Oakland Ballpark Situation

I recently asked a buddy in Oakland when the A's were going to build a new ballpark. Here is his take on the situation:

"Unfortunately, for years the City handled the whole issue very badly. There was an opportunity to build a new park downtown – and then on the water – but both plans fizzled. The fiscal situations of both Oakland & the county are now terrible, so no public money will be available for who know how long. San Jose would like to build a park (they are building one for the 49ers) but the Giants have protested to Major League Baseball because they say that San Jose is in their geographic area. There is a lot of money in Silicon Valley, so San Jose may be able to swing it if they are allowed. Yet to be resolved.

The current park was never great, but made much worse for baseball when thousands of new seats were added for Al Davis (late of the Raiders). Add to that a low budget, and not even Billy Beane could produce teams that won for more than a couple of years.

Attendance has been very low for years, and the whole situation is very unfortunate. Ah, Oakland..."

Sad.

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Comment by Craig (17) on March 2, 2012 at 3:04pm: This article looks a little encouraging...

Comment by michael schwartz (71) on February 24, 2012 at 1:41pm: On the positive side, if things continue to stagnate, and attendance stays low, the A's might schedule a few games in Las Vegas, Sacramento, or other locations to test the waters and to tweak the Oakland authorities. That could give us a chance to score some new ballparks,

Comment by Craig (17) on February 24, 2012 at 11:59am: I have given up on the hope that the A's are going to get a new ballpark any time soon. Their future plans seem to change as often as the Coliseum's name! Such a bummer...

Comment by Ken Lee (30/43) on February 24, 2012 at 10:47am: While most certainly not a good 'baseball stadium', I sure have enjoyed all my trips to Oakland (5 games in the past 2 years alone), due to the people, the ability to see/park for cheap and heck, its still MLB :)

Comment by Ryan Carter on February 22, 2012 at 9:50pm: Oakland used to be a somewhat nice stadium. It is now easily the worst stadium I've been to. And not only did Al Davis ruin the stadium by installing the eyesore that is Mt. Davis, he also brought Raider fans into Oakland A's baseball games. Now the fans are some of the worst, and so is the stadium! At least AT&T is close by.