Interesting article... I agree.
Marcos Bretón: Perfectly logical to move the A's here
By Marcos Bretón -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Friday, July 29, 2005
Story appeared in Sports section, Page C1
Stuck in traffic on a gorgeous Bay Area afternoon, it became crystal clear why the A's belong in Sacramento.
Because A's fans have to be bribed to see baseball's hottest team.
Because if not for cheap grub - for $1 hot dogs and root beer floats - and if not for $1 tickets, you wouldn't have seen 15,000 ticketless people show up at the Coliseum for Wednesday's stirring A's win over Cleveland in extra innings.
You would have seen about 25,000 fans, give or take, which is about the A's average this season, down from last year and one of the lowest attendance figures in Major League Baseball.
Indeed, it could be called pathetic how the A's can't simply be great and draw fans. Or it could be called embarrassing how they can win 38 of 52 games, including 11 of the past 14, and still draw less than mediocre slugs such as tonight's A's opponent, the Detroit Tigers.
"I have no idea how many fans we will have (tonight), and that's the tough thing," said A's general manager Billy Beane.
"You should know."
Yes, you should. But the A's can't take anything for granted, though they are the toast of baseball and are playing .700 ball on the wings of Rich Harden, Barry Zito, Dan Johnson and Bobby Crosby.
For them, outdrawing the woeful Colorado Rockies is considered a victory.
There are many reasons for this, but let's not lose the point: Sacramento could do much better.
Sacramento could provide the land for a stadium that the A's will never find in Oakland or in Contra Costa County.
Sacramento is far enough away from the Bay Area for the A's to finally climb out from under the Giants' shadow but close enough to maintain their sense of history in Northern California.
Sacramento is as rabid about its sports as the Bay Area is blasé about the A's. A simple "celebrity" softball game at Raley Field as part of the recent Triple-A All Star game festivities drew a stunning 14,414 people on a steaming Monday night a few weeks back.
Yes, there was also a Triple-A home run derby that night, but the point is: Can you imagine the local drawing power for big-league baseball?
The A's would sell out nightly, particularly given new A's owner Lew Wolff's hope for an intimate new stadium seating 35,000 or so.
Build it here, Lew, they will come.
A month ago, the University of the Pacific's Business Forecasting Center told The Bee's Andrew McIntosh the Sacramento region's economy will more than double in the next quarter century. The four-county area - Sacramento, Yolo, Placer and El Dorado - will grow to 3.5 million residents.
Personal incomes will rise above the state average, the local professional and business sector will add 13,500 jobs in the next 2 1/2 years, and by 2030, the region's gross economic product will soar from $84 billion to $200 billion.
Why not get in on the ground floor of all that? Why not be like "The Jeffersons" and "move on up," and out of a horrible stadium, a depressed economy in Oakland and a dysfunctional political climate that will never generate a stadium in the East Bay. Ever.
Of course, Beane - also a minority owner in the team - will entertain no such discussions right now. He, Wolff and the rest of A's ownership say they are "committed" to the Bay Area. They have to say that.
But Beane also knows too well how his team is boxed into a relative corner of obscurity in the crowded Bay Area sports scene.
"Our biggest days are always when we have dollar (promotions)," Beane said. "The fact of the matter is, our venue is old. It's outdated."
Yes, the Coliseum is a hole where even 40,000-plus crowds seem smaller in a cavernous space. Compare the number of A's games on Fox Sports Net to those of the Giants. It's not even close. Meanwhile, the A's seemingly switch radio stations every year. Currently they are on KFRC, which plays religious music. That's pretty sad for a four-time world champion.
For their part, the Giants, who haven't won a title in 51 years and have not won one in 47 years in San Francisco, are on KNBR, a 24-hour sports titan that can be heard throughout the West.
"The Giants have a radio station that reaches Utah, so what team (is the Bay Area) going to get into?" asked Tyler Bleszinski, who runs athleticsnation.com, a popular A's blog. "If you're a Sacramento A's fan, you live out in the cold."
Time to embrace a bold idea: The A's should move to Sacramento, where it's always warm.
Marcos Bretón: Perfectly logical to move the A's here
By Marcos Bretón -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Friday, July 29, 2005
Story appeared in Sports section, Page C1
Stuck in traffic on a gorgeous Bay Area afternoon, it became crystal clear why the A's belong in Sacramento.
Because A's fans have to be bribed to see baseball's hottest team.
Because if not for cheap grub - for $1 hot dogs and root beer floats - and if not for $1 tickets, you wouldn't have seen 15,000 ticketless people show up at the Coliseum for Wednesday's stirring A's win over Cleveland in extra innings.
You would have seen about 25,000 fans, give or take, which is about the A's average this season, down from last year and one of the lowest attendance figures in Major League Baseball.
Indeed, it could be called pathetic how the A's can't simply be great and draw fans. Or it could be called embarrassing how they can win 38 of 52 games, including 11 of the past 14, and still draw less than mediocre slugs such as tonight's A's opponent, the Detroit Tigers.
"I have no idea how many fans we will have (tonight), and that's the tough thing," said A's general manager Billy Beane.
"You should know."
Yes, you should. But the A's can't take anything for granted, though they are the toast of baseball and are playing .700 ball on the wings of Rich Harden, Barry Zito, Dan Johnson and Bobby Crosby.
For them, outdrawing the woeful Colorado Rockies is considered a victory.
There are many reasons for this, but let's not lose the point: Sacramento could do much better.
Sacramento could provide the land for a stadium that the A's will never find in Oakland or in Contra Costa County.
Sacramento is far enough away from the Bay Area for the A's to finally climb out from under the Giants' shadow but close enough to maintain their sense of history in Northern California.
Sacramento is as rabid about its sports as the Bay Area is blasé about the A's. A simple "celebrity" softball game at Raley Field as part of the recent Triple-A All Star game festivities drew a stunning 14,414 people on a steaming Monday night a few weeks back.
Yes, there was also a Triple-A home run derby that night, but the point is: Can you imagine the local drawing power for big-league baseball?
The A's would sell out nightly, particularly given new A's owner Lew Wolff's hope for an intimate new stadium seating 35,000 or so.
Build it here, Lew, they will come.
A month ago, the University of the Pacific's Business Forecasting Center told The Bee's Andrew McIntosh the Sacramento region's economy will more than double in the next quarter century. The four-county area - Sacramento, Yolo, Placer and El Dorado - will grow to 3.5 million residents.
Personal incomes will rise above the state average, the local professional and business sector will add 13,500 jobs in the next 2 1/2 years, and by 2030, the region's gross economic product will soar from $84 billion to $200 billion.
Why not get in on the ground floor of all that? Why not be like "The Jeffersons" and "move on up," and out of a horrible stadium, a depressed economy in Oakland and a dysfunctional political climate that will never generate a stadium in the East Bay. Ever.
Of course, Beane - also a minority owner in the team - will entertain no such discussions right now. He, Wolff and the rest of A's ownership say they are "committed" to the Bay Area. They have to say that.
But Beane also knows too well how his team is boxed into a relative corner of obscurity in the crowded Bay Area sports scene.
"Our biggest days are always when we have dollar (promotions)," Beane said. "The fact of the matter is, our venue is old. It's outdated."
Yes, the Coliseum is a hole where even 40,000-plus crowds seem smaller in a cavernous space. Compare the number of A's games on Fox Sports Net to those of the Giants. It's not even close. Meanwhile, the A's seemingly switch radio stations every year. Currently they are on KFRC, which plays religious music. That's pretty sad for a four-time world champion.
For their part, the Giants, who haven't won a title in 51 years and have not won one in 47 years in San Francisco, are on KNBR, a 24-hour sports titan that can be heard throughout the West.
"The Giants have a radio station that reaches Utah, so what team (is the Bay Area) going to get into?" asked Tyler Bleszinski, who runs athleticsnation.com, a popular A's blog. "If you're a Sacramento A's fan, you live out in the cold."
Time to embrace a bold idea: The A's should move to Sacramento, where it's always warm.