Almost three years since a special committee was formed by Major League Baseball to figure out the best place for the Oakland A’s to play, San Jose continues to wait for a report to be released on whether or not the team should relocate here. But that could change in the coming weeks.
Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane says he expects to hear from MLB Commissioner Bud Selig on a decision “very soon.” Lew Wolff, A’s owner and a long-time real estate developer here in San Jose, says the timeline all comes down to one’s interpretation of “very soon.”
“We hope the term ‘very soon’ is how we interpret very soon,” Wolff recently told the Associated Press. “Sometimes Commissioner Selig’s definition of very soon is different from Billy’s and mine. We think we deserve a decision—even one we don’t like—as soon as possible because it has affected our whole organization. It permeates all the plans. We need to know in our minds where we’re headed.”
In the spring of this year, San Jose city officials grouped together parcels of land to form the Diridon Development Authority, which has been designated for either a stadium or corporate and retail offices adjacent to HP Pavillion. Mayor Chuck Reed has lobbied Selig to make a decision, but there seems to be no rush from the city’s perspective on what to do with the land while the commissioner drags his feet.
But as the A’s continue to wait on word from Selig, the A’s financial future hangs in the balance, which affects many offseason decisions such as retaining players and signing free agents. All of this could affect the look of the team by the time it does (or doesn’t) end up in San Jose.
Last night, because of the Shark’s game, downtown San Jose was once again alive! It was a lovely evening, people were dining both inside and outside, music was playing, and the atmosphere was festive. This is what San Jose should be like every night. If the A’s come to our city, we would be one step closer to attaining this dream. I have my fingers crossed, my lucky shamrock is around my neck, and I wished on a star. It would be absolutely wonderful to have the A’s here in SJ. I hope Commissioner Selig will agree!
If the A’s were coming to SJ, I think it would be a very easy answer for Mr. Selig say…Since he is struggling with an answer it will most likely be “No”. Good business decisions are never this difficult to answer. His hedging makes it seem like he has an internal struggle with pleasing everyone…
Oakland is too long a drive from Morgan Hill. The people of San Jose should donate valuable land to billionaire Lew Wolff so that I don’t have to drive so far.
This is from the A’s to the city of Oakland.
We understand the facility continues to cost the city of Oakland and Alameda County millions of lost dollars per year. Sadly, the business and corporate base of the city of Oakland was very limited when we purchased the team and has eroded since. Our attendance and low number of season ticket holders (both one of the lowest in Major league Baseball) also continues to decline; even when our on-field performance produced play-off participation.
Betting that Mayor Chuck-O will be greatly disappointed with Selig’s “very soon” decision.
Truely hope the Mayor is disappointed when Selig says “HELL NO”!That way the dishonorable Mayor Reed , will feel like the rest of San jose,DISAPPOINTED!!! Too much building Low income homes , No where near enough jobs,completely understaffed Police Dept. a Decimated Fire Dept. A Mayor who Lies/cheats to get what he wants.a City manager who is dismanteling this city, a city council out for them selves.No wonder our residents and city employees are leaving this cesspool of a city.2Billion in reserve,but no money for essential services! but hey We can afford a ballpark for a game……..an F’n game!
Sue,
put your charms away, even if Bud said “yes” which he will not because, one – other BB owners will not give 3/4 approval, and two – voters will say NO!
Voters are more likely to say “yes” than “no”. The big problems are getting 3/4 vote of the owners and enough cash together to compensate the Giants. There is precedent for a buyout of territorial rights.
Most folks would much rather come to SJ to see a game than go to Oaktown.
Either way, Selig needs to make a decision, or get rid of him and get someone in there who can. This is taking longer than getting a building permit for a home in Los Gatos.
Cisco Field! Simply gorgeous. Aloha!
Someone posted it before.
Nope, Bud Selig is jealous of Downtown SJ, and that’s why he stalled it for 3 years. He worries that it would cream his hometown by a million mile and never let his downtown(Milwaukee) catch up with San Jose. He visited Downtown San Jose a few years ago and was taken back how nice Downtown San Jose was and is. He had to do something to keep San Jose from getting the A’s and being way better off than his hometown. Neither money or Lou Wolf matter to hime. It’s his hometown pride with his own statue of him that matters the most. Either no decision or a continual delay. The the story here.
Are you serious?? In your small mind, Bud Selig is jealous of San Jose!!!hahahahaha Dude I dont know what you are smoking, but change the blend! Is it possible that Bud Selig Knows that in no way shape or form should this(joke of a ) city turn a profit with the ajor problems that this city has.Maybe Selig sees Mayor Reed & City Council for hat they are, Self serving pathetic individuals, who are willing to throw this city into turmoil for personal gain…………..A’s should stay put
Check out Downtown Milwaukee. You’ll see how San Jose creams that downtown with more amenities and how it’ll really cream it if it gets the A’s. Bud Selig can’t have that happening to his city since he has his hometown pride and his stature right in the middle of Downtown Milwaukee. So, stop the drug or smoke nonsense.
It’s just going to break my heart if we can’t have the A’s here—that’s all. It just seems so right for the city of San Jose.
You’re right Sue. Never mind the strawman naysayers who constantly bash our city and have no clue whatsoever of the ballpark deal (hint..privately financed ballpark). Ours and future generations are going to love Cisco Field in downtown SJ.
Soon to be a broken dream….
privately funded? Get off of the mayors weed club or cool aide and come back to reality. City has already spend millions to buy up property and will have to use BS rights to get AT&T property.
My prediction.. Reed is afraid because of the questions being asked about the land deals Selig was offered a piece of the A’s and he will approve it. Does not matter what the voters say.
Unless people show up and tear it down it will be built with your tax money. Know one has exposed the land deals. Who is holding pieces of land and why. Why did the city buy land then sell it to certain people.
San Jose will go bankrupt over this. Aak yourself this why does a rich man with money need Reed? Did apple need Reed, Did IBM need Reed? Everyone else who has a real business is able to build it and make money without a mayor. Lots of tax dollars will be used and lots of favors will be paid.
judging from the lively commerce and business around ATT Park it would seem that a ballpark can truly pick an area up. In the long view a ball park downtown would seem to be a positive thing. If it can be shown that the taxpayer won’t get hosed and developers won’t gain disproportionately to their investments everyone should be pleased.
If Selig gives a green light I would like to see an empowered civic panel (w/o financial ties) to oversee both the ballpark dealers and city hall. First thing build a gallows in what will become home plate – then anyone caught double dealing, cheating make a public reminder of them. Frontier justice? Perhaps. But it will keep people honest. A rarity in this town.
Hugh…… you cant be insane enough to compare San Francisco with San Jose??? San Francisco is a real City, We are a joke of a city,FACT! This Mayor along with this city council have killed this city and will do whatever for themselves.look around you……too much low-income housing,not enough jobs,no real restaurants,a destroyed P.D. and F.D. , crooked Politicians(all of them)………..hey whats there not to like about SanJose????????lets say we fix our problems before we pay for luxeries
Sue , maybe you & Tony d should run-off together and Live happily ever after.be cause only in fairytales do people live happily ever after and will San Jose have a Ballpark
Thank you, Hugh Biquitous. Very nicely said.
Sue,
You should venture over to http://www.newballpark.org for the truth regarding our future downtown gem. Don’t listen to these geriatrics hellbent on keeping San Jose horse and buggy.
Keep insulting people of ALL ages, TD. See how much support for your elusive ballpark that gets you.
While I somewhat admire your blind and unwavering support for this expensive project, I don’t much care for your constant insults at those who have a broader perspective of this likely fiasco.
I know people young and old who think this is a folly we can ill afford. Age has nothing to do with being informed.
Red,
Be happy he didn’t issue another death wish, as he did to me a couple of weeks ago. Oh well, I can only laugh about stuff like that… what comes around goes around, as they say.
Be real baseball will not make money, sports all over are taking a huge hit just like everyone. Even OAKLand is loosing money each year they are spending millions of tax dollars. The economy sucks and it would be stupid to waste more money, oh wait this ias a mayor who can’t say stop. 4 new vacant libraries and a 100 million dollar sub station built all while knowing they could not fund them. This mayor and council are not the ones for a project like this. They cannot manage smaller projects they are going broke, but they want to spend a billion dollars on a baseball park leave office get big hand outs and laugh the whole time. Watch they will blame wall street and the unions for the billion dollar ball park hole.
I would like to see a grand jury go over the land deals, go look at who chuck is buying and selling land to. Hey chuck can you buy some more land sell it to me and I’ll sell it back to the city when you build ????? How do you get on that list.
Call Oakland and ask them how much the ball park is costing them.
The ball park will be paid by private funds? Go lay off another 100 public safety officers and city employees. This will help lower your cost.
But keep the skate park open for a few months for 14K. Boy I hope you pay a lot of naming rights before you have to give it back for the field of dreams (or weeds)
Looks like the city was burned down just to fund a ball park. I bet the guy in the one car on a dirt road gets a great seat!
This council makes me sick, remember this city voted down the GIANTS!
A ball park in downtown San Jose would accomplish the same outcome for our city as it did in downtown Denver and downtown San Francisco. Two major accomplishments would be increased revenue and increased employment. For those of you questioning or doubting all the positive changes that a sports facility can bring to a city, try going to AT&T ballpark and walking around. Ride Cal Train to the city. Walk the two blocks from the CalTrain station to the park. Have lunch at one of the hip new restaurants which have opened in the neighborhoods surrounding the park. Look around at the new condos and lofts that are within walking distance of the park. The truth cannot be denied. If you build it, THEY WILL COME. THEY WILL STAY.
Failed attendance levels? Are you kidding? Here is an excerpt from an email that I received from Bruce Bochy, San Francisco Giants Manager:
“Tonight, the Giants will set a record for the highest single-season attendance in the franchise’s 128-year history—3,303,000 surpassing the 3,277,244 set in 2001. Tonight also marks the 79th consecutive sell-out of the 2011 season. These attendance milestones simply demonstrate what our players, coaches and front office already know: We have the best and most devoted fans in baseball. “
Come on folks. If you don’t believe it can happen for our city, then at least check it out. Take an hour and head downtown San Jose any night before a Sharks game. Look at the businesses thriving in the wake of a home game. Like hockey, baseball will bring not only huge revenue streams to the city, but will also cause a ripple effect in employment. Remember the business adage generally accepted as true, “It takes money to make money”. Cities are no exception.
I would LOVE to see the A’s relocate to our deserving city! I would LOVE to see San Jose benefit from this new relationship!
I got the same email from Bruce. Did you notice that he was talking about “Giant’s” fans and not “A’s” Fans? Why don’t A’s fans frequent the Oakland Coliseum now?
Don’t try and tell us that Oakland is is a run down , crime plagued town where peopel just don’t feel safe. Because (1) you would also be describing San Jose right now and specifically downtown San Jose. and (2) Oaklands problems don’t seem to be hurting the Raiders with the recent sellout crowds at the Coliseum.
What is clear is teams enjoying success draw crowds, tealms that don’t complain and look for all kinds of excuses to explain why no one will pay to see a game.
Build a new stadium in San Jose? Sure. You culd move the A’s or the Royals or any pro team there. You might even sell it out for a period of time. But once the novelty of a new stadium wears off the team better be a winner or you’ll have the same low attendance problems that the A’s have in Oakland (exept when the Yankees orRed Sox are in town).
Then what…? Empty seats, fewer ball park support employees and a big fat bill to be paid by the tax payer.
San Jose , like Oakland is a “small market” town in baseball free agency terms. Do your home work on what that means. Moving here WILL NOT make the A’s competative. They simply can’t compete with the Giants in the bay area even if they had the market rights to SJ.
Remember all the infrastructure upgrades to DTSJ for the Grand Prix Mayor Reed pulled the plug on??? Now you want him to let build a stadium?
Hold on, the IRS is auditing pot clubs???? No way, we could loose another revenue stream? They found records indicating pot activists are funding local political campaigns? Cartel money??? I gotta go…
What the hell, let me try this one more time: THE BALLPARK WILL BE PRIVATELY FINANCED! for you strawmen of all ages, this means you and I wont pay for it through taxes or municipal bonds. The land that the city acquired for the project will either be leased or sold to Lew Wolff at market rate. Stop with all this nonsense about the city laying off police officers, closing libraries and going bankrupt over a ballpark we wont even pay for. See the highly successful AT&T Park in SF that was privately financed and how much it DIDN’T hurt SF financially. Same will happen for SJ.
seriously—do you really believe that it has no negative impact on the general fund. Well, where did the money come from to buy the land that will be in some far off year possibly leased or sold to bring revenue to the city. It came from the general fund. You might say no it came from the RDA but actually that’s not true. It’s technically true but not really true. The RDA sold assets to buy that land, the land was then squirreled away into a new entity and now the city is using general fund assets and monies to pay off RDA debt. Had the city acted responsibly and required the RDA to use the baseball land money to pay off RDA debts (including millions owed to the general fund) the city would not be in such a crisis which includes, in part being responsible for an additional 46M in debt on RDA’s responsiblities. Since the new entity owns the land, the rents and/or sale proceeds will not go to the general fund but to this new entity. In short, millions in general fund assets has already been spent for this ball park dream and it has no way to get the money back. Learn the facts before you support an endeavor that has already cost this city millions from the general fund.
ARE YOU KNUCKLEHEADS REALLY COMPARING SAN JOSE TO DENVER OR SAN FRANCISCO? WHY NOT COMPARE IT TO NEW YORK OR CHICAGO THESE ARE REAL CITYS.THIS PLACE IS NOTHING BUT A CORRUPT CESSPOOL.TONY D,YOU ARE IN NEED OF MEDICATION IF YOU TRUELY BELIEVE, THAT THIS BALL PARK WILL BE PRIVATELY FUNDED WITH ABSOLUTELY NO TAXPAYER MONIES BEING USED.HOW AND WHY COULD YOU POSSIBLY BELIEVE ANYTHING THAT THIS CITY SAYS, WHEN THEY ARE IN THE MIDST OF TRYING TO ILLEGALLY BREAK THEIR PROMISE TO ITS VERY OWN EMPLOYEES.IF THEY ARE WILLING TO DO THIS TO THEM ,I PROMISE YOU (EVERYBODY)WILL BE THE NEXT TARGET.THIS CITY IS BEING RUN BY THE WORST MAYOR,WORST CITY MANAGER,WORST CITY COUNCIL,WORST DEVELOPERS(SWENSON,SOBRATO,McENERY) IN THIS CITYS HISTORY
Privately fund? NOT! The mayor and RDA have already spent 20 million with tax payer money to buy a portion of the land.
If Lou and Cisco want this stadium so bad buy your own land and build it.
Ask yourself this question, If no tax payer money is going to be used in this project, then why a ballot measure by mayor Greed?
Be smart people, don’t let them spend your money and fill the pockets of their friends and then they get the kick back’s for their own pockets!
Why is everybody comparing our pathetic little city to real citys like Denver,San Francisco,and/or Milwaukee.those are citys with nitelife,restaurants, museums, things to do ,activities.This city has none of that and never will, just keeping it real
technically we are more heavily populated and denser than Denver- and more populated than Milwaukee. We are also technically more diverse, better educated, wealthier and safer than those two cities.
Check out http://www.census.gov for more details.
If you think Downtown SJ lacks restaurants, nightlife or retail venues, I would be ecstatic if you decided to take the current market opening and started a business. For nightlife, I’d recommend another club downtown and for retail, we could probably do with some an interior design store.
much love,
BT
Some here are just plain hopeless. Nothing more for me to say about this on this thread.
you think after everything that this city has done to kill the nightlife and commerce in the downtown,that I should open a business here??? Yeah, thats not gonna happen.this city is beyond corrupt! 2 billion in reserve and they are screaming fiscal emergency.taxes are going up as well as unemployment and Low-income housing.Developers are getting richer and the city employees get blamed for the citys downfall.How can a city this size feel safe when our public safety Depts have been downsized to unimaginable lows. lets see how everyone feels when they need P.D. or F.D. and the residents are left waiting for help to come. they will come but it going to take longer for them to arrive , because they are stretched so thin. lets see how they feel when its their own son,daughter,wife,husband,father or mother, then and only then will the residents of San Jose realize , how badly this city has let them down……………….God bless us all