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The Oakland A's have solid (waste) proof UPDATE: It happened again

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by LongTimeListener, Jun 17, 2013.

  1. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Re: The Oakland A's have solid (waste) proof that their stadium stinks

    There's no research and I don't know how there could be. It's just that I am right in the demographic and my sense is it would be a big impact. We try to go to two or three games a year in SF, but it's a day of commitment -- leave 4 p.m. at the latest, go through the hassle of parking and don't get home until midnight. If its a game in SJ it's more like 5:30-10:30. So those two or three SF games become zero or one.

    That would be the decision facing hundreds of thousands of potential fans.

    It is all guesswork but I think that's the most reasonable educated guess.
     
  2. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    Re: The Oakland A's have solid (waste) proof that their stadium stinks

    Sounds like we're both working from the same (lack of) database, ltl. Which is probably why it's taking Seliy's "blue ribbon" committee so long to hash this out.
     
  3. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Re: The Oakland A's have solid (waste) proof that their stadium stinks

    When I lived in Northern California (until 1992) in most years there wasn't a dramatic difference between attendance at both places. A's tickets got a little hard to come by during the first couple years Canseco and McGwire were there. Back then, A's games were actually a lot more family friendly than Giants games. The bleachers at Candlestick could get pretty crazy and I saw cops in riot gear pretty regularly. I remember watching a guy throw coins at Kevin Mitchell (when he was still with the Mets) from the bleachers.

    It at least seemed like Oakland had a lot more day games. Oakland also did more things like Autograph Day and fireworks than SF did. SF had picture day one year and some kid ran under the ropes to get Will Clark's autograph and Clark's hat fell off and someone laughed at Clark being bald and he got mad and stormed off...

    Ever since the Giants got Bonds, and more importantly, moved to the new park, it hasn't been close...
     
  4. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Re: The Oakland A's have solid (waste) proof that their stadium stinks

    Yeah it is mostly speculation, and from parties who have an interest in overstating their hardship.

    I think they will eventually reach a deal, but I also think the Giants are going to exact a high price. If you look at it as a business, if Home Depot owns the rights to a zip code and Lowe's tries to build a store there, I don't think anyone would expect Home Depot to sign away those rights just so everyone can get to the hardware store more conveniently.
     
  5. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    Re: The Oakland A's have solid (waste) proof that their stadium stinks

    The good thing about the Bay Area is that it does have a very transient population, with lots of newcomers (young college grads) every year so fan bases do change. It is worth noting though that three of the biggest roiders fueled attendance bumps.
     
  6. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Re: The Oakland A's have solid (waste) proof that their stadium stinks

    With the exception of my current place of residence, which is 12 glorious miles from the stadium, that is how I have attended major league games all my life living in the suburbs. I suspect that's true for a majority of (white-flight) baseball fans in metropolitan areas for the last 50 years.

    (That said, I also grew up as a Braves fan who frequently got home by 10:30 on all the nights when Maddux threw 85 pitches in a 2-hour, 10-minute shutout. :D)

    I'm not disputing your larger point, that the Giants have a lot to worry about financially here and deserve to get compensated for it. But I also have a hard time believing that loyal Giants fans will start going to lots of A's games because they're suddenly "closer." Maybe the people who aren't going to Giants games to begin with. But not Giants fans who are already going to games, even if it's just one or two a year.
     
  7. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Re: The Oakland A's have solid (waste) proof that their stadium stinks

    I don't know, buck. At least based on what people say, it sounds like many would make the choice. I too grew up going to games at that distance, but if there were a closer option I'm sure I would have chosen that.

    To elaborate, I will add that right now our choices are between the best park and view in the world, and a place that is now a literal shithole. So that's a big part of what sends us to SF and what has made the Giants' fan base grow. These are not century-old loyalties we are talking about And the A's having a new park that did not leak poop would change the dynamics of that equation too.
     
  8. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Re: The Oakland A's have solid (waste) proof that their stadium stinks

    Absolutely. And it's important to note, as you and DanOregon have done, that this "Giants dominance" of the Bay Area has only existed since about 1993. By all rights, the Giants should be in Tampa/St. Pete right now.

    With 10 years of good A's baseball and a front office that isn't trying to sabotage its fanbase, that could flip again. Or maybe not, I have no idea.
     
  9. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Re: The Oakland A's have solid (waste) proof that their stadium stinks

    The condition of Oakland bears noting too. If David Simon had been hired by the Oakland Tribune instead of the Baltimore Sun many years ago, "The Wire" would have been about Oakland instead of Baltimore, and the only change needed would have been to Stringer Bell's speech about a 40-degree day.
     
  10. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    Re: The Oakland A's have solid (waste) proof that their stadium stinks

    I just don't think you change loyalties based on a closer location. But I do think it is true that the "casual fans" - those that usually make the difference between an average season at the gate and a great one, might hit a few more games a year because of a new stadium.
    The other thing is that the Giants are the dominant team in the Bay Area. Their games are broadcast on the dominant sports talk station, the A's struggle to find a broadcaster every time the contract is up. It isn't even close, despite the A
    s successes. A new stadium isn't going to change that.
     
  11. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    Re: The Oakland A's have solid (waste) proof that their stadium stinks

    One of the things I loved about The Wire and why I tend to think of Baltimore as a kindred spirit. They are both "no. 2" in their metro areas, both had football teams ripped from them, got them back and both have some effed-up social institutions. Hell, the streets, the politics, the docks and the schools - same stuff. They had Poe, we had Jack London.
     
  12. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Re: The Oakland A's have solid (waste) proof that their stadium stinks

    Follow-up -- Billy Beane says "we see it all the time, and this is not unusual. I don't blame them (the Mariners) for reacting, but we have to live with it on a semi-regular basis." And Lew Wolff says he went to the club-level restaurant for dinner last week but it was closed because of a sewage problem. I guess they're making chicken shit out of chicken salad.

    http://www.mercurynews.com/athletics/ci_23478623/oakland-owner-lew-wolff-says-coliseum-sewage-mess
     
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