Why Do the A’s Want to Move to San Jose?
The A’s are *all in* on this move to San Jose and there is something that I just don’t get about it. What self-respecting Giants fan would ever switch their lifetime allegiance from the Giants to the A’s just because the A’s suddenly play closer to where they live? When I take the train to a game I get off at the Palo Alto exit. That’s a little more than half way between San Jose and The City, I think. There are three main exoduses on that route. One of them is San Carlos— there are a huge number of Giants fans that live in San Carlos. The next one is Palo Alto. Everyone else seems to be going to San Jose (the last stop)—-it’s a HUGE hotbed for hardcore Giants fans…..If I lived in San Jose, if I lived even one block from the proposed stadium site, there is no way in Hell I would ever start going to A’s games. I find American League ball to be infinitely boring and going to a game is expensive, I wouldn’t even go for random entertainment. Give me a free ticket and I’d probably give it away since I wouldn’t want to miss the Giants game on TV. Maybe if the Yankees were playing I’d go…But that’s the same reason the A’s get an attendance bump where they are now………So what are the A’s expecting from this move? Do they think even one single hardcore Giants fan from the South Bay is going to all of a sudden become an A’s fan because of their new location? SF Giants fans are possibly the most loyal fan base in all of sports. The A’s could build the “Taj Mahal” of baseball stadiums and those fans are still gonna take the 1.5 hour train ride to 4th and King…….
And for the most part, true baseball fans only support one team. ….
So what am I missing here?
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
There’s huge money in Silicon Valley, a lot of it closer to San Jose than to SF. I predict:
— 25 year old billionaires will sign 10 year leases on lux boxes.
— Google will sponsor the stadium and the A’s will change their name to the Search Engines.
— Apple will design the vast new scoreboard. For a steep fee you’ll be able to use your iPhone to post brief messages on the big screen between innings.
— Nobody will give a shit about the baseball happening on the field, but everyone will be a sabermetric master.
Allegiances will change in 5-10 years, especially if the A’s win as they have historically.
I’m not in the bay area so maybe those that are can fill me in but aren’t they lined up for tax payer subsidies either in the form of land give away or breaks on surrounding infrastructure? Since most pro clubs are corporate welfare leeches I would think this is their biggest interest.
Personally I don’t undestand why a club like Oakland doesn’t move to Portland. They’ve already got a division rival in Seattle and could build up a hard core base more quickly with the whole city vs. city angle. Even Nevada would be a good move. All these sports leagues with no representation in NV is really a joke. What is their argument for blocking it? Gambling? Shit, please. They need to come into the new century.
The redevelopment agency in the south bay already said it presently lacks the funding to swing the most recently proposed A’s stadium deal. Now Jerry Brown has proposed doing away with all three or four hundred redevopment agencies in the state, completely. I think the A’s actually are screwed if they try to stay in California. Las Vegas looks more promising.
xoot, thanks for the info. That is interesting about Brown.
Vegas would be a good option. There is a lot of interest in baseball in the state of Nevada in general. Plus the Maloof’s would probably build the stadium for them in hopes of adding on a basketball arena. I think I remember reading they will cut ties with the Palms though.
so they sell some luxury boxes. Big deal. I still don’t see who actually is going to be buying tickets to the games. If you are a baseball fan in San Jose you are a die hard Giants fan. And die hard Giants fans stay Giants fans. Forever……..
A’s suck. They need new ownership. Ever since the Haas family sold it’s been a losing battle in Oakland. Sure if they had the money and leadership in Oakland things would be different. In SJ the A’s would still be the second team in this market. Portland is too small. Las Vegas is not MLB ready. Heck the NBA will not relocate there. Baseball has too many teams.
As a life-long Giants fan, I fully support the A’s campaign to move to San Jose. It makes sense for a million different reasons.
The A’s don’t need to steal any diehard Giants fans in order to be wildly successful in San Jose. The number of casual baseball fans and Silicon Valley millionaires in the area alone pretty much guarantees their success, and the city has already proven that it is capable of building a rabid fanbase around a sports team (go to a Sharks game sometime if you don’t believe me). SJ has a million residents in the city proper, not including its surrounding suburbs. The proposed sites down there are well-served by public transit, there’s plenty of land to build on, and the weather down there is fantastic during the summer. We have 8 milliion+ people in the Bay Area. We can easily support two baseball teams.
There is every reason for the A’s to move to SJ and practically none for them to remain in Oakland. I say they go for it.
When I used to buy the Chron, I would get pissed off going through A’s or Raiders shit to find something about the Giants or Niners. The paper says San Francisco, so I’ve always felt the home team(s) should be above the crease, put the Oaktown shit in the back.
But, what really irked me and would get a good rant going was someone wearing one of those stupid split hats (SF one side, A’s the other). Unless it was a kid, I would tell the fuck nut wearing the hat to choose a fucking team.
Don’t even get me started about interleague play.
With a nice, new baseball-only stadium, the A’s would do well in San Jose, I think. I think there are some NL fans who would like to catch the occasional AL game, also. And not all Giants fans are hardcore fans. Some are casual bandwagon-jumpers who would jump to a local A’s team, especially if the A’s are able to be competitive for a playoff spot that first year after the move. But I don’t think that’s bad for the Giants. They might lose some casual fans in the South Bay, but I think that could be made up for by picking up some fans in the East Bay after the A’s move. The Giants would be able to market their team there in a bigger way.
Why would the A’s want to go to San Jose:
1. Not a dysfunctional city government to deal with? Check.
2. No Mogadishu-like violence in area surrounding ballpark? Check.
3. Not sharing ballpark with Darth Al? Check.
4. State of the art ballpark, not the Crypt Keeper’s mausoleum? Check.
5. Selling out lux boxes for a premium to Silicon Valley billionaires? Check.
6. More attractive to free agents? Check.
7. No freezing nights in summer to drive away fans not already driven away by bad ballpark and by risking your life driving at night through the surrounding area? Check.
8. Can get rid of tarp? Check.
9. Higher per capita fan income than Oakland and surrounding? Check.
10. Comfort with being able to attract new fans and some Giants fans just because of novelty of great ballpark, and probably a decent team right next door? Check.
11. To hell with Oakland? Check….
wearing the hat to choose a fucking team.”
I couldn’t stand those either. Goofballs.
Reminds me of the funny bit George Carlin did on people who used more than one last name.
“C’mon. Pick a fucking name”
Outside of the DH what do the A’s have to offer? Are any of you excited to see the A’s play the Angels or KC or the Texas Rangers? And who cares about Seattle? If they want to make things interesting put them in the NL West and play the Giants for “real” games that really matter. Do away with this inter-league bullshit once and for all.
There’s a big Asian-American demographic in the Bay Area that will show up to watch Ichiro play. I’ve seen that at A’s games in the past.
Let the A’s do whatever the fuck they want to do. It will have no effect on my life whatsoever
I still don’t see where their fans will come from. Casual fans can’t make up a fan base. And I am positive that there are exactly ZERO Giants fans down there that will just up and start rooting for the A’s. Not gonna happen….
The Maloofs are currently hemmoraging money. They may lose the Palms because they are bleeding cash out the wazoo. Not beciuase they plan on buying the A’s. I don’t see them taking on a baseball team at this point. They are focussed on the Kings right now, and getting them a new arena.
BF, I think you’re undervaluing the excitement of the San Jose area in having their city get a major league baseball team.
The only fans are in east bay Oakland to Milpitas. . . . SJ? No. That’s a Giants town. Shit, the G’s have their single A team there. Will they be forced to move?
Of course the SJ Giants farm team would have to move — maybe to Oakland!
I’m sure there are a plenty of A’s fans living in the Sbay just like there are plenty of G’s fans in the east bay. And long time fans don’t change allegiance, but neither team is concerned with converting people. There are plenty of new fans to attract. Heck, I was living in LA when I became a die hard G’ fan. I lived in Oak for 15 yrs and still hate the A’s.
I’m sitting in Oakland right now looking across Lake Merritt all the way to the Coliseum. I don’t hate the A’s at all. A new stadium down by Jack London Square would be wonderful for this city. (Even better would be one right here, where Fairyland is. BART nearby, reasonable freeway access, etc., etc.)
As to EBay Giants fans — there are many more fans wearing the orange and black now than before the playoffs. My kid generally stood out back then; now he looks like everyone else proudly wearing the hats and jackets and sweatshirts. Giants fans are everywhere, it turns out. Very cool.
XS. I’m with you there. I wanted to see a stadium on the Waterfront or downtown. I liked living and working in Oak. Still enjoy going there. Just never fancied the A’s, even before Al fucked things up.
I thought the reason the A’s wanted San Jose was because the owner lived there or something. The Giants are holding out for big bucks which would probably come mostly from MLB (fighting that battle with the other teams would probably sink the whole deal). Also, the Giants ownership would probably be a bit pissed if the South Bay voted for it after the Giants got shutout.
That said, if the A’s would be able to get enough seat licenses sold, they would have a fan base. But to sell out you need a winning team no matter where you are.
A new stadium isn’t about the die hards. A new stadium is about the casual fans. The Stick back in the day WAS about the die hards. The 6,000 to 8,000 that were fairly consistent in showing up to games. Just as the A’s are now. They can’t change the fact that their stadium, and situation sucks.
Now, it’s dot racing, hot-dog cannons, and coke battle slides. If you don’t cater the the casual fans, you don’t get attendance.
Winning it all helps in a big way to ATTRACT more die-hards (or convert them), but look at what that did for the A’s. Squadoosh.
I could give a rat’s ass either way if they go to SJ. I’ve seen untold thousands of Giants games, and 6 A’s games. One to see Ted Williams, one to see Hac Man playing for Seattle, and a couple because my bro in law was dragging his crazy friends to a game, along with a pony keg, and it seemed like fun at the time (back around 1975 . . .)
Chuck, I just appreciate the fact you found an opportunity to use the word squadoosh.
I’ve been to exactly one A’s game because my ex-girlfriends father’s work had season tickets and she wanted to see Jose Canseco in the transmorgified flesh
I go to a couple of A’s games per year, usually — LLeague deals, mainly. The games have gotten depressing lately. Even against popular opponents large areas of the stadium are desolate, empty, food and beer stands shuttered, etc. And the services that are available are a joke. Against the Red Sox or the Yankees, the food vendors run out of napkins by the second inning. The owner is running the thing into the ground on purpose.
As to die-hard fans — I remember Bob Lurie going on the radio post-game show in the early 80s to implore fans to come to the Stick. The Giants were in the pennant race in Sept. (probably 82) and the crowds for a bunch of the games were less than 5,000. (Related question: What percentage of fans who received Croix de Candlestick pins never ever came back for another night game there? 25, 30%? More?)
You tell me. I had about 15 of ’em.
I had more than 10 Croix and yes I’m an idiot. I didn’t mind the stick but man would the A’s fans really ride me on our shit ballpark. Same A’s fans gave me shit when the new ballpark was built, about Giants fans needing a Disneyland or some crap.
Yeah, the A’s couldn’t sell out World Series or playoff games. At least the Giants would pack ’em in some of the time. . .
The only thing I liked about the coliseum was all the concerts . . .
You obviously have more free time than the average asshole, chuck. How many Croixs did the Giants hand out? There couldn’t have been THAT many extra inning night home games after the give-away started. Anyway, I never took a croix, or any other pin. Personally, I think there should be a limit on how many hardware-festooned Giants caps are allowed into the park on a given day. . . .
xoot the Giants gave em out until they left the Stick. After the first year with the advertising and all they continued to do it (don’t remember if the scoreboard announced it or not). I do remember a few games where I was hoping for a walkoff in the 9th, pin be damned.
I’m not going to sift through every year, but extra-inning night games for the first four years of the Croix: 1983-5, 84-5, 85-3, 86-3. . . . So I can see how the totals could add up, eventually — if you happened to attend the right 3 out of all 81 home games in a season.
17 seasons for a season-ticket holder: 10+ Croixs, no problem.
The first one I got was on a nice card with the story and all (wish I had kept the package intact), after that they were just in a little plastic bag and in the end they were just loose. You’d go to the dugout store and they would stamp your ticket and give you the pin. I was only going to 20 -30 games a year and they added up for me.
Xootm, they were for exstra inning NIGHT games. It was easy to score a bunch. Shit, they did the giveaway for what, 10 years? 12? I have no idea. On the way out, you show your ticket stub, and they’d stamp it and give you your Croix . . . (no double dipping)
I know, chuck. I sifted through the first four years for the home extra inning NIGHT games. I went to some myself. I know how it worked. I just didn’t know how often. 17 years, avg. 4 per year (educated guess, based on the sample) — 68 chances, total (est.).
“There’s about 5,000 fans. The rest of them are assholes”
– Charles (Chili) Davis
This must be the ultimate slow baseball day. Posting about the A’s on the Flap…
Shit, you seen my blog?
Anarchy . . .
BLEEP!
Still no word from Twinfan? I’m assuming this wasn’t a gamma knife procedure?
Just a one word “Fuckwads” post would be nice to see right about now…
Fuck. I just posted on the Splash for the first time in fucking ages.
I was just so pissed at shit about the bullshit being posted about twin.
Probably all get deleted anyway. Fuck it
The Lindy Sports baseball season preview has a nice long article by Baggarly about Posey. I wonder if it’s an excerpt from Baggs’ book.
It’s a magazine, I should clarify.
They pick the Giants to win the NL West, but are picking the Phillies to win the NL, like all the other media sources.
I see twin’s sometime favorite sports writer has a short article (Q&A) about Dirrrty.
http://goo.gl/XDfED
It is past all y’alls bedtime; me? I am running the lad to school.
(13 y/o whingeing sound) “It’s raining”.