your argument is false. Do you really think that the A’s held the rights to the south of Market district in SAN FRANCISCO? They had the the territorial rights to San Jose and the Giants were looking into the possibility of moving there instead of moving to St. Petersburg. They should have simply negotiated a provision that if the Giants didn’t move there, the A’s got the rights back. Having two teams in the metro area is in the best interest of both teams. Hence, the A’s got something out of that deal, also…
Yes, I realize I got my facts wrong, my mistake.
That being said, how can you say it was in the A’s best interests to give them the territorial rights?
Because two teams in the metro area keeps interest in baseball high. One team with a horrible stadium and a small payroll leads to dwindling interest and eventually possibly no teams in the area. I do believe that the A’s have a strong fan base, but they are not maximizing it in any way. It doesn’t help that the stadium is basically in the ghetto, either. I personally thought the Fremont location would’ve been perfect. Still in Alameda County and central to the existing fan base. I can’t recall why that plan was unsuccessful, though.
Ok, I see what you’re saying, but calling the stadium “in the ghetto” is really wrong, in my opinion. I could walk within a mile of the stadium in any direction, at any time day or night, and generally feel pretty safe.
And Fremont wasn’t successful because the residents of Fremont stupidly voted against it. Apparently they didn’t want a brand new BART station, upscale housing community and more money for their city. Oh well.
Ok, I see what you’re saying, but calling the stadium “in the ghetto” is really wrong, in my opinion. I could walk within a mile of the stadium in any direction, at any time day or night, and generally feel pretty safe.
And Fremont wasn’t successful because the residents of Fremont stupidly voted against it. Apparently they didn’t want a brand new BART station, upscale housing community and more money for their city. Oh well.
You are 100% correct. The Giants are backstabbing the A’s so hard here. Its almost exactly the same situation as the Giants were in back in 93, only the A’s HELPED them, the Giants are just twisting the knife. What a disgusting franchise. The Giants need to fall into the ocean for this, theyre* cowards, liars and backstabbers.
*The front office and owners I mean. Timmy is cool.
“The A’s used to own the territorial rights to where the Giants park is today.”
WTF are you talking about?
You A’s fans have really lost your f’n minds.
I wonder if this would be the first time in sports that a team has the same name in 4 different cities. For such a storied franchise, it’s hard to believe that they were the “white elephant” of Philadelphia, KC was a bust, and now they can’t stick in Oakland.
I’ll say what we’re all thinking: Contraction.
That would be the worst thing to happen to baseball since the DH rule.
I totally disagree. There are too many teams as-is, and some of them have basically been abandoned by their fans. Both Florida teams boggle my mind. Only through revenue sharing are they even anywhere close to staying in business. Oakland has basically abandoned the A’s, to be honest Washington didn’t REALLY deserve a franchise anyway with the O’s so close, and Kansas City hasn’t been out of the dumps for attendance since strike. It sorta sucks that the other teams keep these guys profitable through revenue sharing.
I assume it’s for competitive reasons, in that you pay to keep the weak teams around so you have someone to beat 3/4 of the time and if one of them manages to spend and get lucky one year well good for them.
There have been franchises in Washington and Baltimore at the same time with the 19th century. In the late 60’s they should have created a new franchise in Texas instead of Montreal and left the Senators alone.
You don’t contract one of baseball’s most historic and memorable franchises. It doesn’t have to be fair to the other owners. The Athletics need to exist, whether in San Jose or elsewhere.
It’s one thing to spout the ‘C’ word on teams like the Mariners or the Rays, but the A’s have been around for over 100 years with the third most World Series titles in history. You don’t just ‘Contract’ that.
I agree. But unfortunately since Loria conned Miami into building him a stadium, the A’s and the Rays are the 2 teams most suitable to be contracted.
really? who cares a storied team like the A’s and the stellar team the Rays have become, just contract them away? wtf?
Unfortunately for the A’s, Jimmie Foxx, Reggie Jackson, and Rickey Henderson aren’t on their roster now to put people in the seats. The Rays play in an apathetic market, their on-field success is proof that baseball doesn’t have a viable future in Tampa.
The Tampa Bay Rays suffer from the same stadium woes that the Oakland A’s do. They are in a battle with St. Petersburg so they can relocate to Tampa.
Why? MLB is increasing the places it can draw players from rapidly, that speaks more for expansion then it does for contraction.
It can’t happen anyway until a NEW new CBA is signed 5 years from now.
No, no one is thinking that, only someone who didnt realize the players association would never allow it would say that. Plus the odds of MLB adding 2 more teams to make it 16 in each league is much greater.
Expansion isn’t going to happen. MLB can’t even find cities to relocate existing teams.
Not that the San Jose Giants are all that important, but I’d imagine it’d hurt their ticket sales if an MLB team moved to the same city.
they wouldn’t be allowed to stay. SF Giants own the majority of that team, anyway. it’s part of how the move to SJ would hurt the Giants economically.
minor leagues are adjusted every other year to suit the needs of teams. When I was in Knoxville, the Smoikes started as the Cardinals team, then switched to the Diamondbacks (weird) and then the Cubs, all in 3 years. Kinda crazy.
So some other small city will get a new A-ball team and the shuffle will happen. Maybe Oakland builds a new AA or AAA sized stadium and the 10k or so that would show up for an A’s game would at least do a decent job of supporting a minor league team instead.
If you look at moving the A’s to SJ as a matter of proximity, the Giants would simply inherit everything North of the Bay, and SJ A’s would inherit everything South of the Bay. The folks in Oakland can choose to follow one or both. Giants would garner a significant portion of the Sacramento and even Oakland fans, while SJ would get the Monterrey, and Fresno citizens. Cisco is a huge factor, and you can’t not cede a team to San Jose and Silicon Valley.
Also the Raiders are a factor in this, because soon they and the Niners are going to built a stadium for both teams to occupy. I doubt it will be in Oakland.
I’ll bet a lot of money it’ll end up in Oakland, if only because the public transit infrastructure is there and the land is cheaper and they can actually build a really nice sports complex on the Bay if everyone gets together and agrees that it’s a sensible plan for both teams. Oakland and San Francisco are a good pair of cities. Sending everyone from Oakland AND San Francisco basically to San Jose is disrespectful to both sides.
Building a new stadium on the water in Oakland isn’t a viable option. Victory plaza has been ruled out as well as every other possible location in Oakland.
If Oakland wants the A’s so bad, then why aren’t they acting like the SJ City Council to try and do everything possible for the team?
Sorry Master_Dave, but you are knocking on San Jose unfairly. And to say that it is disrespectful for San Fran (A’s fans in San Fran?) and Oakland to go south is silly. How respectful is it to make the largest portion of the Bay Area population trudge 55 miles to San Fran or Oakland?
Say whatever you want about San Jose, but you knew what you were doing when you moved there and it’s nothing short of a foolish idea to move teams there.
Maybe in 10 years when that BART extension gets built and they decide to start running the thing later than 1AM and anyone from SF and Oakland could actually get back home at night, but for now San Jose is a big second-class city that has a lot of growing up to do before it’s on par with San Francisco. Even if there are more people.
Not Oakland though, Oakland still mostly sucks but I’d rather live there than San Jose just because a 20 minute BART ride to interesting things in San Francisco would be much preferable to driving a car from San Jose.
These are all excellent points. Not to mention that 880 is an eye-gougingly horrible freeway to commute on, especially from 5-7pm, which is when you would need to use it to get to a weeknight game.
The Niners are not going to let the Raiders play in their stadium.
Not to mention that a large amount of Giants fans in San Jose will remain Giants fans, even if the A’s move to San Jose.
I have been following this for a few years, the Cisco Field is awesome, I hope they keep the outfield “window” to look down onto the field sunk well below street level, would be amazing if they still had the Condominiums overlooking the Outfield. For a few years I was thinking that the name California Athletics would have been appropriate especially if they had been in Fremont, even now, I think that’s a way to negate some territorial rights. SF Giants still own the Bay and the California Athletics in San Jose are for all of California.
Hard to imagine the A’s adopting the geographical name that was used by a divisional rival (Angels) as recently as 15 years ago.
They could take a page out of their book, too, and call themselves the California Athletics of Oakland in San Jose.
The north bay is pretty useless to the Giants because you have to cross the GG bridge (now a $6 toll) during rush hour to get to most of the games. Not having to cross a bridge is one of the reasons I’m a Giants fan. Just looking at a map shows you that if the SJ plan goes through, the SF territory would be limited to the upper peninsula.
Honestly a lot of the ticket sales are for corporate types and casual or non baseball fans. With ticket prices going through the roof due to the World Series and the increase in popularity of scalping bobbleheads, I would probably cut back from 5-10 Giants games a year and go to a few more A’s games if they moved to SJ.
Whether or not it’s fair, A’s to SJ would hurt the Giants income.
Sacramento overwhelmingly supports the Giants anyway, and there is more money in the South to be garnered. It’s not merely a land swap.
That’s an obviously false statement. If anything, it’s pretty evenly split.
If that is true, A’s fans must be terribly ashamed to be A’s fans. For every Athletics hat or Jersey seen around this town there are ten with a Giants logo. And that started well before the World Series push.
I am from San Jose and would not want to see the A’s move to San Jose unless they got new ownership. I am a Giants fan all the way and would not switch over to the A’s if they moved, but I would not want a team that doesn’t spend money nor cares if the team is winning to move to San Jose. So unless they switch ownership or the current ownership starts spending money, I vote no on the move.
The ownership doesn’t spend money because nobody goes to their games. Ownership has actually stepped up and increased spending in the past few years. The A’s have made respectable offers to a number of high-profile free agents.
Ownership would spend money in the draft and in international prospects if they got the green light to move to SJ. Then, when those prospects would be ready to move into a new stadium, they would spend money on quality free agents to compliment those players.
Lew Wolff is an old man and has stated multiple times that he wants to see Oakland get a ring before he dies. He is willing to spend, but when fans don’t even come out when the A’s went to the ALCS in 2006, it is hard to justify spending money when you don’t see a return because of a terrible, decrepit stadium.
Good for you for being a Giants fan. Me, I’m an A’s fan. The A’s used to have a gorgeous stadium. The Giants used to play at Candlestick and were desperate to get out. So they announced a plan to move to San Jose, they bargained for San Jose territorial rights from the A’s and they got them. The Giants don’t move to San Jose, they move to Phone Company Park: A beautiful new park where they can thrive. What happens to the A’s? They get screwed over by the return of the Raiders to Oakland and uglify the stadium by building the giant cement “Mt Davis” behind center field to add more seats for football. Now they play in a decrepit stadium. The Giants refuse to reciprocate a good-natured deal the A’s gave them for San Jose even though they didn’t follow through on the reason they acquired the rights in the first place.
You complain about the money the A’s do or don’t spend… because they don’t have a money-making ballpark that the Giants have, how much more money do you think they can actually spend anyway? You’re dreaming if you think the A’s could afford the payroll the Giants do. They could… if they got a new stadium! Businessmen or not, The Giants are pricks for taking from the A’s and not giving anything in return. The business should be Major League Baseball… not 30 franchises. It should be ‘What’s best for Major League Baseball?’ .. Not ‘what’s best for the SF Giants?’. What’s best is giving all the teams a chance to succeed, and you’re not doing that by trapping the A’s in a crappy stadium.
Move the A’s to San Jose, and I guarentee you’ll see the Giants will have bickered over potential revenue drops for nothing!
You definitely make good points. However, wouldn’t this possibility have been mitigated by simply insisting on a provision that if the Giants ended up not moving to SJ, that they give up the rights? Unfortunately for you, the 30 teams are individual profit centers unto themselves. The respective owners are going to protect their investment first and foremost rather than assist the crosstown rivals in a venture that will assuredly hurt their (the team giving up the rights) long term profitability, regardless of whether it is best for MLB. MLB is doing just fine. The A’s are not. Big difference.
Some weak 30k seat stadium, would be one of the lowest seat capacity ballparks. Doesn’t seem like even the A’s think they are going to get much fans in San Jose. IF they moved to San Jose they wouldn’t sell out half their games. Most of SJ are Giants fans and I don’t see them switching teams to watch a team that sells their players for prospects every year. Any long time Giant fan won’t spend money on a team that refuses to try to win. Maybe in 20 years where kids grow up to be A’s fans, but I don’t see them selling out anytime soon.
How about what is best for the city of San Jose? They are more than deserving of an MLB team of their own, especially with the way they have supported the Sharks.
San Jose residents are Giants fans. Nobody cares about the A’s.
(I’m from San Jose)
I doubt you’ve taken the time to survey the entire city of San Jose and analyze the results to come up with that conclusion so I’m not going to put any stock into that statement. Sorry bro!!
Ok, take a drive through San Jose and count people you see wearing Giants gear vs. those wearing A’s gear.
YOU are from San Jose. Ever heard the term “small sample size”? If nobody in San Jose cares about the A’s, why do all of the votes regarding the A’s move show that the people of San Jose would very much be in favor of the A’s relocating there?
The fact of the matter is the A’s would FINALLY begin to thrive in a new stadium there, as did the Giants after they got their new ballpark. San Jose can and will absolutely support a new ballpark for the A’s, and while it would probably create a new fanbase in the south bay for the A’s, TRUE Giants fans would certainly stick with their team and any loss in revenue will probably be more then balanced out by whatever deal Selig works out between the Giants and A’s to have the territorial rights turned (back) over.
If San Francisco really needs to draw 3.2mm to pull even financially, they should have better spent $130mm on payroll and produced another playoff contending team to create more revenue. Its in no way, shape or form the A’s problem if its true that the Giants are operating within such thin financial lines. Over-spending, and under-performing.
move em to japan or england or mexico or some spanic country.
Or not!
And exactly how would the A’s benefit from that?
Fans of the A’s that live in Oakland, would you rather the team move to San Jose, which is an hour away, so they can get a new stadium, have fans, and actually compete. Or would you rather them move to Portland or Charlotte? In San Jose you can still drive down and catch a game on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon if they move to Portland or Charlotte you will never see your team play live again. To me this is a no brainer for A’s fans . San Jose and Oakland are in the same large metro area and is in driving distance so you can still attend games. I know it’s embarrassing to see all of the empty seats in Oakland for a team with 9 world series titles. The Athletics should be one of the marquee teams in MLB and instead it’s a second thought.
I’m a Giants fan and I’m ashamed by the way my team has treated the A’s on this. Especially with the Giants riding so high, having just won a World Series, selling out the entire year in their beautiful bayside stadium, etc. The A’s, meanwhile, have no money, play in a crumbling shithole, and are generally drowning, and the Giants are eager to throw them an anvil. Not cool.
I appreciate this from a Giant’s fan. As a lifelong A’s fan, I have never had anything against the Giants until this bitter argument began. I have loved the cross town rivalry, it’s one of the best and most civil in sports today. I was happy for them when they finally won a ring in San Francisco. But then for this to occur is just so disappointing.
There is a great article from the 1990s that illustrates the A’s helping the Giants when they were nearly moved to Tampa. Once I find it I will post the article, because I think it’s a must read for anyone interested in this stadium situation.
Why should one MLB team survive by cannibalizing another MLB team? They shouldn’t have ever been so close together, and they should be moving further apart. Not rearranging territory. It is just stupid. It is obvious that two teams cannot survive in that area, and the A’s are clearly the odd man out.
Cannibalizing? Wow, hyperbole much?
As it stands, the A’s and Giants are about 8 miles (as the crow flies) away from one another. Putting the A’s in SJ will put them over 30 miles from one another.
You know there are two teams in other cities that are closer together.
And furthermore, there is no proof that 2 teams can’t survive in that area, it’s that one team can’t survive while playing in a stadium that players have even said they don’t feel safe in. While I don’t necessarily agree with that sentiment, it’s clear that the A’s can’t draw as a result of a decrepit stadium.
It is not hyperbole, it is fact. When one team is intentionally moving to an area within the region of another team because they think there will be more fans in that area, it is cannibalizing. A team shouldn’t have to move into (or through) another teams region. When that is necessary, it is clear the area cannot support both teams. In fact, you admit this much yourself. The A’s had to help out the Giants. Now the Giants have to help out the A’s. Obviously they cannot both be there. For one team to grow, the other needs to shrink.
i’m not saying that at all. I’m saying it’s impossible for the A’s to draw fans because their stadium is junk, much like Candlestick was a terrible place to watch a baseball game.
“one team is intentionally moving to an area within the region of another team because they think there will be more fans in that area”
They’re moving because they can’t get a new stadium deal in Oakland. They’ve tried other places like Friedmont as well before focusing on San Jose.
And again, how the heck can we call San Jose a San Francisco region?!
You don’t help a rival unless it can help you. Would you support a move for the Dodgers to SJ? and I think you meant anchor, not anvil. Why would you throw an anvil in the water?
The same reason you would give a record setting contract to Barry Zito
Are you suggesting poor decision making? I think that just further illustrates my point.
I can’t understand why the A’s don’t look toward Sacramento. There is a huge fan base that is already familiar with the A’s farm team located there. There is plenty of money, being the state capitol, and a huge fan base that is comparable in numbers to San Jose. Seems to me that a move to Sac would be far easier to accomplish.
Ask the Kings’ why that wouldn’t be a good idea
The only reason the Kings aren’t happy is because they aren’t willing to fund their own stadium. Haven’t the A’s been planning a privately financed park?
The A’s would be wise to consider looking to the success of their AAA Sacramento Rivercats! While located a mere hour East of Oakland, the lowly farmhands regularly outdraw their Major League franchise… go figure! Truth be told, Sacramento sits in the middle of a baseball hotbed. The Sacramento/San Joaquin Valley’s have historically been one of the most prodigious of baseball feeding grounds.
Simply swap the A’s to Sacramento (and, in turn, the Rivercats to Oakland). With the NBA in a tailspin (who cares about the Sacramento Kings anyway!), put the money intended for a new basketball arena, into a suitable riverfront baseball stadium. Evening Summer games while sitting alongside the Sacramento River, cooled by the Delta breeze, would make it one of the hottest tickets in the MLB! Fan support would come from the existing East Bay to the West (in most cases, less than an hour away), Reno to the East, Redding to the North and Fresno to the South… that’s five distinct television markets (& 15 million+/- resident fans)! The corporate sponsor base would likewise expand; likely retaining many of its East Bay sponsors (& fans!), while exploding the reach of the team to the rest of the Northern California/Nevada region (and cannibalizing the Kings corporate base, with the team looking to be going away!). Considering the options for the A’s, this one (without a doubt) is the best… for the ownership/team, the fans and the MLB (Giants in particular) at large. What’s there not to like…?
This is merely the beginning. More to be discussed as the process proceeds…
Hear, hear! That would be fantastic.
Move the A’s to Portland. Or better yet, Move the KC Royals to the AL West, and move the A’s into the Indianapolis, and put them in the AL Central. Their is a large market their waiting to be expanded on in the state Indiana.
If you move the A’s to Indy, then you have another stadium issue to deal with. Are you going to just expand Victory Field (home of the Pirates AAA affiliate)? I don’t see the state footing the bill for a new stadium or an upgrade to a AAA stadium right now. Living in the northwest part of the state that essentially supports Chicago sports teams, it would be unbelievably difficult to gather support to help teams in the Indy market up here.
As someone who lives in Indianapolis, I can tell you there’s no way MLB baseball is coming to Indy.
First of all, Victory Field is not designed to be expandable to major league size… there are currently no stands in the outfield, just a small picnic area, which runs very close to a very busy downtown street. Beyond that street is the convention center, so there would be no place to expand or reroute the street. So, an entirely new ballpark would be needed. The only reason the city was able to gain support for a tax increase for Lucas Oil Stadium was because you had a very good team, Peyton Manning, and the promise of a Superbowl from the NFL. You wouldn’t be able to find that kind of support for a mediocre MLB team.
Additionally, the Indy market is way too close to too many other markets to get a team of its own. The Reds are an hour and a half away, the Cubs and White Sox are less than three hours away, and you could be to Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Milwaukee in less than five. The Indy fan base, who are really somewhat apathetic to MLB baseball to begin with, is already split between Reds and Cubs fans.
If you need more reason to see why this won’t work, look at the Pacers. NBA team in a basketball crazy state with a beautiful arena, and still they are struggling mightily.
So, not gonna happen.
Spot on man
The Giants own a privilege unique amongst MLB teams: they are one of two teams in a single major market, yet they have an embarrassingly strong command of the market share. The Yankees, Mets, White Sox, Cubs, Angels, Dodgers and Giants can all afford to spend $100million+ with ease every year whereas the A’s have never topped $80million in team history.
A move to San Jose would not hurt the Giants nearly as much as it would benefit the A’s. Given that they play in different leagues it seems like the Giants have but a few petty [Zito] dollars to lose on this deal, whereas the entire stability of the Athletics franchise for the decade to come may hinge on their ability to secure a stadium deal. Even as a fan of the Mariners and, (to a lesser extent,) the Giants, I can’t help but root for ‘Oakland’ to catch a break on this one.
Thanks man. I’m an A’s fan, and for awhile there’s been this “joke” that the A’s should take on the Zito contract as payment to the Giants for San Jose. The more I think about it, though, the more I think that’s not a bad idea. He’s got like $50M left and, let’s face it, we’re probably not spending that money on anything useful anyway.
This makes a lot of sense too.
Guys help me understand something. I live just outside Chicago, where there have been 2 teams for over 100 years and you have 2 teams in New York and you never hear anything about “territorial rights” in those 2 markets, why is this such an issue in the Bay area?
My understanding is that the bay area is the only 2 team market in baseball where territorial rights are used.
Oakland needs to move. Not to another part of northern California, but to another part of the country. Or even international. I would love to see them move to San Antonio, TX; San Juan, PR; Portland, OR; Las Vegas, NV; Nashville, TN; Montreal, CA; Charlotte, NC; or Indianapolis, IN.
No, they do not. San Jose is a massive city that loves supporting its only pro sports team, the Sharks. The A’s would have been in SJ by now if it wasn’t for the Giants. Typical wishy-washy bay area politics are what’s keeping them down, in addition to typical wishy-washy Selig “working” on it.
You’re missing my point. The Giants won’t, nor should they, give up San Jose. If they want a new stadium then they might need to move. If they want to stay in the bay area, then they are going to have to give up on the San Jose dream.
The Giants should have given up on the Bay Area dream back in ’89.. If they didn’t why should the A’s?
Because the A’s don’t own the rights to San Jose while the Giants do.
Selig should just strip the Bay Area of territorial rights. That way the A’s would be able to move wherever they want, with no problems.
No other two market team has territorial rights.
WELL THAT WOULD MAKE THE MOST SENSE, YES.
If this was the best option, why wouldn’t the A’s simply move there instead?
It is not the best option, that is why San Jose is coveted. Also, you are crazy if you think people from the Bay Area are going to travel to Sacramento. There is no public transportation from one to the other and it takes at least an hour and a half to get to Sac.
Sacramento also doesn’t have the corporate sponsorship that San Jose will have.
Yep.
Sacramento is the perfect city for a AAA team. Not an MLB franchise.
They barely are keeping their Kings, there’s no way they could support the A’s.
Plus their summers are brutal, they would need to have a dome like in AZ, and that’s not what MLB is trying to push anymore (unless it retracts)
move the a’s to las vegas or new york!!
New York? Really?
Some New Yorkers have pushed for another team in Brooklyn…
Some New Yorkers have pushed for another team in Brooklyn…
The idea that the Giants own “territorial rights” to San Jose is on it’s face ridiculous and un-American. This would not survive legal action if not for MLB’s anti-trust exemption. I am of the belief that teams should compete for fans and sponsors off the field as well as for wins on the field. The Yankees and Mets do that. The Cubs and Whitesox do that. And to some extent the Dodgers and Angels do. The Giants are apparently afraid to compete.
Just going to throw this one out here for funzies — what about Vancouver? Could they support a baseball team? If the A’s moved there, MLB wouldn’t have to realign the divisions again.
There are some very silly posts on here that show a clear lack of understanding of both business concepts as well as baseball concepts.
Firstly, the majority of the revenue earned by an MLB club is in this order: television contract, corporate sponsorship, corporate boxes, general fan attendance. Most people only want to focus on attendance. Remember: MLB does not have a national television deal like the NFL. Teams negotiate their own broadcasts.
For those clamoring for Sacramento because of the fan attendance, please note where it ranks on the list. Sacramento lacks the market size, corporate presence, and overall appeal for an MLB franchise. It, simply put, is not an MLB city.
Additionally, the San Jose argument is predicated on the presence of Silicon Valley corporations as well as their impact. This ignores the oversaturation of the entire Bay Area market. While it is a media market size of roughly 6 million, that is still 1.5 million fewer than Chicago, its closest competitor with two teams. The Bay area is not a two team market.
San Jose has a media market size of barely 1.5 M, which is smaller than all but 5 MLB franchises. To have access to the “fandom” of both clubs, I would need access to a sample that simply does not exist, nor will I do the research for.
I have written on many occasions about Portland’s viability for A’s relocation. To summarize:
Portland’s 2+ M media market is the largest without a baseball team depending on the metrics used. For argument’s sake, let’s include Long Island as part of the New York media market.
Portland has an appropriate amount of corporate interest.
Portland’s television ratings are consistently amongst the best in the nation as it comes to baseball, allowing a lucrative television contract.
Talk about relocating the A’s. Just talk about relocating them to a new market.
Anyone else read this joke in the voice of the Mayor of Portlandia?
The A’s and Giants are already sharing a market (currently only 15miles apart)….the Giants are just posturing for some $$$$ from MLB to allow this….The Giants are claiming a territory that is 45 miles away….granted SF is more of a Corp draw then Oak (regardless of the recent success of the teams) b/c it is Oakland(sh!thole) after all….from SJO to SF is the same distance as is it to Oak…
MAYBE the Giants dont’ want Raiders fans coming across the bridge to the games when their team moves south?lol
When they wanted to move the Nationals to DC the O’s had to approve….this is ALL about compensation….much like the approval of the sale of the Astros…you don’t agree to switch leagues you can’t buy the club
Where the Colts play? Orlando but Rays maybe? New Orleans? Green Bay? Hawaii? Monterrey,Mexico? Jacksonville,FL? Dallas?
you gotta think the giants fans that are in SJ are going to stay giants fans anyways..i mean really any fan that would switch to the a’s was only a bandwagon fan in the first place, and most likely didnt go to games or purchase any merchandise, except a 2010 WS giants sticker for the back of their car.
From an SF Giants fan in Sacramento, i can see the A’s moving to Sacramento, The Kings are moving and the Sacramento Area is large consists of the whole Sacramento Region, Lodi, Davis, Roseville, Stockton, Modesto. Although Sacramento has a big Giants Fan base too, Sacramento needs a big league team to help its terrible economy.
so you think itd be a good idea to move a team into a terrible economy? set them up for failure
yeh
i hate negative people
i call it being realistic..you can hope and pray all you want that a pig will fly, but that darn pig isnt gonna fly
Hello!? The entire world is experiencing a terrible economy…!
Sacramento is not a good city for pro-sports and barely deserves their AAA team.
The Giants draw a larger percentage of their season ticket holders and sponsors from OAKLAND than they do from San Jose according to MLB.
Now I know they are also worried about Palo Alto and other south bay communities, but their argument is specious at best since they draw a larger percentage of their sponsors and season ticket holders from areas that are currently Oakland’s territory.
Vegas baby……Vegas
Vegas is a much too small media market… only #40… The town can barely support a AAA team…
Or do they chose to not support the AAA team…..big difference…I agree that Vegas would be a small market but it would be an attraction for visitors…I’d go to a game in Vegas regardless who the teams are playing when I go Vegas…then either hit a club or the tables or both….makes for a fun nite…
“Following the 1989 World Series defeat to the Oakland A’s, a local ballot initiative to fund a new stadium in San Francisco failed, threatening the franchise’s future in the city. After the 1992 season, owner Bob Lurie, who had previously saved the franchise from moving to Toronto in 1976, put the team up for sale. A group of investors from St. Petersburg led by Vince Naimoli reached an agreement to purchase the team and move them to the Tampa Bay Area, but National League owners voted against the acquisition. Wally Haas, the owner of the Oakland Athletics at the time, agreed to grant the Giants exclusive rights to the South Bay so the Giants could explore all potential local sites for a new stadium and at least help to keep the team in the Bay Area. The team was instead sold to an ownership group including managing general partner Peter Magowan, the former CEO of Safeway, Harmon Burns, and his wife, Sue.”
Wally Haas, the owner of the Oakland Athletics at the time, agreed to
grant the Giants exclusive rights to the South Bay so the Giants could
explore all potential local sites for a new stadium and at least help to
keep the team in the Bay Area.
Wally Haas, the owner of the Oakland Athletics at the time, agreed to
grant the Giants exclusive rights to the South Bay so the Giants could
explore all potential local sites for a new stadium and at least help to
keep the team in the Bay Area.
Wally Haas, the owner of the Oakland Athletics at the time, agreed to
grant the Giants exclusive rights to the South Bay so the Giants could
explore all potential local sites for a new stadium and at least help to
keep the team in the Bay Area.
Wally Haas, the owner of the Oakland Athletics at the time, agreed to
grant the Giants exclusive rights to the South Bay so the Giants could
explore all potential local sites for a new stadium and at least help to
keep the team in the Bay Area.
LET THE A’S STAY!!!
“Following the 1989 World Series defeat to the Oakland A’s, a local ballot initiative to fund a new stadium in San Francisco failed, threatening the franchise’s future in the city. After the 1992 season, owner Bob Lurie, who had previously saved the franchise from moving to Toronto in 1976, put the team up for sale. A group of investors from St. Petersburg led by Vince Naimoli reached an agreement to purchase the team and move them to the Tampa Bay Area, but National League owners voted against the acquisition. Wally Haas, the owner of the Oakland Athletics at the time, agreed to grant the Giants exclusive rights to the South Bay so the Giants could explore all potential local sites for a new stadium and at least help to keep the team in the Bay Area. The team was instead sold to an ownership group including managing general partner Peter Magowan, the former CEO of Safeway, Harmon Burns, and his wife, Sue.”
Wally Haas, the owner of the Oakland Athletics at the time, agreed to
grant the Giants exclusive rights to the South Bay so the Giants could
explore all potential local sites for a new stadium and at least help to
keep the team in the Bay Area.
Wally Haas, the owner of the Oakland Athletics at the time, agreed to
grant the Giants exclusive rights to the South Bay so the Giants could
explore all potential local sites for a new stadium and at least help to
keep the team in the Bay Area.
Wally Haas, the owner of the Oakland Athletics at the time, agreed to
grant the Giants exclusive rights to the South Bay so the Giants could
explore all potential local sites for a new stadium and at least help to
keep the team in the Bay Area.
Wally Haas, the owner of the Oakland Athletics at the time, agreed to
grant the Giants exclusive rights to the South Bay so the Giants could
explore all potential local sites for a new stadium and at least help to
keep the team in the Bay Area.
LET THE A’S STAY!!!
“Marc” (twitter.com/mallen31), while your unwavering support for all things Portland is to be commended (for which I applaud, since I have family in the Portland/Vancouver area), the “numbers” don’t support your assertions. Where do I begin? Perhaps with a bit of history, as it is the best predictor of future performance. Both Sacramento and Portland have AAA franchises in the Pacific Coast League; so let’s start there. Last season, Sacramento was back on top, leading all of the Minor Leagues in attendance, while leading the PCL for the 11th straight year. Portland, on the other hand, suffered the 4th biggest attendance drop (75,248) in the Minors in 2010. Oh, yeah, it was also the final season for the franchise in Portland, as they are scheduled to move next year (temporarily) to Tuscon, and then, points unknown. [As a side note, Portland also lost it’s NBA franchise… but since that league is in a tailspin, I won’t fault them for that failing!]
How about a brief look at television/media markets? Sacramento has been, in recent years (and continues to be), the largest TV market without a Major League team. According to Nielsen, Sacramento is the 20th largest media market in the country. Portland, #22. (Interestingly, St. Louis is between them at #21.) However, because of it’s proximity to other markets, an A’s team based in the California capitol would continue to draw from the Greater Bay Area (San Francisco is #6…!), as well as the smaller regional markets of Fresno-Visalia (#55), Reno (#108) and Chico-Redding (#131). The television deal would benefit by incorporating each of these individual markets; as would corporate sponsorship efforts.
Finally, not to belabor the argument any longer than necessary, a Sacramento-based A’s team would continue to draw the majority of it’s fan base from its current home. That, together with the climate of the Sacramento region (Portland=rain!), make it the ideal landing spot for the A’s… Portland can go find it’s own franchise…!
If they move to Southeast then a new Division can from A’s/Ray’s/Braves/Marlins.
The way the Expos was resolved was not opening a stadium in a city that would not support its team, it was to move the franchise, so why would they seek a new stadium deal in Oakland?? The bigger stadium design is understandable, but that will add to the cost of the whole project, so no more delays Mr. Selig. They ahve to have this approved soon so that the necessary design changes can be made and have the chance to open the new stadium by 2015 (which I think was the goal)…
The main arguments for Portland are [a] easy corporate sponsorship (Nike, Adidas), [b] a very low sports teams per capita figure, and [c] the fact it’s an ideal stop between Seattle and the rest of the league.
If Baseball gives SJ to the A’s then the Giants go back to being a small market team. Most of their corporate sponsorship comes from the South Bay and they are directly connected by CalTrain. Those who argue that Oakland would start driving to SF fail to realize that BART does not directly connect AT&T park to Oakland (a muni transfer is required).
A team in Portland and the Giants with the same financial pull as a team like the Dodgers would be better for baseball than forcing the Giants to shed players and become a $115mm team again.
this is a positive for the Giants