The Oakland A’s released renderings of their proposed new ballpark at Howard Terminal near Jack London Square in Oakland (Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group)
The Oakland City Council’s financial plan for a new waterfront baseball stadium for the hometown A’s will go before Major League Baseball immediately while the team considers other cities for a venue, A’s President Dave Kaval said in an interview Tuesday.
“We need to have options,” Kaval said.
He said the A’s are running out of time for a new place to play and the only place in Oakland suitable to the A’s is at Howard Terminal off Market Street.
Oakland city councilmembers voted Tuesday on a non-binding financial plan for such a stadium, but the team said it was a swing and a miss.
Kaval said while progress has been made in negotiations, the plan the City Council voted on Tuesday afternoon is something that doesn’t work for his team.
The council voted to adopt a plan and amendments by the city for a stadium at Howard Terminal that “is not a business partnership that works for us,” Kaval said.
Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan said the City Council’s amendments addressed the A’s biggest concern, which was having to pay for offsite transportation infrastructure improvements. However, the A’s still could not agree with the city’s overall offer.
About 1,000 people watched the meeting virtually and about 100 commented publicly before the vote. Six councilmembers voted “aye” for the city’s proposal while Councilmember Noel Gallo voted “no” and Councilmember Carroll Fife abstained.
Gallo said he wants the A’s to stay at the Oakland Coliseum in East Oakland, something Major League Baseball officials said is not viable for the A’s.
Fife believes the A’s are saying they are not rooted in Oakland and if they don’t agree with the terms presented Tuesday then the vote by the council was mute.
Following the City Council meeting, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said her city and A’s are very close to an agreement, but Kaval disagreed.
He said in some ways it’s too early to say how close the two sides are.
The A’s had not seen some of the amendments Oakland city staff presented to the City Council Tuesday morning before the council’s vote, Kaval said.
The A’s will dig in and see what the new terms are, Kaval said. Six “yes” votes from the City Council on a waterfront stadium is a positive thing, he said.
The A’s would like a binding financial plan by the end of the baseball season, he said.
During the City Council meeting, Kaplan told listeners, “Today is the end of the seventh inning, not the end of the ninth inning.”
After the meeting, Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas, who worked on the amendments with Kaplan, said, “It’s (now) the beginning of the eighth inning.”
At the end of the game, Oakland officials hope to have the A’s in the city for at least another 25 years in a 35,000-seat waterfront stadium.
The project also includes 3,000 new residential units, a new hotel with about 400 rooms, 1.77 million square feet of commercial space and a performance venue seating about 3,500 people.
The stadium is expected to cost about $1 billion to build and the entire complex about $12 billion.
Kaval said the A’s hoped to have the City Council vote on financial plan that his team could agree on before the council takes their summer recess.
Bas’ office said no council meetings are scheduled before the recess to take up the non-binding financial plan for the A’s new stadium.
32 comments
I hope the A’s decide to move to another city.
Any team deserves better and than Oakland.
It looks like a big green toilet.
I can’t see where Oakland even wants them anymore, just leave like the Raiders did..bye bye.
Oakland A’s will leave the crime ridden city of Oakland and California and their policies. it’s unfortunate but it’s a no brainer for the A’s. can’t blame the owners. Blame the mayor and the city council and their choices to bring down Oakland and surrounding areas.
They really don’t want to keep the A’s. get the idiots out of office already !
From the picture, I think its great they will leave those container shipping cranes. I was thinking about getting some of those to use as planter stands in my front yard.
I hope the A’s stay in Oakland. I’m following this very closely.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the A’s leave Oakland. The crazy mayor and city council want the A’s to pay to solve all the problems of their mismanaged City. They’re trying to hold the A’s hostage and I don’t think they’ll go for it. They’re getting tired of Oakland’s shenanigans. And let’s face it Oakland is not a nice place anymore.
Agreed, the A’s should just move on.
Professional sports are asinine. If you like baseball, play baseball. I don’t understand this activity of watching people you don’t know playing a game of no consequence.
Just because you don’t like somethings that other people do doesn’t mean it should go away. I’m sure you do a lot of things people think are asinine, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy it. I don’t understand people who think ” I don’t like it so it shouldn’t exist, even of other people enjoy it”. What kind of thinking is that?
@Hill. You are correct, I DO enjoy a great many asinine things, and I am free to do so in this great Land of Liberty. On my time and my dime. The crucial difference is, I’m not a gazillionaire looking to have the taxpayer underwrite millions of dollars of debt to pay for my hobbies. Have we learned nothing from the Raiders’ Mt. Davis debacle? How many decades were the taxpayers of Oakland and Alameda County yoked with bond debt to pay off that white elephant? But at least we got to keep the Raiders in Oakland forever… oh, wait… Fans seem to have an irrational willingness to fork over ANY amount of money for tickets and swag, to watch grown men chase a small ball around on grass. That’s fine, but that endeavor should be self-funded, not taxing property owners, and not diverting general fund money that would otherwise be used for police, fire, pot holes, etc.
City Council should concentrate efforts to reduce crime in Oakland.
‘Moment Good Samaritan is pistol-whipped trying to stop an elderly Asian man being robbed in broad daylight in Oakland’
daily mail https://tinyurl.com/nurzxssx
‘Furious Oakland police chief blasts city for cutting his department’s budget by $18.5M as crime spirals out of control and homicides spike 90%’
daily mail https://tinyurl.com/zxekcabc
It’s unfortunate citizens of Oakland are burdened by politicians evidently more concerned with parroting and implementing knee jerk policies, endangering citizens, merely to promote a political party attempt to gain black votes in future elections.
MLB would do well to take notice, on list of top 100 most dangerous cities in the country Oakland city ranks 5th. Safety of fans coming to games should weigh heavily in their decision making process.
You obviously don’t follow sports. Most stadiums are in high crime areas (cheaper property) and it will never keep sports fans away. Cops are everywhere, and unless you’re paranoid, you’ll be fine. You’re watching a ballgame in a stadium, not doing drug deals on the street.
Why not put some money back into that nasty city. Lord knows they can use the funds for homeless, poverty and such!
From the architect drawings of the new stadium, I dont see any parking lots. Sure locals can use mass transit, but for people living out of town who drive in, where are they going to park? Let me see, people who are in affordable housing probably have a low income. Will they come to the games? Would they be able to afford the price of a ticket? Prices will go up to help pay for the stadium and new housing around it.
So Oakland can find the money for this but not to reduce crime? What a joke.
Oakland leaders see the A’s as a huge cash cow. They will keep squeezing the A’s for more and more $. Eventually the A’s will find a sweeter offer in another city. But don’t worry, the fans can always catch a game in Las Vegas.
One day, the California politicians will figure out that if you squeeze hard enough, your tax base will pack up and leave to greener pastures.
You give the politicians way too much credit.
Their arrogance, denial, and self righteousness render them blind. They’ll bounce down the socioeconomic scale squeezing each echelon until the money is gone.
Just like in Goodfellas when the mob took over the restaurant, milked it dry, and then burned it down. Same method, same ethic.
Guys! The A’s are moving to Idaho!
Sounds like the A’s are gone, leaving Oakland as soon as possible. Maybe the city could attract a WNBA franchise, other than that it’s a sports has-been. No-one else will ever move a franchise there because there is no there there. Only tents.
Left wing cities and and billionaire owners don’t mix well. and this is obvious here.
Maybe Oakland can entice a Dart franchise. Doesn’t take a lot of room.
The A”s are gone .I’m sure they are tired of dealing with the inept fools that run that failing city . Plus who would want to bring their kids and family to that crime ridden , filthy town . It’s not safe.
‘Inept fools’ would be a major improvement over those clowns.
Oakland is a cesspool and the A’s would be smart to leave…
.
Other than nostalgia, why would any professional sports team want to represent Oakland?
Oakland is poorly managed by its elected leaders and employees, crime-ridden, and a fiscally unaccountable. The city exemplifies low standards. It’s a dump.
Say hello to the Las Vegas A’s in about two years.
Why don’t they just remodel the old stadium? Plant some trees in the parking lot. Maybe put in a big water fountain. Hang some decorative lights. But no they have to be on the waterfront. Isn’t there shipping activities going on there now? You know what is better go watch some little league games.
There are plenty of cities willing and able to host the A’s. They could probably sell a lot more tickets elsewhere. And the ‘kicker’? You’d have a brand-new crop of people to outfit with swag.
I firmly believe the A’s front office is a lot smarter than the city fools. They A’s will string them along and then politely decline their absurd stipulations. The A’s realize this new stadium would be built in the ghettos and have all the wonderful aftermath that it breeds and bleeds. Oakland has been slowly dying for the past 12 years to the point of no return.
Let them leave. Oakland is a rat nest nobody wants to visit anyway. They’d do better in the Las Vegas market. I stopped watching woke sports years ago.
Not one cent of taxpayer money should be going to professional sports, it’s all a racket.
Especially professional tennis.
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