Athletics Halt Move to Fremont, Plan for Stadium (Update1)
By Erik Matuszewski
Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The Oakland Athletics dropped efforts to relocate to Fremont, California, and develop a $1.8 billion ballpark village in the town.
Athletics owner Lew Wolff sent a letter today to Fremont Mayor Bob Wasserman about the Major League Baseball team’s decision to halt planning for the project, which included a 32,000-seat stadium, a hotel, 3,000 townhouse-style residences and more than 500,000 square feet of retail space.
“I expressed my regrets and gratitude, especially to those people who shared our vision and spent endless hours in support of our proposal,” Wolff said in an e-mailed statement. “However, it became increasingly clear that our ballpark project faced significant delays ahead and I could not, in good conscience, continue to lead our team down this path.”
The A’s had reached a 30-year naming-rights agreement with Cisco Systems Inc., the world’s biggest maker of computer- networking equipment, to name the planned ballpark Cisco Field. Fremont is 20 miles (32.2 kilometers) south of Oakland and 10 miles north of Cisco’s headquarters in San Jose.
“Cisco and the A’s remain committed to our relationship and vision of providing baseball fans with a new, immersive and interactive stadium experience with cutting-edge technology,” Cisco spokeswoman Robyn Jenkins-Blum said in an e-mail. “Our desire is to keep the A’s in the Bay Area, and keep the Bay Area a ‘major league’ community.”
The A’s have played in Oakland’s Coliseum -- now the McAfee Coliseum -- since 1968, and are committed through 2010 under their lease agreement. The National Football League’s Raiders also use the 63,000-seat stadium, which is owned by the city of Oakland and Alameda County.
Fourth-Lowest Attendance
The A’s, who had the fourth-lowest attendance in the major leagues last season, sought a new stadium to help generate more revenue from suites, luxury seating, parking and concessions.
“My goal and desire for the organization is to determine a way to keep the team in northern California,” said Wolff, chairman of Los Angeles-based developer Wolff Urban Development LLC. “This goal has not changed.”
The Athletics open the regular season on April 6 against the Los Angeles Angels.
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Matuszewski in New York at matuszewski@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: February 24, 2009 16:48 EST |
