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Had a brief chat this afternoon with Oakland A’s and San Jose Earthquakes co-owner Lew Wolff. The real-estate mogul doesn’t hold court with the press too often, but when he’s a guy who can shed light on the out-of-work all-time Home Run King (at right) and not two, but three new stadium projects currently in limbo, your ears tend to perk up. Among the nuggets I picked up:• Cisco Field is on track, but a ways out. The proposed $400 million privately funded new home for the A’s is moving ahead, but still has a ways to go. The plan for the high-tech but intimate 33,000-seat stadium now needs to jump through an environmental study, which might not be complete for another year. The complex is part of Wolff’s larger residential and commercial plan in Fremont, which is just over 20 miles south of Oakland’s McAfee Coliseum.
• No comment on Bonds status. Wolff wouldn’t shed light on whether the A’s will take a flier on Barry Bonds, who won’t be facing any potential trial before or during the ’08 season. Even so, I’ve never known Wolff to ride a high horse of any kind, and if a deal makes financial sense over all else, he’d likely do it. That’s why I believe that, barring any revelation from the Mitchell Report, Wolff and A’s GM Billy Beane would take a chance on Bonds if he came a reduced rate. A one-year deal for $12 million tops isn’t much of a risk for a 43-year-old DH who had a .480 OBP this past season.
• Soccer stadium on track, too. Barring a disagreement with the city of San Jose, the proposed new stadium for the expansion Earthquakes could be completed by 2011. Wolff and his team never considered combining his two teams into one massive stadium project because, as he says, “We’re done sharing,” which is something his baseball team has been doing with the Raiders for 12 years. “We want a configuration for baseball only and we want a certain intimacy and sound level for soccer.” Two stadiums may have higher operating costs, but you’d also have twice the potential revenue, too.
• Moneyball is moving to Major League Soccer. Wolff says Beane is a big part of the management team for the expansion Earthquakes, though he isn’t involved in the day-to-day. But with MLS’ strict salary cap, Beane’s undervalued-players-at-low-costs philosophy will eventually be translated. As such, Wolff hinted the Quakes probably won't bring in a big European star in '08 under the so-called “Beckham Rule,” which would stretch the slim room under the cap.
• Partnering with the 49ers. Discussions with the Bay Area’s other football team never went too far, Wolff says, though the management teams maintain friendly relations. Wolff isn’t getting involved in the 49ers’ struggling efforts to get a new stadium built in Santa Clara, though he could foresee sharing the new venue for larger-scale soccer games.
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Comments (16)
Jonah, you can't trust anything that Wolff in sheep's clothing says, and it doesn't look like he told you too much to begin with. He's in it for real estate profits, not for any love of sport.
afausc | 12/12/07, 01:48 AM
Report Offensive CommentRiiiight. That's why Billy Beane has called the World Cup "Without question the best sporting event I've ever witnessed," and why Lew Wolff and A's president Mike Crowley attended several matches at Germany '06 along with Beane. afausc, you don't know what you're talking about.
CDC | 12/12/07, 10:06 AM
Report Offensive CommentYou know, the boring sport of soccer aside (inflammatory I know), all these new ballparks being made is very exciting. Even the Rays are getting in on it. And these new parks are really something. Wonderful venues for the modern baseball fan to indulge himself/herself in. It just goes to show that if we the fans put enough cash into this cow, we get something back eventually.
nag | 12/12/07, 10:29 AM
Report Offensive Comment"The boring sport of soccer"... "modern baseball fan(s) to indulge"...
I must say that you certainly have a twisted view of the world of sports. You give Americans a bad name. It's time to face the facts and I feel the need to educate you whether you want it or not so here goes!
Baseball's TV numbers are dropping faster then it's player participation in the U.S. Conversely, soccer is the fastest growing sport in North America and has greatly surpassed baseball in player interest. This is especially prevalent among youth.
Baseball is a sport that has not, cannot and will not be exportable. Aside from a few nations in Latin America as well as Japan, the rest of the world does not care about baseball. Soccer, in contrast, has more fans than all other sports combined. It is the national sport of more countries, it certainly has a richer history that baseball. Indeed the players are in much better shape than the average baseball player.
All this and I didn't mention baseballs constant problems with drug abuse? The heroes of "modern baseball" are all 'alleged' steroid abusers--Sosa, McGuire, Bonds, Canseco, etc... Baseball has serious problems that won't be fixed in the near future. In the mean time,I suggest that you buy a scarf and support a team with phenomenal athlete's who play the beautiful game--the greatest game on Earth--soccer (or football for you purists).
FCB82 | 12/12/07, 11:28 AM
Report Offensive CommentNothing more exciting than watching one guy hold a ball behind his back for 30 seconds waiting to throw it toward another guy holding a stick, who may or may not swing at said pitch. Repeat five or six times over a five minute period, and you have non-stop excitement?!?! Baseball is generally exciting for about 20 seconds per inning, whereas in soccer, anything can happen at any time.
bsman | 12/12/07, 12:04 PM
Report Offensive CommentVery well put FCB82, I cosider myself an around sports fan, but to call Football boring is not being educated enough on the beautiful game! I agree that Football is a national sport in many countries, but it is more than that, it is way of life, a passion a love for country and club that many Americans sports fans really do not understand. I have been to many sporting venues, Baseball, Football(American), Hockey and Basketball, but they don't even begin to compare to the atmosphere and the passion that you get from being in Football stadium in Europe or in South America. Football in America is growing and it will only continue to grow, that is just the simple fact!
RMadrid(Los Blancos) | 12/12/07, 12:08 PM
Report Offensive CommentBSMAN, i see your point about baseball but you are only saying that because you dont understant the subltleties of baseball and therefore have no right to say that it is interesting or boring. As for soccer It is just people standing on a field passing it back and forth and they may or may not score in any given game. At least in baseball some excitment is guarenteed.
Bsheeder | 12/12/07, 12:38 PM
Report Offensive CommentFinally, some people who have sense. You don't know how hard it is to find people on this site who feel the same way about baseball as I do. I had a throwdown with this one guy about how popular soccer will become and I said pretty much what bsman said about baseball. Man, did those idiots hit me with a barrage of insults. It's a shame that most Americans won't give the beautiful game a chance.
Little Evil (GUNNER) | 12/12/07, 12:40 PM
Report Offensive CommentJonah brilliant article. I am really excited about this organization, looks like they have some clever minds steering the san jose ship. I was also excited to find your column. there is a lot of good soccer writing going on in this country and slowly i am tracking it down. I really enjoy reading the American perspective on soccer, as I am American and a huge fan of the game. I have devoted a section on my own blog http://www.futbolink.wordpress.com (futbol news and gossip aggregator) to American Futbol journalism.
Thanks,
WRC
wrc | 12/12/07, 12:44 PM
Report Offensive CommentCDC-- yeah, it's great that the A's GM and president are now more interested in watching international soccer than they are in fielding a competitive baseball team. What's your point? Mine is that Wolff's main interest in the A's lies in development profits from his proposed Cisco Field-Outlet Mall-Chain Restaurant Extravaganza in Fremont, not in winning championships. And he has shown time and time again in his brief ownership tenure that he'll say what he needs to say to further those goals.
afausc | 12/12/07, 12:49 PM
Report Offensive CommentThe money to build the stadium is coming from the rest of the real estate development, yes, but what they'll have at the end is a state-of-the-art stadium, debt free. The whole reason the team is building the new stadium is so they can spend more money on their payroll, which presumably will help them win championships.
And if you interpret my first comment as "the A's GM and president are now more interested in watching international soccer than they are in fielding a competitive baseball team," your reading comprehension problems are far greater than I'll be able to solve here. Good luck with that, though.
CDC | 12/12/07, 01:37 PM
Report Offensive CommentNo need to get whiny and defensive, CDC. We'll just have to agree to disagree on the real reasons behind the stadium deal. In my opinion, it's a development project for Wolff first and foremost.
He said he was looking for a site in Oakland (which was half-hearted at best) in order to gain favorable terms on a lease extension from the Coliseum. Now he's promising Fremont that gold will fall from the sky if they rezone the land for his mixed use development. My guess is that after it's rezoned, he'll point to an environmental issue or similar roadblock as a reason for not building the stadium part of it and will instead move the team to Portland or Las Vegas. Remember, his good buddy and frat brother Bud Selig is on record as saying that the A's should have never moved to the Bay Area in the first place because it hurt the Giants financially.
Hey, I hope I'm wrong, but I don't have a lot of faith in this guy based on his actions to date. A's fans have suffered long and hard when it comes to ownership pushing their own interests over the team's ever since the Haas family sold the franchise in 1995.
afausc | 12/12/07, 02:34 PM
Report Offensive Commenttwo things
if i read this article correct wolf is building this stadium with money that is completley out of his pocket and if thats true that bravo i hate the owners that are like we need a new stadium because we spend 5 million dollars on the team and havent won a world series in 15 years and the stadium is why no fans come to our games so they force the city to pay for all of it or they move. but hes willing to pay for this stadium by himself so good job!
two
the thing about soccer being better then baseball is wrong i try watching soccer during the world cup and such but after watching one or two games i want to kill my self its all pass pass pass shoot once miss pass fifty more times then 3 hours later someone finally scores a goal whoopie doo. at least baseball has something going on and when the pitching is holding the ball for 30 seconds u spend most of that time thinking about the next pitch whose on deck and whose available in the bullpen and ur anticipating what is gonna happen next. and the whole soccer is growing at the quickest rate compared other sports is pretty stupid to say because soccer has grown from 4 fans to 7 and it has room grow unlike sports like baseball and football and baseball is only decreasing because of the fact that it went from being the only sport in america (similar to soccer in europe) to fighting with basketball and football. Also sports like baseball and football arent catching in Europe because it is not getting enough coverage in Europe Soccer is getting plenty of coverage in the united states but no one wants to watch it
nyyankeefan185 | 12/12/07, 04:27 PM
Report Offensive Commentnyyankee - first of all, a yankee's fan opionion doesnt count for anything. hahahaa j/k. i just wanted to point out that it is IMPOSSIBLE to have a regular time soccer match longer than 90 minutes (add in 6 min of stoppage time if you must). then you go on to say that while hte pitcher is holding the ball all you can think about is the next pitch, as a baseball fan, that is true. but as a soccer fan, i understand the game and while they are passing it, they are essientially doing the same exact thing. trying to split the defense and find the seam that will open up the defense. you just need to take the time to understand the game and how it is played. that is what makes every sport fun to watch. that is why i enojy baseball, but i can see why people think it is boring. but these same people usually dont know the strats behind the game. also, your whole comment about soccer becoming popular is way off. 4 to 7 fans? at least make a realistic comment. the truth is that soccer is the most played sport amoung youth in the USA by A LOT! but these youth dont stick with it because of money once they get to college. they move to football or baseball. if the MLS could pay them a good amount of money, they would stick with it. Chad Johnson is a perfect example. The good hting is, MLS grew sooooo much this year with everything htat happened. There was an increase in EVERY SINGLE aspect of the league. From internet traffic, to attendance, to jersey sales, eveyrthing was up. You are right when you talk about why baseball is declining. It is just having to share its audience with other sports now. But there is no doubt the NFL is the biggest sport in the USA. And to be honest, Europeans just do not like baseball. Football on the other hand is popular in Germany and even in England. But it will never take over soccer.
onelovesoccer | 12/13/07, 11:14 AM
Report Offensive Commentnyyankee - first of all, a yankee's fan opionion doesnt count for anything. hahahaa j/k. i just wanted to point out that it is IMPOSSIBLE to have a regular time soccer match longer than 90 minutes (add in 6 min of stoppage time if you must). then you go on to say that while hte pitcher is holding the ball all you can think about is the next pitch, as a baseball fan, that is true. but as a soccer fan, i understand the game and while they are passing it, they are essientially doing the same exact thing. trying to split the defense and find the seam that will open up the defense. you just need to take the time to understand the game and how it is played. that is what makes every sport fun to watch. that is why i enojy baseball, but i can see why people think it is boring. but these same people usually dont know the strats behind the game. also, your whole comment about soccer becoming popular is way off. 4 to 7 fans? at least make a realistic comment. the truth is that soccer is the most played sport amoung youth in the USA by A LOT! but these youth dont stick with it because of money once they get to college. they move to football or baseball. if the MLS could pay them a good amount of money, they would stick with it. Chad Johnson is a perfect example. The good hting is, MLS grew sooooo much this year with everything htat happened. There was an increase in EVERY SINGLE aspect of the league. From internet traffic, to attendance, to jersey sales, eveyrthing was up. You are right when you talk about why baseball is declining. It is just having to share its audience with other sports now. But there is no doubt the NFL is the biggest sport in the USA. And to be honest, Europeans just do not like baseball. Football on the other hand is popular in Germany and even in England. But it will never take over soccer.
onelovesoccer | 12/13/07, 11:15 AM
Report Offensive Commentoh yeah, one more thing. you dont honestly think americans dont care about European soccer do you???? the soccer population in the USA is MASSIVE. mostly because wwe have so many people. the problem is, they dont watch the MLS. all they watch are the European, SOuth American, and also Mexican leagues.
onelovesoccer | 12/13/07, 11:17 AM
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