"Sacramento will only pursue a team like the A's if the A's are serious and not looking to negotiate one community off of another and we can develop a stadium facility that will represent a true economic benefit to Sacramento," Johnson said.Now we don't know what KJ's strategy is. Is he looking at an expanded Raley Field, which is not in Sacramento? Or is he hitching his wagon to a ballpark at Cal Expo to replace the arena if the Kings bolt? The latter sounds like a more palatable scenario for Lew Wolff and John Fisher.
Johnson said he would be making clear "the process and principles that we will adhere to when it comes to considering a Major League Baseball team" in the coming weeks.
The "process and principles" aspect piques my interest. It's one thing when you're San Jose and you don't have to contend with another team's interest in finite resources. It's another when the Kings and A's would most definitely compete with each other for political will, funding, etc. Would discussions start only after the Kings decided to leave? How long would that take?
Mayor KJ also touts his city's positives...
"A team in Sacramento would represent a home run for Major League Baseball,” Johnson said, though he really shouldn’t have. “Because Sacramento is a great sports town with a strong market in terms of fan interest, corporate support and the size of our media market."...while conveniently excluding any mention of the financial and social calamity that is growing under his nose - and in between downtown and Cal Expo to boot.
Now that's an attractive adjacent neighborhood for developers. At least KJ got the fan interest part right. Corporate support and media market? Not so much.
6 comments:
Sac + Stockton + Modesto = 3.2 Million people, not even counting fans like me who will drive to Sac from the Bay, AND fans like from Reno, Tahoe even parts of Oregon. If you build the right experience people will travel. But in the immediate 70 mile range, Sac, Stockton and Modesto is a nice media market
This isn't football. Most stadium-going fans, by the A's own research, will come from within 22 miles of the stadium. That puts Sac at 2 million, nothing to sneeze at but still no more than a medium-sized market. As a TV market, the Central Valley is nice - except that by going with CSNCA, the A's are getting them anyway.
Good Luck.
KJ is more of a light-weight than Dellums. KJ's intelligence, or lack thereof, is about to be outted.
KJ is going to be remembered as the Mayor who lost the Kings. We (San Jose) want the Kings. Don't be surprised after the A's come to San Jose, that Tom McEnery and other former Sharks owners get the Kings to make the drive down 80 to 680 to 280 and share the Shark Tank. It won't be long....Mark my words.
How about the Giants research or the Angels research or a team that actually will draw fans. How far do they reach for fans?
I think Sacramento is a real option for the A's. The problem with the Coliseum is that its hard to appeal to people who live 40 miles away to go there often. Nicer venues will do that, any new park will be a nicer venue than the Coliseum.
I'd prefer San Jose to Sacramento any day of the week because its closer to me but I hope Sacramento gets a fair shot.
I think that Sacto is a legitimate consideration---more legit than Oakland---still it pales in comparison to what San Jose/Silicon Valley can offer--
but--
Wolff is a developer at the end of the day---if San Jose doesn't work for whatever reason than the opportunity to develop the PC comcept at CalExpo could work--not what I would call ideal since I prefer the real downtowns to created downtowns but hey---at least it keeps them in Nor Cal--
Sacramento is, without question, the best option for the A's that isn't in the Bay area. The Cal Expo site also supports the ballpark village concept rather nicely.
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