Wolff giveth and Wolff taketh away

By: Melissa | November 12th, 2007

After reading the news about last Tuesday’s city council meeting, I can honestly say, it really looks like the SSS deal between Quakes owner Lew Wolff and the city of San Jose is going to move forward without a hitch. Its a sharp contrast to the debacle Wolff’s other sports club, The Oakland A’s, is currently entrenched in. The A’s want to build a baseball-only stadium within a city whose name is a part of the effin’ team’s name. I really want to understand why one club is having happy flower fun times while the other is sitting cold and alone tossing empty vodka bottles into the metaphorical fire. Not being much of a baseball fan myself, I knew I wasn’t the person to get to the bottom of this so I tracked down Oakland native and lifelong A’s fan JC Money for a short interview.

Me: So what is the deal with the A’s leaving Oakland?

JC Money: The A’s have been actively pursuing a move to a baseball only facility for just under a decade as a means of generating renewed interest in corporate sponsorship and ticket sales to boost the organizations revenue. Since the debacle that was the Raiders return to Oakland, and the stadium renovation that followed, the rift between the city government and the A’s succession of owners has grown. The city and it’s residents are wary of pouring scare public funding into a sports franchise, especially since they are still paying for the renovation that lured the Raiders back to town.

Me: That’s weird, cause the Quakes deal has Wolff paying for the entire stadium out of his own funds.

JC Money: Well the Quakes have three things going for them: it’s going to be a smaller and cheaper facility to build, there is already land available, and the finances of baseball are a little different. The bigger problem with baseball as a business these days is that ticket sales aren’t generating enough revenue to run a team, despite attendance being as high as it has been since the strike-shortened season in 1996. The teams that are making money are making the real money off of corporate sponsorships and suite sales, as well as TV and radio deals

Me: Is there no land available in Oakland?

JC Money: That’s complicated. There were a few places available. and to make part of the answer short the team and the city couldn’t get together to talk about a reasonable plan before Wolff and the ownership group bought the team. Partly because Mayor (at the time) Jerry Brown had no interest in the team and possibly because the previous owners wanted to sell the team and move on.

Me: Makes sense. So how does Wolff fit into all this?

JC Money: While Brown was Mayor he began development projects downtown and along the waterfront that would have been prime locations for a ball park. Wolff bought the team with the idea of building a village around the ball park that would provide housing and commercial space, using the revenue from the village to pay for the stadium and the stadium itself to draw people to the neighborhood.

Me: Oh he’s really into that. He’s planning on doing that with the Quakes.

JC Money: It’s actually a pretty brilliant plan, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes the standard way of funding stadiums soon.

Me: So how did it all backfire into this mess we’ve got now?

JC Money: Well there isn’t anywhere in Oakland to build that kinda village (LARGE ASTERISK here). The places getting serious consideration were the Army Base (a little far from public transit, and difficult to get anything approved there, plus toxic waste clean up), downtown/Uptown/Fox Theater area (Mayor brown lures developers to build condos, and retrofit the fox theater and turn it into a charter school), the Colisseum parking lot (no upgrade in local, the A’s aren’t interested, the Raiders and Warriors would be pissed), and the current location of the Oak to 9th project (this is where the asterisk plays out: the land has been promised to contractors but the project may never actually break ground).

Me: So none of these are a go? Wolff just up and decided to get out of town?

JC Money: Yes. They have for years been considering other places in Alameda and Contra Costa County (the other 7 bay area counties are legally the Giants Territory) and a year and a half ago Wolff announced a deal with Cisco systems to purchase the Pacific Commons site basically in exchange for the naming rights to a new A’s stadium to be built there. That site was going to be the site of a Cisco expansion that never happened.

Me: I hate it when corporations name stadiums. Where is that site?

JC Money: Fremont.

Me: Oh right the Fremont thing… but that died, yes?

JC Money: No it hasn’t. they filed paperwork with the city of Fremont a couple days ago.

Me: So you think it may be a go? what’s your reaction to that?

JC Money: I think it won’t happen. At this point I’d put money on the A’s having to extend their lease at the Coliseum (which I think is up in 2011). I was angry to hear that Oakland is not on the table if Fremont doesn’t work out though. I’m hoping that Fremont falls through and Oak to 9th Falls through so the city and team eat crow and start real talks. But Oak to 9th needs some serious money put into waste removal, and the current contractors agreed to pay for the cleanup. so it would be kinda sad if that doesn’t happen.

Me: Thats weird, ’cause the site for the soccer stadium also has damage that needs cleaning up. Are you personally mad at Wolff for attempting to take the As out of Oakland?

JC Money: Yes and No. I’m seriously considering boycotting the team beginning as soon as this season (as a result of the comment about Oakland being off the table). If they break ground in Fremont I will stop going to games.

Me: So, with Wolff’s attitude and frustrations with the city of Oakland, is that going to sway any interest in attending Quakes games? Or do you just generally have a disinterest in soccer?

JC Money: Generally disinterested in soccer. Its not worth the drive to SJ and the cost of tickets to me.

Me: Yeah, that’s the opinion I’m hearing the most.

JC Money: Especially since many don’t consider MLS the best product one can put out there.

Me: Yup, its not. But its what we have here so I’m not ready to totally knock it.

So there you have it. Not exactly Earthquakes news but informative nonetheless. I was actually polling a few A’s fans today to find out if the Wolff connection to the Quakes might sway their interest in attending MLS games (the answer was an unanimous no). As a long-time Oakland resident, I know I’ll be crushed if the A’s leave (Wolff giveth back to SJ yet taketh away from Oakland?). But I’m not really a baseball fan so I don’t think I can properly express the grief many many fans will experience. I’ll let Ben and Nate do that for me: