Death in Fremont
Ballpark Village, we hardly knew ye:
Oakland Athletics officials today asked the City of Fremont to halt the planning process required to build a new stadium and move the team there, saying they want to reconsider their options.
The Fremont city clerk’s office issued a notice today saying the A’s have asked the city to stop the environmental review and notice of preparation processes, which would have paved the way for the team to build a $1.8 billion “ballpark village” next to the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge.
“I think this means the A’s aren’t going to build this here, at least not at that site,” said Fremont Mayor Bob Wasserman. “I think it’s terrible. Fremont’s lost the best opportunity we’ve ever had.”
It wasn’t that long ago that cities used to compete for teams, but given how things are going in Miami and Fremont, one wonders if a place like Portland isn’t going to be able to make the A’s and the Marlins perform stupid ballclub tricks for the privilege of coming there and paying to build their own stadium. It’s certainly something I’d like to see.
Unless Phil Knight’s paying, Portland ain’t buying.
Paul Allen?
SSDB – The AAA team there can’t even draw 6,000 fans a night despite the next closest baseball team being 50 miles away.
Anybody from Portland out there? Maury? Neyer? I don’t know details, but isn’t there a debate there about upgrading the AAA ballpark? And isn’t Merritt (sic?) Paulson, yes Henry Paulson’s son, involved?
I’m gonna shamelessly promote myself. I blogged about the problems ahead for new stadium development last month @ The Biz of Baseball.
http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2888:when-stadium-financing-and-the-recession-collide&catid=67:pete-toms&Itemid=155
A recent article in The Nation (sometime in 2009, I believe) detailed the travails of the Paulson kid trying to scam public money to build a park in Portland.
Washington, DC should be available soon, I think that city should be a no-brainer for a baseball team!