Oakland A’s biggest FAIL was Fremont? (2006-09)

Oakland A’s biggest FAIL was Fremont? (2006-09)

Here’s Brody Brazil. I feel like in the coming years and decades when people talk about the A’s and their relocation away from Oakland, they’re instantly going to start the conversation with failure. Like, what didn’t happen in Oakland? Why couldn’t the A’s stay at the Coliseum site? Why couldn’t they find a different site in Oakland? Or the failure of San Jose? Major League Baseball basically blocked the athletics from going there. They said it was territory of the San Francisco Giants. But not a lot of people are going to talk about Fremont, and they haven’t for a lot of years for some reason. But it truly was Fremont where the A’s had basically said they were moving to for several years during the late decade of the 2000s. Look at the sign. Future home of Cisco Field. That’s in Fremont, California. I don’t know, 20, 30 miles south of Oakland. The A’s basically stated their intention to move to Fremont. They had a press conference. They had the site. They had the deal with Cisco. This very much seemed like a done deal until the A’s backed out of it themselves. More on that in a second. In this video, I’ll show you the before and the setup of what they said they were going to do and the renderings. I mean, they had everything here. They had a logo. They had branding. They had marketing. They had a time frame. They had the government on their side in terms of the city of Fremont. They were going to stay in Alama County. I’ll explain that in just a second, too. This was locked, loaded, and ready to go. And at the time, a lot of people opposed it because, well, it wasn’t Oakland. But now, in reverse, had this happened and the team at least stayed in the county, stayed geographically in the area, wouldn’t most fans have been fine with this, would this have thrived? I think to a larger degree than most people expected, it wasn’t the sexy thing to do to move to Fremont. what’s in Fremont. And it’s no knock against Fremont. It’s just not known for a bunch of different things. It’s not maybe the destination you would expect for a Major League Baseball team. But I think that site, that location, what it has turned out to be today, probably would have worked just fine. More on that a little bit later. Here’s what you need to know. The A’s at this point in 2006, we’ll get to the timing of all this shortly, but by 2006, the A’s had already tried San Jose a little bit. They tried one more time before they ultimately gave up on that as well too. They also had loosely discussed other options in Oakland, uptown, downtown, Coliseum site, but they had never really gone full scale, like real deep into conversations or options or exploring it. It was always just very much surface level. And the urgency felt minimal at this point in 2006. It wasn’t like time was ticking or they’re going to move right around the corner if they don’t get a new stadium. The Coliseum had been upgraded with Mount Davis in the mid ’90s, like ’95, ’96. So, this is only 10 years after that. I mean, the majority of the coliseum remained untouched, but the urgency to get out to do something else, it was minimal at this point compared to maybe how it felt in 2022. Lewis Wolf had just purchased the team in 2005, right? So, he comes in instantly by 2006. He’s already trying to get the A’s a new stadium and likely move them out of Oakland. And Fremont, by the way, I I mentioned this before, it’s south of Oakland. It is on the same freeway, Interstate 880, the NIMTS, and it’s I say 20 to 30 m. It’s more like a 30 to 40 minute drive with a little bit of traffic. It’s one of the worst traffic roads in the Bay Area, but it’s in the vicinity of Oakland. We should be clear about that. It’s in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay area. It’s in the same county as Oakland, just barely, right? You’d be also on the edge, the southern edge of Alama County, close to Santa Clara County, where Major League Baseball wouldn’t let you go. But this would be as close as you could get to Santa Clara County. You could gain some of those South Bay fans, those San Jose fans. you could do it all legally and the A’s were basically in line to do this. This comes from November 14th, 2006 in the San Francisco Chronicle. I’m going to read you the whole article here. This is the setup. This is the announcement that the A’s were leaving Oakland to build a ballpark in Fremont. And there’s not a lot of questions of would this get done or not. This was their plans. This was pretty official. The Oakland Athletics will move to Fremont team officials confirmed today and announcing an agreement to buy a 143 acre site for a stadium in the East Bay City. What the team will be called remains to be seen like Oakland A’s, Fremont A’s, whatever A’s, but the state-of-the-art baseballonly stadium will be christened Cisco Field like as in the company software company hardware software tech company Cisco as part of a 30-year naming rights agreement. They already had the naming rights agreement done. Oakland A’s managing partner Lou Wolf said. I mean, that’s like pretty straightforward. They’re going to do it, right? They said they’re going to do it. At a news conference, the one you saw the photos of at Cisco Systems in San Jose that included Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Celig. Cisco President and CEO John Chambers and Fremont Mayor Bob Wasserman. Lou Wolf said the high-tech ballpark would be fan-friendly, putting spectators as close to the field as possible. He showed off the new stadium’s design, which is yet to be approved by MLB, not the MLB. They were still doing that back then, and touted the graphics and other high-tech features planned for the new park. Look, back then, 2006, you know, oo, an HD screen would have been a big deal. You have we have to remember the era this was 20 years ago. Like, there was not even social media yet. Uh, you was you did YouTube exist? My point is that was the thing back then. who a high-tech ballpark was something that was supposed to be eye-catching. If the team’s name changes, Wol said it will not happen for years. Quote, “It may be the Omaha A’s of Fremont. That’s a decision we’re not going to make for two to three years,” he said. That’s Lou’s I think I think that’s his attempt at at humor right there. Like because the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles. Okay, I get it. But the team may have given a hint of things to come. At the press conference, they touted signs and other materials that read Cisco Field. Cisco Field, home of your A’s. Not Oakland A’s, just home of your A’s. Isn’t that interesting? Here in 2025, they’re not the Sacramento A’s. They’re not the Oakland A’s. They’re not the Las Vegas A’s. They’re just the A’s. They keep going to that safety default. The word Oakland was noticeably absent. They just keep taking away the city name when they don’t really want to say where they’re going or what they’re doing. The new park will be one of quote the most technologically advanced stadiums in the world according to the team and will be located on the west side of Interstate 880 in Fremont about 20 miles south of the team’s current home the Oakland McAfee Coliseum. Remember that? How many different names did the coliseum has it had over the years? The land is owned by Prologess, a real estate investment trust, but Cisco Systems has a long-term lease and an option to buy the site. Wolf wouldn’t disclose how much he paid for the land, only saying it was quote more than I wanted to pay. He already bought the land. I can’t remember if he bought it or didn’t actually complete the transaction if he had it agreed to purchase but never actually made the purchase. The ASA played in the Oakland Coliseum for nearly four decades, but the team has been unhappy with the venue since it was expanded, you mean ruined in the mid1 1990s to accommodate the return of the Oakland Raiders, Mount Davis. Wol downplayed the move from Oakland, the team’s namesake city, and made numerous references to the team’s inability to move to Santa Clara County because under MLB rules, it’s Giants territory. Let me just address this part right here. numerous references, like salty references probably, like, “Hey, we’re going here because you wouldn’t let us move to Santa Clara County.” The VA’s never felt great about that. At least Lewis Wolf never felt great about that. And in reality, I totally understand why. I also understand from the Giants perspective why they would never want to give that up if they never had to. But I don’t really understand who ever gave it to the Giants in the first place. I’ll make a separate video someday. My thoughts on supporting or not an A’s hypothetical move to San Jose. I’ll I’ll do that in some other in some other video because I do think that’s important. Long story short, it’s important you know that Lewis Wolf even here in Fremont is saying, “Well, I’m I’m connecting with Fremont because you wouldn’t let me do San Jose.” That’s that’s kind of the backstory there. Quote, “We’re not moving to Timbuktu. We’re going down the street in our mind.” Lewis Wolf said. Wolf said he had spoken with Oak mayor elect Ron Delums as recently as last week in November of ’06, but that in the end it boiled down to land availability. I don’t fault anybody, he said. What about all that coliseum land? The move, said Bud Celig, baseball commissioner, will quote, “Ensure the long-term stability of the club.” Right? And knowing what we know now, right? But that was my point. Had this happened, had the A’s not backed out of this like you’re about to see them do, we wouldn’t be here where they’re in limbo of Sacramento and maybe Las Vegas or whatever. They would have had their solution. They would have been done with it. But they dropped the ball on this. They backed out of this. It was too hard for them and something that everybody was on board with seemingly back then, the long-term stability of the club. And now look at them. Baseball teams have to boost revenues in order to stay competitive. That’s an old school thought, he said. And new ballparks are necessary to ensure that revenue. Probably not just the ballpark, but the real estate surrounding it, the development, all the 3,000 residential units. You’ll see here what the plans. It wasn’t just for a ballpark in Fremont. Let’s also be clear about that. Quote, I think this does it beautifully. This is something that’s good for baseball. He said they did what they had to do. They had no alternatives. This is a great day in baseball. It’ll set the pace for ballparks that come after it. That’s Bud Cely right there. Listen, listen to that quote. This does it beautifully. This is good for baseball. They did what they had to do. Does that sound like like like something positive? They did what they had to do. They had no alternatives. But this is a great day in baseball. I agree. If it kept a team, then it would have been a great thing. But it doesn’t seem like it was the greatest thing. The naming agreement is valued at $4 million with Cisco annually with the potential for yearly increases based on inflation. As part of the deal, the team said Cisco will get an undisclosed amount of print, radio, and television exposure. See what I mean? There’s no internet exposure. Print, radio, and television exposure when that used to have as much value as it did. The team will break ground on the project once is once it is approved by the city of Fremont. That’s it. One thing holding you back and you couldn’t get there and other government agencies. Wolf said he did not say when he would make an actual development application to the city. Wouldn’t you declare that like, hey, early 2027, we’re going to move forward on that. This really seemed like a talk about it more than an actual we’re going to do it type situation. Fremont Mayor Bob Wasserman, who was at the press conference, said he was excited about the plan. Quote, “There’s no such thing maybe as a slam dunk in develop. There’s no such thing slam dunk. There’s no such thing as a slam dunk development,” he said, but added that he was confident the plan will be realized. Well, Mayor Wasserman, got bad news for you, as you’re about to find out. The ballpark is expected to seat around 30 to 34,000 people, estimated to cost between $400 and $500 million to build. And now here we are 20 years later, and I think I truly think that a Las Vegas ballpark for the A’s is going to cost $3 billion. Yeah. With a roof. It’ll be funded by a combination of private equity and the application of the value of land use entitlements, most likely an adjacent residential and retail village. Look at that. Early 2000s, the A’s were at the forefront of this, too. The old ballpark village. It hadn’t necessarily become a thing yet in the 2000s like it became in the 2010s and really the 2020s. But this is what they were already ahead on. Imagine that. A stadium between 400 and 500 million and a ballpark village surrounding it. They could have got in at a handsome deal. It’s like real estate. Look at what your neighbor might have bought their house for 20 years ago versus what you paid for it, what your house like three years ago. It’s it’s depressing at times. Wol said the ballpark could open in 3 to 5 years. He did not address specific traffic concerns, but said the team would directly uh would deal directly with the city of Fremont on those issues. He noted that the city had already approved 3.5 million ft of development for Cisco at the site. We’re not sure, quote, he said, “Rss isn’t less traffic impact from what they’ve already approved there,” he said. So basically, they were already going to do something at this site and with this land, and with 880 and with BART coming nearby, we’re about to get to that, it was good enough probably to get people in and out for a stadium. Eventually, officials pointed out the planned BART extension to Warm Springs, which we do know in the late 10s and early 2020s, all this stuff happened. BART got down to Militus. We’ll stop within 2 miles of the site, but Alama County Supervisor Scott Hagerty warned that it would be probably not be completed before the stadium is built. That was not even close. Like, try 10, 12 years after that initial plan. Hagerty said he had no idea what the county’s role might be in the team’s move, but that it could possibly help purchase the land if there’s a public use. Like the county was willing to help the A’s back then. Hagerty also noted possibility of dedicated bus lines to the site and even a Montreal service. The A’s currently have a year-to-year lease at McAfee Coliseum with an option to renew annually through 2013. Today, the A’s said they would continue to play at McAfee Coliseum through at least the 2010 season. the decision by the A’s, by the way, to be in Fremont. So, in ‘ 06, this is what we’re doing. This is where we’re going. That decision came a week after the San Francisco 49ers announced their plans to move to Santa Clara, which is about 45 miles south of San Francisco. They ended up in Santa Clara County, as you know, at Levi Stadium, a week apart. And look how the 49ers have been playing there for more than a decade. And the A’s are two cities away now. Basically, they think. So, this was 2006, November of 2006. I’m going to fast forward you here. Now, we’re going to February 2009. It’s important you you put this in perspective here because when people talk about, oh, well, the A’s spent 20 years and couldn’t find a ballpark site. For 3 years, we thought they were doing Fremont, right? Like, you didn’t hear about this because you thought it was in the works. You thought it was underway. maybe would take a couple extra years, but until February 21st of 2009, so maybe not three full years, right, from November of ‘ 06 to February of09, but more than a year, more like two years, whatever the actual time is. It’s now strike three for the Oakland Athletics in Fremont. The team has bowed out of plans to build a new stadium and relocate 25 miles south on the Nitz Freeway, A’s officials said Friday. Not the city, not the county, not anybody else officially saying you can’t do this. The team bowed out of plans. Quote, “At this time, we have decided to no longer pursue the Fremont project,” said ease spokesman Bob Rose. I remember Bob. He used to work for the Giants, too. “We are regrouping and will have discussions internally about our future options.” They did it. They called it. The team asked the city of Fremont this week to halt the planning process required to build the stadium. A city council meeting on the stadium scheduled for Tuesday has been cancelled. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s dead,” said Fremont Vice Mayor Anu Nad Rahan. Quote, “I don’t know if this was the right thing for Fremont or not, but I’m very disappointed we didn’t let the process unfold.” End quote. The Ace had planned to build a $ 1.8 8 billion ballpark village next to the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge consisting of a 32,000 seat stadium, 3,100 units of housing and 500,000 square ft of high-end retail about 5 miles from the nearest BART station. Again, was this really about a ballpark for the A’s or was it about all the other things that they wanted and needed to do to kind of pay for the ballpark? The 226 acre development would have been completed in 2012. They weren’t only going to buy 130 acres of land. Somehow it jumped up. I don’t know if the facts were changed or I don’t remember how that part of it went, but it was bound to be big, maybe too big for what it should have ultimately been. And again, sometimes just build the ballpark first and then build everything around it over time. But it was kind of the plan here to do all of this at once, pay for it all at once, and try and get all of that approved and paid for. Many merchants, residents, and public officials embraced the plan, hoping it would raise the city’s profile and boost the economy. And again, that’s the whole Fremont piece earlier. Not a knock against Fremont. It’s just not necessarily a headline destination, but a lot of people wanted to host Major League Baseball there and help put Fremont a little bit more on the map. Mayor Bob Wasserman from moments ago, a longtime proponent of the move, was devastated that the plan had fallen through. Quote, “It’s terrible news.” He said Fremont’s lost the best opportunity we’ve ever had. The city will stop reviewing the site near the wildlife refuge called Pacific Commons, which you’ve probably seen off the um off the interstate. Like it they built it out, right? As well as a site in Warm Springs. In December, the A said they would consider the Warm Springs alternative site in Fremont, which would put the ballpark village near a BART extension. But residents bocked at that idea too because they said the Warm Springs location is too close to an elementary school and residential neighborhoods. And I kind of agree with that. A’s officials would not comment on specific reasons for the team’s withdrawal. Let me let me just stop right there for a second, too. Remember that old like thing about showing your math? If you’re going to back out of this, and in recent years, like the Tampa Bay Rays had a stadium deal in St. Pete, then they threw a bunch of excuses out there and then they just backed out of it. You at least have to show your math. Why are you backing out of this? What’s What’s the problem? You You proposed this. The A’s proposed this. And they never showed their math. They just said, “We’re out and we don’t really need to explain it.” But owner Lou Wolf has said he has been frustrated with the delays and community opposition. Was there a lot? I don’t remember there being a ton of community opposition. There was more community opposition to doing Howard Terminal than there ever was with this Fremont project. Wol wanted to relocate the team from Oakland, its home for 41 years, because of the inconvenience of sharing a stadium with the Oakland Raiders. The field needs to be constantly restriped, and the wear and tear of Raiders games on the grass can create hazards for the A’s players. But really though, is it about the stadium, or is it about that real estate that you really want? In addition, no land around the Coliseum. Oh, was available for Wolf to build the shopping and housing development he envisioned. It’s like I forgot that was coming next in this article, but like you could see that’s the thought process here. Before announcing plans to move to Fremont in 2007, or was it 2006? The A’s looked at sites in Oakland, including Uptown, Lake Merritt, and the former Army base, but were not able to reach an agreement with the city. The A’s have also said they’d like to relocate to San Jose, which is something that they tried to pursue again even after this. But Santa Clair County is part of the San Francisco Giants marketing territory. According to Major League Baseball, a move to San Jose became even more enticing for the A’s when Santa Clara County voters approved a sales tax in November to help pay for a BART extension to San Jose. Has that still happened? Are they still working on that? Access to BART would make it easier for fans to travel to games. Many A’s fans said uh said they are relieved that the appar that the A’s apparently will stay put at least for the next few years. Let me let me do that again. I botched it a little bit. I want to make sure that sinks in. Many A’s fans said they are relieved that the A’s apparently will stay put at least for the next few years. The Coliseum, while not perfect, is familiar, easy to reach by public transit, and not without a certain grunge grungy charm, they said. And here’s here’s the the takeaway quote. If this means the A’s stay in Oakland, the Boosters would be pleased, said Ray Dickinson, vice president of the Athletics Boosters Club. But baseball’s a business and they’re going to do what they can to put money in their pockets. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just moved somewhere else. Look at that quote. Look at that date. And now you know what you know about what happened. Here’s my takeaways. Fremont wasn’t the sexy move and there was some instant backlash and some instant opposition to leaving Oakland and I understand that and I probably stood for that back then too. But in reverse and overtime and over the years I think free Fremont would have worked well enough and it’s not just about keeping the team or salvaging the team. If Fremont were something bad then this would have put them in the in the very same jeopardy. So, I’m looking at this in reverse and saying if this would have happened, it would have worked. It would have kept the team. People would have been satisfied. It would have been closer to Santa Clara County. This is similar to Levi Stadium. If baseball wouldn’t allow you to go to Santa Clara County, this Fremont site, what was it like maybe a mile or two from the Santa CL County border and probably closer to downtown San Jose? We should I should have done the math on this. That Fremont site, I guarantee I don’t even need to look this up. closer to downtown San Jose and the whole South Bay Santa Clara Valley region than it is downtown Oakland or all of its surrounding community. So this was like the A’s could have gotten what they wanted out of Santa Clara County, stayed in Alama County, done something similar similar to Levi Stadium and they couldn’t get it done. The A’s never showed the math on backing out of this. They just backed out. So h when people blame Oakland for the A’s leaving that that can be fine. But here’s a chance the A’s had to go somewhere, thrive somewhere, stay somewhere and they couldn’t do it and they backed out of it. And this is why you can’t believe every press conference, right? Even when somebody says they’re going to do something, that’s great. You can say it, but then you have to go do it. We can believe, we can listen to you when you say it, but we can’t believe you until you actually do it. Go back to those photos at the beginning of this video. It was a press conference. We’re holding up signs and logos and renderings. And here we are. Handshake with Cisco. Here’s our our naming rights deal. We’re going to throw a big sign up. Like, look at that. It doesn’t get much more official than that. They they planted their flag. This is like going to the moon and planting your flag in Fremont. They planted a sign out there. But the point is, it doesn’t get much more official than that. At least from a believing a team standpoint. Look at all that open land out there. Just dying for a baseball field. All that all that promise and it never happened. Anyway, a long video, but a historic take on things. I just needed to include that in the conversation. Maybe you’ll learn something out of this. The coverage from ’06 and then eventually a couple years later. Leave your comments down below. I’ll check those out. Also, thumbs up before this video is over. Greatly helps me, the video, and the channel. And don’t forget to hit that subscribe button down below. I would love to see you definitely back here next time.

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2006-11-14 14:15:00 PST SAN JOSE — The Oakland Athletics will move to Fremont, team officials confirmed today in announcing an agreement to buy a 143-acre site for a stadium in the East Bay city.

What the team will be called remains to be seen. But the “state-of-the-art baseball-only stadium” will be christened Cisco Field as part of a 30-year naming rights agreement, Oakland A’s managing partner Lew Wolff said.

Read More BEFORE: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/A-s-announce-plan-to-buy-land-move-to-Fremont-2466732.php

The team has bowed out of plans to build a new stadium and relocate 25 miles south on the Nimitz Freeway, A’s officials said Friday.

“At this time we have decided to no longer pursue the Fremont project,” said A’s spokesman Bob Rose. “We are regrouping and will have discussions internally about our future options.”

The team asked the city of Fremont this week to halt the planning process required to build a stadium. A City Council meeting on the stadium scheduled for Tuesday has been canceled.

Read More AFTER: https://www.sfgate.com/athletics/article/A-s-halt-plans-for-ballpark-village-in-Fremont-3170924.php

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