Post by TheShadow on Aug 6, 2005 13:16:51 GMT -5
insidebayarea.com
Authority, Wolff to meet next week, possibly to discuss plans for stadium along the I-880 corridor
By Paul T. Rosynsky, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND — The Oakland Athletics are once again looking at building a new ballpark near McAfee Coliseum and think Oakland and Alameda County can help by securing the land, government and team officials say.
During the past month, team managing partner Lewis Wolff divulged new details by telling an Internet fan Web log Wednesday and a television audience in July that the team was seeking an intimate stadium possibly along the Interstate 880 corridor in Oakland.
The interviews come as Wolff and leaders of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority prepare for a meeting next week. Authority leaders said the meeting was scheduled to discuss the team's new stadium plans and could be followed by a news conference next Friday in which Wolff plans to make an announcement.
Wolff was traveling Thursday and could not be reached for comment. Although staff members in his office said he did not read the blog and they could not verify its accuracy, they said he did speak to www.athleticsnation.com.
In that interview, Wolff talked at length about why the team needs a new stadium, where it could be built and how the government could help.
Wolff also displayed a firm grasp of the area's reluctance to spend public dollars on a sports stadium because of the financial fiasco that resulted from the Raiders deal in 1995.
"Cities have things that are better than funds," Wolff said, according to the Web site. "What we're hoping for down the road is that there will be some leadership on the public side, and when I say that people immediately say, oh, you want them to pay for it and hand it to you, but that's not true.
"They've been burned in Oakland," he added.
Alameda County Supervisor Gail Steele, who serves as Coliseum Authority chairwoman, said Wolff has made similar statements in recent meetings.
Steele said a location along the Oakland Estuary in a development referred to as Oak-to-Ninth is probably not feasible. Wolff has said he was focused on a site near the Coliseum.
"I kind of agree with Lew," Steele said. "I would like it in some place in the vicinity of the Coliseum. I tend to agree that he looked at the site down by the water, but I agree that it is impossible, transportation-wise."
Neither Steele nor Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente would say whether they would support spending public dollars to secure land for a site.
"I don't know what land we are talking about yet, and you can't answer that question unless there is a specific piece of land," Steele said.
De La Fuente was more blunt.
"I'm prepared to work with the A's and explore possibilities for sites, but I can't make a blanket statement that we are going to put land together for them," he said. "I want to be absolutely clear. It has to be their money. (Putting land together) does not mean it is their money."
De La Fuente also showed frustration that talks have not progressed since Wolff announced last year the team was going to take control of the planning and site location for a new ballpark.
"We talk a lot, and nothing happens," he said. "I want to make sure that we are not just talking. ... It is going to be up to them to at least show, or give us some indication, what area they are looking at."
Wolff also appears ready to make some final decisions.
"I don't want to sit around five years and find out that we can't do something," he said in the Internet interview. "We're closer to coming up with some ideas. ... I think the big thing is that it isn't just going to happen without a lot of work between ourselves and whoever we deal with."
As he has said repeatedly, Wolff stressed the team is looking for a site in its territorial rights area. Those areas are determined by Major League Baseball, and the Athletics own Alameda, Contra Costa and, Wolff said on the Web site, Monterey counties.
"In order of priority, I would like to be in Oakland if we could. If not, something to do with the city and county throughout the JPA, and otherwise, the county," he said. "I don't know where to go beyond that. That's all we have the right to do."
Despite not having a firm location pinned down, the A's do seem to have a stadium in mind.
During the A's telecast last month, Wolff said the team is looking at building a small, intimate stadium with unique aspects such as condominiums by the outfield and suites by the field.
The team's stadium committee — composed of top team officials, three architectural firms and Wolff's son — has toured a number of Major League Baseball parks and arenas.
Wolff said during the telecast the team is considering incorporating arena designs into the stadium. Those include small suites near the field that would hold six people. It also includes building a ballpark to seat a maximum of 35,000 fans without the third deck of seating most have.
Nevertheless, without a site, the team won't be able to compete in the future, Wolff said.
"We recognize that the area, especially the city of Oakland, has huge and much more important priorities, from school systems to safety," Wolff said on the Internet. "But we're still going to need some acreage to build this ballpark and it was in a blighted area. Do we have the resolve to clear the blight?
"Unless there is a change, I'll be giving an update report soon to the JPA which will be a little more specific than it was a few months ago," Wolff said.