The decades-long saga regarding the Oakland Athletics’ search for a new baseball park in Oakland has had multiple developments lately, and none sound good for Bay Area A’s fans.
With the Athletics’ plan to build a new park in the Howard Terminal area of Oakland appearing to fizzle, Major League Baseball has stepped in and directed team owner John Fisher and team president Dave Kaval to start looking at other markets.
With how poorly their absurd $12 billion proposal is going thus far (a ballpark in the Oakland port? Ridiculous), Fisher and Kaval are likely happy to shop elsewhere. Just a hunch. This Howard Terminal business was dead on arrival, in my opinion. No chance of it ever happening.
And in a statement that’s shocking to me, MLB has taken the Oakland Coliseum site off the table. Here’s part of Major League Baseball’s statement on the matter.
“The Oakland Coliseum site is not a viable option for the future vision of baseball. We have instructed the Athletics to begin to explore other markets while they continue to pursue a waterfront ballpark in Oakland. The Athletics need a new ballpark to remain competitive, so it is now in our best interest to also consider other markets.” –MLB statement
San Francisco Chronicle
Man, that’s a gut punch for Bay Area A’s fans. The league’s idea is that they want ballparks in urban areas, as is the trend in pro baseball for decades now.
That kinda makes sense. But I’ve always been told the Coliseum site is ideal. That’s mostly because it’s easy for fans to get to. I guess that’s not important any longer.
But seriously, I have doubts about the expertise of MLB on its future. We’re watching 7-inning games this season, for crying out loud. A myriad of rule-change proposals are being considered — because the league is simply trying to get fans to watch the game. Now they want to dictate where teams can play?
But Kaval laid down the line, right after the league told him to start looking elsewhere.
Yikes. I’ve gotta say, my hunch is that the A’s are going to move out of the market. As a Bay Area native, I really hope that doesn’t happen.
It all smells fishy to me, pun intended. Fisher has practically no involvement with the team, but when the leagues says to look at other markets, he crawls out of his hole and basically says, “well, they told us to look at other cities,” with a shrug.
A’s fans have been here before, however. So hunker down and hope for the best.
(Photo credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports)
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