The A’s moved a step closer to securing a new ballpark in downtown Oakland on Wednesday when the six-member Oakland Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the certification of the Howard Terminal environmental impact review following conclusion of public comment (Casey Pratt of ABC7 reported the results of the vote). The decision, which could be put to a vote by the City Council as soon as next month, moves the $12 billion waterfront development project — which would include a roughly 34,000-seat ballpark on land currently owned by the Port of Oakland in the Jack London Square neighborhood — a step closer to fruition.
Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf celebrated the vote, calling the decision “a huge win for our entire region” that “puts Oakland one step closer to building a landmark waterfront ballpark district with the highest environmental standards.” Per reporting from Sarah Ravani of the San Francisco Chronicle, opponents of the certification cited issues surrounding affordable housing (an increasingly prominent issue in a rapidly changing city), traffic congestion, air pollution, the project’s compatibility with seaport operations, and inadequate measures to deal with toxic substances known to be present on the site.
In addition to the new ballpark, the development plan for the 55-acre plot includes 3,000 housing units, a mid-sized performance venue, 270,000 square feet of retail space, 1.5 million square feet of office space, and up to 400 hotel rooms and 8,900 parking spaces. In accordance with city law, either 15% of the 3,000 housing units (450 in this case) must be designated as ’affordable’ (defined as housing that is “restricted to occupancy at an affordable rent or an affordable housing cost to moderate-income households, low- income households or very low-income households”) or the A’s will need to pay an impact fee to the city for the construction of affordable housing units elsewhere. Per a 2019 report from Sam Carp of SportsPro Media, stadium plans include a $123MM gondola system that would ferry fans between downtown Oakland and the waterfront.
Should the broader proposal move forward as planned, it would bring to an end one of the longest running stadium dramas in baseball history. The A’s have played in the multi-purpose Oakland Coliseum since moving to Oakland to from Kansas City in 1968, sharing the facilities with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders (who moved to Los Angeles in 1981, returned to Oakland in 1995, and left again for Las Vegas in 2020) for the majority of their tenure. Considered innovative and cost-efficient in the 1960s and ’70s, multi-sport ’cookie-cutter’ stadiums such as the Coliseum have fallen out of favor, and the A’s are the last major league team to play its home games in a multi-sport facility from that era (the Rogers Centre, home of the Blue Jays, has hosted the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts and the NBA’s Raptors but was opened in 1989 and is qualitatively different from its earlier counterparts).
Though still sometimes celebrated for its relative affordability, a small but dedicated cadre of die-hard fans, and a baseball-first atmosphere that stands in stark contrast to the amusement-laden parks recently in vogue (season ticket-holder Jack Nicas memorably called it “baseball’s last dive bar” in a 2019 essay in the New York Times), the Coliseum has long been cited as one of baseball’s worst ballparks. In 1996, late Raiders’ owner Al Davis controversially secured $220MM in public funding from Oakland and Alameda County to build more than 10,000 additional seats in the upper deck. The structure — dubbed “Mount Davis” by A’s fans — blocked views of the nearby Oakland hills and made non-playoff sellouts all but impossible, detracting from the ballpark’s intimacy and leading to a 2006 decision to cover more than 20,000 seats in the upper deck with a tarpaulin.
In recent years, the stadium’s dilapidation has become more apparent. In June 2013, an overtaxed sewage system flooded both clubhouses with raw sewage, forcing the A’s and the visiting Mariners to share the Raiders’ locker room on a higher floor, and a September 2013 walk-off win against the Angels was marred by reports of an aberrant stench emanating from the clubhouse toilets into the dugouts as a result of overflowing toilets. In May 2019, a malfunctioning bank of lights led to a 98-minute delay in a game with the Reds, and two dead mice were reportedly found in stadium soda machine during a Raiders-Steelers game in December 2018. Former owner Lew Wolff also admitted that on at least one occasion, the Coliseum’s food service had to be halted as a result of sewage leaking into stadium kitchens.
Attempts by A’s ownership to secure a new ballpark date back to at least 2005, when Wolff made an initial proposal to build a new stadium on land near the Coliseum. Those plans fell through when the owners of the land chose not to sell, but new plans to build a park in nearby Fremont were announced in 2006. Following substantial opposition, Wolff changed tack in 2009, attempting to a secure a site in downtown San Jose. The Giants, the club’s Bay-area rivals, objected that San Jose fell within their exclusive territory, however, and in 2015 the Supreme Court declined to hear the A’s objection to Major League Baseball’s decision to honor the Giants’ objection. The A’s began (since aborted) talks to construct a new stadium at the Coliseum site in 2014 and briefly engaged in negotiations for a site near Oakland’s Laney College in 2017 before focusing its efforts on the Howard Terminal site in 2018.
Several obstacles remain to the waterfront project’s ultimate consummation, of course, but the commission’s vote does represent progress in one of two long-running stadium dramas (along with a similar situation in Tampa) cited by commissioner Rob Manfred as obstacles to potential expansion. Manfred had previously urged the A’s to explore relocation. Whether his public remarks on the matter were intended sincerely or as a means of exerting pressure on the city of Oakland, the A’s did explore the possibility of relocation to Las Vegas, even submitting a bid on the site of the Tropicana hotel and casino complex, per a report from CNBC’s Contessa Brewer. Should both cities’ issues be resolved, in addition to Las Vegas, frequently noted markets as possible expansion targets include Nashville, Montreal, Portland, Charlotte, and Vancouver, though the commissioner’s office won’t want to green-light any serious expansion talks until the league has confidence that owners won’t be better served by relocating a team unable to secure a new stadium.
A question for A’s fans who live in the Oakland area, what are your thoughts on the Howard Terminal location?
I’m not an A’s fan however I do try attend at least 5 or 6 games a season when ‘my Mariners’ come to town. I live in Pacific Grove- 80 miles South of the city on the Monterey Peninsula. I usually drive up to a Park n Ride with my twin boys, jump on the BART train system which drops you off across the street from the O Co.
I wouldn’t normally take BART but my kids love the whole train experience- they are oblivious to the stench on the train and some of the sketchy characters who use it! That Coliseum station and that pedestrian bridge to the stadium is filthy but it’s got an inner city charm to it. Let’s just say it’s raw, in your face and colorful-vendors selling knock off T’s and hats. There’s always a couple dudes playing some kind of instruments plugged into some low fi amp’s. In a strange way I would miss that O Co- so few fans go to the games you can sit anywhere you like. The A’s fans are knowledgeable hard core baseball fans. I’ve got a ton of respect for those guys. They’ve always been hospitable to us, haven’t had a bad experience yet.
The waterfront stadium looks amazing. I still have a hard time thinking it’s going to get built. There’s so much political red tape in this part of the World.
I for one would much rather take my boys to see A’s v Mariners games in that part of town. The views will be amazing. That walk to the stadium will be sweet!
Thanks. Appreciate the detailed response.
I do hope the A’s do get to stay in Oakland. They have a core of dedicated fans and attendance should increase significantly with a better park and location.
Thanks for the post ayrbhoy, brought back so many memories from riding the bart to crossing the pedestrian bridge when I would go to Warriors games and a few A’s games..the characters on the bart and the inner city feel on the pedestrian bridge was spot on to the whole game experience..
If they build that new stadium I hope they do something classy to honor Ray Fosse. If I’m not at the Coliseum I’m watching nearly every single M’s v A’s game on TV. The broadcasts are not going to be the same without him.
Ray might not have been a ‘suit with a Communications degree’ but he offered a ton of insight into in-game situational strategies. He was an old fashioned baseball man through and through. He was good at pre game interviews also, able to get players to open up a little. They liked him. You could just tell.
I didn’t grow up playing ball in school here. I emigrated from Scotland- I learned a lot about the game’s pitching strategies just from listening to comments from Ray, a former Catcher. The Mariners honored Dave Niehaus in a great way- a beautiful life size bronze statue of that man at his desk! A great way to keep the memories and the history of the game intact. I’m not saying the A’s should build a statue of Ray Fosse, only that I hope they do something to remember him, he was also a big part of that A’s team that won 2 WS’s.
You mean Fosse was a part of that A’s Dynasty that
won 3 straight World Series Championships in 1972, 1973. 1974.!?
Congress should repeal the Anti Trust Exemption for MLB.
The MLB Commissioner’s Office created the Oakland A’s stadium problems and issues and continues in its actions/inactions to drag on the A’s Stadium stalemate.
The Giants and A’s “shared the Bay Area territory” for decades like the Dodgers/Angels, Cubs/White Sox and Yankees/Mets.
The post Charlie Finley A’s Ownership helped to save the Giants for the Bay Area even helping to recruit New deep pockets corporate ownership for the Giants who had already agreed to relocate/had an agreement “in place” to move to Tampa Bay.. The former A’s Ownership was instrumental to keeping the Giants in the SF Bay Area. The Dodgers also pushed hard with MLB ownership to keep the Giants in CA as their natural in State of CA West Coast rivals.
In the category of “no good deed goes unpunished” , and after the SF Giants were saved for and remained in the SF Bay Area, the Giants have been blocking the A’s from building a new stadium in Santa Clara County and/or San Jose for decades, The SF Giants have been backed in those efforts by the MLB Commissioner’s office especially Bud Selig.
Ironically, Selig was owner of the Brewers who play in one of the country’s smallest markets, So you would think that Selig would have had some empathy for the A’s and their fans with his struggles to get the Brewers going and viable in Milwaukee….(how fast some forget their own roots and struggles)..
Some “backdoor deal” may have been made by MLB Commissioner’s Office with the SF Giants that has never been made public.
Otherwise, the A’s Stadium situation would have been solved decades ago.
Free market capitalism has not been evident in the dealings of the MLB Commissioner’s Office and the SF Giants Ownership with the A’s Ownership. The MLB Commissioner’s office and SF Giants Owners have, allegedly, conspired to block the A’s free market business from being economically viable and maximizing profits in Northern California /SF Bay Area. The Greater SF Bay Area has a population of approximately 7.6M and is one of the largest combined TV markets in the country. It can support 2 MLB teams.
The SF 49ers left that dump, Candlestick Park, and built their new home in Santa Clara County area. They 49ers also offered to share the new Levis Field football facility with the Raiders..(before the Raiders bailed for Las Vegas. (like the Rams/Chargers shared stadium deal in LA, and like the Jets/Giants in New Jersey etc).
The Raiders rejected that proposal for financial greed reasons.
The A’s can be viable in the SF Bay Area and especially in Santa Clara County (home of the Silicon Valley and dozes of high tech companies)
if the MLB Commissioners Office will allow free market capitalism to work without their interference and let the A’s make their own business decisions about their new home in the SF Bay Area.
Otherwise, other Cities recruiting MLB franchises,their taxpayers and their fans should be careful what you wish for.
The MLB Commissioner’s Office and Ownership’s
Word, Credibility, Decision-making and loyalty of MLB, the Commissioner’s Office and some rival owners IS NOT TO THE FANS, THE COMMUNITIES AND/OR THE TAXPAYERS….They could care less…
Wasnt Fosse still on CLE during the first ship? I think he was only on the later two.
Everything he says is true. I’m a former Northern Cal guy who comes up to Oakland to see the Yankees by flying into Oakland, The stadium BART is right behind the stadium, or you can ride Bart to the CITY to see the Giants. I think the new stadium if built will be great, but I want to see them move to Vegas as I love the new stadium for the Raiders, and I’d love to just drive to a baseball game in Vegas!
Ironically, pro sports leagues, for decades, blocked teams from going to Las Vegas because of the association with professional gambling.
No longer. Pro Sports leagues are openly encouraging team association with corporate gamblers and companies.
MLB has changed. They might as well fully reinstate Pete Rose
to keep their new attitudes and themes about gambling consistent.
Totally agree. I go to a few games from out in Vacaville. Im a Giants fan but I have 4 boys and A’s games are much more affordable so I take each boy to one Giants game a year and then we usually all go to a three game series they pick at O.co I like getting to see some of the AL teams that I can’t always get with inter-league play, especially at half the cost. The river cats are close to me but even as a A’s affiliate after concessions cost more than the A’s. Nice park in Sacramento though. But yeah politics are crazy here and getting worse, not sure they can get a project done.
Sac RiverCats used to be A’s affiliate..the Cats are now Giants AAA team..I like your plan though w/your boys and going to games..sounds like fun and you get to go to all of the games!
Such a historic franchise they deserve a great ballpark congratulations looks like its finally going to happen.
Only 34,000 seats? Thought it would hold more.
Why? They only average about 10 to 12 thousand a game.
The location proposed would bring more fans to that stadium. A lot of families like to attend MLB games. If you’ve been to both the current stadium and the Jack London Square district where the stadium is to be built, you’d know it’s a night and day difference in location. Not even close.
There’s far more on offer to that new site- Restaraunt’s, bars, shops, places to be before and after a game. You could take the ferry across the bay to and from San Francisco. Make a ‘day of it.’ The current stadium has a massive freeway on one side and 2 railway lines on the other. It’s part industrial wasteland part ghetto- a dystopian landscape that may have its own charm. It’s just not a place you frequent before a game and the attendance suffers because of its current location.
It’s definitely night and day between the Coliseum and Jack London Square..the potential at the new location will be massive to the pre/post game activities (eating/drinking) and it’s nice being in the marina by the water..you can see San Francisco at a distance and the Square has other family activities like Sunday Farmer’s Market, 90’s Experience, Regal Movie Theaters, Walking Trails, Kayak Rentals, a Boat Museum, etc..you can access all this after you pass the ghettoness under the I-880, lol…oh Oakland
It also means less traffic on the 880 during week night games!!!!
I don’t want to go to Coliseum to see a game. If Dodger stadium was not so isolated, I wouldn’t want to see a game at Dodger Stadium either.
When/if Oakland builds a new ballpark, I’ll visit the park. Hopefully I can see a night game.
Quite a few teams have reduced capacity to under45,000. It seems to be the trend. Also, there will be additional seating added according to early reports for playoffs, etc
There is currently a team from the West side of London in the English Premier League called Brentford FC. This year they were promoted to the Premier League for the first time since 1947. The opening home game at Brentford’s Stadium this 2021/22 season was absolutely crackling with an energy that would rival any MLB park in the US and yet that club has a 17,250 capacity.
Brentford have a close bond with the A’s in that they were one of the first (if not the first,) small English football team to adopt a “moneyball” approach to building their football team. They invested in any,it is to construct their team to fight against the massive teams worth billions- Man UTD, Man City Chelsea etc. Remember there is no cap in top flight football. This approach to building a sports team is not new to Americans but it was a sea change in team building philosophy in English Football. A revolution that will forever change how smaller teams build their rosters to face the PL giants.
They want to sell out as much as possible.
Notice the lack of bleacher/cheap seats. By having fewer seats available it artificially jacks up demand. Lowers cost on security and other ‘expenses’. I prefer games at the Coliseum where 55,000 people were in attendance during the playoffs and when the Giants, Yankees or Red Sox were in town.
I want Oakland and the A’s to make this work, no better place for a stadium than there.
Stop Corporate Welfare.
Nobody is building a stadium with no close parking . I want my team moved to Las Vegas . Stop with the foot dragging .
I don’t want the A’s in Vegas, their AAA team is located here. They have a great stadium with decent prices. Most of Vegas MLB fans are Dodger fans not sure how well the A’s would draw here.
Yes, but I want them to move to Vegas…an indoor Stadium to boot!
Oakland fans would likely prefer a drive within the city, rather than a drive to another state, to see a game.
stymeedone
Oakland fans would likely prefer a drive within the city, rather than a drive to another state, to see a game.
=======================================
Sure, but isn’t your governor building a $100B bullet train to LV?
No, he isn’t. Glad I could clear that up for you.
Plenty of parking in the area. Very typical of newer ballparks. How is that parking working for the Raiders?
I really hope this plan can be executed, so the A’s situation can be resolved. Then MLB can turn its attention to helping the Ray’s get their situation resolved.
Nothing screams baseball like raw sewage
Man that’s very original!! You ever considered being a comedian?
Please work this out A’s. The Athletics need to remain in Oakland. Joe Rudi, Vida Blue and Catfish Hunter are too iconic for any other city.
Now, I’m going catfish hunting….
What, no Reggie?!
I agree. Baseball is about tradition and connecting with the past. Hopefully Oakland can retain its team.
You know, Hunter and Rudi were Kansas City A’s long before the Oakland A’s ever existed.
What’s your point? You know the Dodgers and Giants were in New York before they moved out West.
Holdem Rollie Fingers time….Monte Moore! Or, Holy Toledo….ala Bill King!
Don’t forget Charlie owe the Mule. I saw him take a dump in the third base coach box Once.
Stuck in particular era, you also forgot Rickey, the greatest of all time.
The part that disgusts me in this isn’t the $12B project cost; it’s that the city (i.e., the citizens) will be paying for the vast majority of it while the cheapskate owner, who’s trading away his “expensive” assets, stands to profit massively. I get that this will create a lot of jobs, especially in constructions, but those construction jobs will only be for a few years. Property value and taxes will go up around the stadium, but it’s hard to believe there’s a $12B windfall going to the government from increased taxes.
Plus, other owners are paying very close attention. Some stadiums are on the newer side, like the new Yankee Stadium, and won’t be replaced anytime soon, but other teams, especially if there’s a chance they’ll leave otherwise, can now ask for the moon and actually get it. Oh, and the nicer digs are going to mean even higher ticket prices. I don’t understand billionaires. How much can you buy with $12B that you can’t buy with $2B? Yet they insist on screwing people over whenever they can.
Nice faux outrage.
A’s are are fronting all construction costs and only getting paid back for the OFFSITE infrastructure costs.
Yes, fronting it, but they expect to be paid back with taxes generated. That makes the money effectively a loan. Also, if by OFFSITE (don’t know why you felt the need to shout like a 2-yr old, but ok), you mean non-stadium, fine, we’re talking about the same thing, but who do you really think is going to own that? If he’s putting up his own money for the stadium, well and good, he should; but he shouldn’t get the rest of his project paid for by everyone else if he owns it and will profit from it.
The “taxes generated” are the increase in taxation on the development site.
Which means the taxpayER is the A’s, as holders of a decades-long ground lease..
The non-stadium areas in question are all owned by the Port of Oakland (which also owns all of Jack London Square).
No, the taxpayer is not the A’s; it’s the fans who pay with higher ticket prices, either built in to the price or an itemized surcharge.
It may be a dubious definition of private financing in this case (at least for $11B of the $12B, with the last $1B clearly public funds from the pending IFD situation), but the city of Oakland still has plenty to gain from the proposal. The plot of land targeted by the A’s currently generates $70K in annual tax revenue, but it will bring in millions every year for both the city and Alameda County if/when the A’s move in. While that revenue is what’s going to finance the ballpark, those taxes are still collected after the project is paid in full – even if it’s gonna be quite awhile before that happens.
I get the disgust but it is the way of the world. Even though there have been numerous studies that show the economic benefit of stadium projects is way overstated, cities still clamor to build stadiums for sports teams. There are better ways to spend the money, but there is at least some economic benefit, and it often is a matter of civic pride. This project goes way beyond just building a baseball stadium, it revitalizes an entire area. Even if the baseball stadium is a bit of a giveaway, the area stands to benefit from the other projects. And even if the city does not recoup all of that $12B via tax revenues (I have not looked at the math), it stands to recoup quite a bit of it. Plus there are additional benefits to the area beyond what the city might get from tax revenue.
A’s owner isn’t the first, nor will he be the last team owner to hold a city hostage with threats of moving his franchise. So doubt this has any ripple effect that was not already there. Up next, the Tampa Bay Rays!
To be honest, I’d bet part of it has to do with prestige and getting re-elected. The mayor who lets a beloved franchise go to another city probably isn’t getting back in office, no matter what the numbers say.
I don’t believe it’s a ripple effect in terms of holding a city hostage, but in terms of scope. Other teams have asked the city to pay for most of a stadium before, but not an additional $11B complex around it. The scope is massive. Plus, since Oakland is a relatively smaller market and there’s another more popular team in the area, there’s going to be less excuse for most cities to say, “But we can’t afford it,” because then the team owners will just point to this project. I’d be willing to bet that if this goes through, other teams will ask for not just a stadium, but for a whole area around the stadium as well.
> Up next, the Tampa Bay Rays!
Prophetic:
tampabay.com/sports/rays/2022/01/20/mlb-kills-rays…
Headline – “MLB kills Rays’ split-city plan with Montreal
Rays officials now will head down a path they have explored — and dismissed — previously: seeking a new full-time home in the Tampa Bay area.”
Ok, so they’ll become the Las Vegas A’s. As a San Diegan, I can assure you you’ll be no happier than we are watching Los Angeles Chargers play every Sunday.
I’m not even an A’s fan. I’d like them to move to Vegas, though. Spread out baseball a little more. More than that, though, I’d like them to have an owner who’s willing to spend and treat the fan base right. I don’t believe tanking should be outlawed, provided the tanking involves a plan to compete in the near (3-5 yr) future, but every team should have an owner with a real desire and plan to compete. Despite their success with Moneyball tactics, the A’s don’t really seem to have such an owner.
I’m not sure you can do much better than the A’s have. They’ve averaged 86 wins since 2000, and 94 wins over the past 4 years. They were last in the AL in attendance in 2021, 10th in 2019. 13th in 2018. 11 playoff appearances since 2000.
There is nothing to blame the owner for.
Saying the team has ever tanked (as hyrax did) is nonsense, as you pointed out. But given how close to a World Series the A’s have been multiple times over the last 15 years or so, you can blame the owner for not opening the check book in the right situations to put them over the top. You can’t expect them to compete for the best free agents every year (or maybe any year), but a more expensive trade acquisition once in a while might have helped. What the front office has done in spite of all the financial and other limitations (same goes for Tampa) is incredible.
You can’t blame the front office for anything. But you can blame the owner.
The stadium is only a part of the 12bil project. Probably, and just “ballparking” here. 2.5bil.
The city has plans to do something with that property and need the A’s to be on the hook for a chunk of that just so they can cram as much taxpayer money into the project and siphon as much as they can into their friends and families pockets.
The As deserve a stadium, dont blame them for Oakland needing to spend 10 billion just to accommodate a new stadium due to decades of political incompetence.
Dude, please trying following along. The City has a complete breakdown of the proposed development online and so does the A’s website.. I will put it in CAPS for you!
THIS IS A PRIVATELY FUNDED BALLPARK AND DEVELOPMENT. THE CITY IS USING STATE AND FEDERAL GRANTS ALONG WITH NEW CONSTRUCTION TAX REVENUE TO FUND THE INFRASTRUCTURE THAT IS SORELY NEEDED IN THE AREA. No general fund tax money will be used, Nor will any bonds be guaranteed by the City.
This comes up every time a team moving is mentioned: Charlotte hosts the AAA team for the White Sox (Knights) in a gorgeous new (2014) stadium in uptown Charlotte. In addition to being a first-class minor league facility, its location makes it impossible to triple capacity from its current 10,200 to the minimum 30,000 necessary to be a viable MLB park. The entire RF area is shoehorned against S Mint Street, making bleachers a non-starter, and adding 20,000 seats between the foul poles would also be impossible due to limited space to build back as well as up. Parking/traffic infrastructure is also missing for a capacity 3x current. The arena where the Hornets play is across the street from a light rail/bus modal station, so it is possible to park remotely and take the train to the game, but that isn’t really an option for the ballpark location.
This jewel of a park was perfect for AAA ball, but completely unsuited for MLB-level capacity.
Therefore, there is no financially practical way yet another new stadium would be built in the area (not to mention no way this 1M+ metro area would support both a AAA team and MLB team), nor that the Knights would be moved and the new park abandoned/demolished to serve the arrival of a MLB team.
They probably wouldn’t demolish the AAA park, but they certainly would move the Knights and abandon their ballpark to hosting merely lesser and one-off events if they could get a Major League team in exchange. Meanwhile, are you sure there’s no suitable place in or near the city to build a new ballpark?
I would cite the Twin Cities as an example of having two teams (MLB Twins in Minneapolis and formerly Independent now MiLB Saints in Saint Paul). It’s a different experience and the Saints have always done well. The MLB club and the AAA club can coexist nearby. However, the funding of the stadiums fell on the respective ciry and county
Why build a 34,000 seat stadium when your average attendance is less than 9,000?
4 times the size needed???
The point is that a new ballpark would dramatically increase attendance. Why do you think they’re going to all this trouble in the first place?!
I understand the retail space because fans like to spend money outside the ballpark, but 1.5M in new office space? Is Oakland really that crunched? In the Covid era, isn’t remote working the new thing? If they build it, at best I think companies will relocate, not expand, leaving empty buildings elsewhere and contributing to the urban wasteland.
Yep. Proj could be a boondoggle and a major loss for the City. A major shift has happened and will continue with people doing their shopping online and working remotely. Building near the water with climate change and rising sea levels? Good luck. Plus Bart is too far away, and traffic is already insane around there. Gonna be total gridlock.
The A’s should be running from Oakland, not trying to stay there.
Because you’ve spent so much time in Oakland…
As a baseball fan, I do hope this is the first step in keeping the A’s in Oakland. Sports franchises move, it is the history of the game. A’s came from Philly, to KC, to Oakland. But there is benefit in keeping well established teams in their home market. A long way to go yet, but this is a good step in the right direction.
I really want to agree agree with you. I only hope the conversation is different for A’s fans, than it has been for awhile now.
Professional sports is so expensive it is no longer about the stadium but the surrounding development which you need to make it pay off. Restaurants, apartments and high rises pay for this. It is good to see Oakland finally understand the community must keep up with the sport or lose their team. Development is not a bad thing. Too many in California have this anti-business, environmentalist mindset. Then they drive to their jobs at Google complaining the whole way.
I’m not the Sport that is expensive. It’s the building of Ball parks.. But it’s all relative. I’m sure when The A’s current stadium was built whatever it cost at that time people thought it enourmous
A very minor issue with this piece. Oakland is not the only team playing in a building originally designed as a multi-purpose facility. Rogers Centre where the Blue Jays play was originally constructed as a multi-purpose facility known as SkyDome. I’m pretty sure they’ve made some tweaks since it opened in 1989 as home to the Jays and the Argonauts, but it was definitely a multi-purpose stadium at the outset.
You make an excellent point! Updated to be a bit clearer. Key difference is the Rogers Centre was built much later and, though now a bit outdated, isn’t nearly as clunky as the ’60s/’7os donuts.
A’s Baseball is the last thing Oakland has. Huge economic boost to the community, new stores, restaurants, bars, businesses all to the surrounding area. Plus guaranteed an All Star game within a few years of opening the stadium. The already watched the Raiders leave to for Vegas and the Warriors head across the Bay. The A’s leaving would be strike three and Oakland would be out
It looks like Howard Terminal is going to happen. Direction is looking good.
It would be cool to see the A’s stay in Oakland. The city would maintain at least one major sports team to cheer on. I am more optimistic that the A’s can get their new stadium more so than the Rays, either way if the waterfront project falls through there is always Las Vegas.
They want to build on a site with known toxic chemicals present?
Soon as the announcement was made regarding the out come of the vote, A sewer pipe broke in the Home and Visitors Dugout simotaneously.
Why can’t they just use an old sandlot somewhere around the city?
I just want to ride in the Gondola.
I hope it all works out for the A’s and the City. Good vibes!
We’ll see about that so called affordable housing though.
Hard to believe that this will ever happen, especially at that price. New Yankee Stadium cost less than $2 billion but they need $12 billion to build this? I know construction costs have gone up in the last few years but come on. It seems like the cost has been artificially inflated to create tension and disagreement with the city of Oakland and facilitate and eventual move to LV or somewhere else. Much like how the MLB and MLBPA make offers to each other that they know are non-starters. In the end it’s the fans who suffer. Such is the art of enjoying an unfair game
You need to read the article before commenting. it is not $12B for the stadium.
The Yankees got money from the city, county, state and MLB to build their stadium. The Yankees had to pay very little. The fact that both New York teams were able to skirt paying revenue sharing because they were building new ballparks was the straw that broke Schott and Hoffman.
Yes another bilk the public scheme… so how much is the Public going to directly pay for this? … how much will it get for the Land ( Worth Millions.. )? I bet it is a dollar.. and how much tax subsidy will they get thru Tax Increment financing the rest of the build?… this is how those billionaires became billionaires.. buy bilking the public… the MLB could easily finance the whole thing… but it won’t no the Public will pay the costs ….. ever reputable study shows Public financing of sports facilities is a zero sum game at best and many cities end up losing money on the spending.. econreview.berkeley.edu/the-economics-of-sports-st…
Zero taxpayer money.
oaklandca.gov/resources/waterfront-ballpark-distri…
you should have read the fine print This directly from your posted web site : ” Project infrastructure costs will be funded entirely through a combination of private developer capital; State, Federal and regional infrastructure funds; and potential bonds secured by the Project’s own “but for” taxes, such as incremental property, sales, parking, and hotel taxes generated by the new development.” … Incremental as in Tax Increment Financing where the government underwrites the bonds and then allows the developers to NOT pay taxes … claiming that increases in revenue from development offset the cost of the bonds being underwritten… Or to Translate to english.. Corporate wellfare in the BILLIONS..
Taxpayer money to build corporate box suites.
MLB is a mopnopoly federal government should prohibit pitting small cities against one another with taxpayer give-aways.
You wanna monopoly and taxpayer give-aways then open your books 100%. Owners hide behind “fake revenues” when real “profits” come from increases in equity positions.
I enjoy the present Oakland A’s stadium, it is affordable for the common working stiff. Many new stadiums cost more. And the A’s deliver a good product on the field. Teams like the A’s and Rays are fun to watch.
Owners can give moderate increases to players, but we the fans and taxpayers deserve a better deal. This is a monopoly not the free market.
Unfortunately, the Free Market horse not only left the barn years ago, it was shot on the way out.
This proposal reminds me of what Braves did a few years ago. Had a stadium in a less than desirable part of town. Built a beautiful new park as the centerpiece of a stay and play community called “The Battery.” Which has resulted in significant increases in attendance, revenues, and customer satisfaction.
If this comes to fruition, I could see Oakland rivaling SF in terms of attendance and revenues. The East Bay has far better weather during the summer and it sounds like the stadium will have views of Alcatraz, the SF skyline, and maybe even Golden Gate Bridge.
That’s not at all what happened in Atlanta. Laws were broken and a stadium was forced into an area that caused nightmare traffic and hassles that already had its share of horrific commutes.
You should cry some more