Giants may block A's move to San Jose

[Mays-Fan]

Giants | May block San Jose move

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:03:18 -0800

The San Francisco Giants may block the Oakland Athletics' proposed move to San Jose, citing territorial rights it claims it owns over Santa Clara County.

Comment (0) | Share: Tweet! Share on Facebook | Source: San Francisco Chronicle - Susan Slusser

Read more: KFFL - San Francisco Giants News and Notes

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Now I'm not from the Bay Area, and don't know all the nuances involved.

That being said, IMHO, I would have to believe it would be pretty foolish for the Giants to allow the A's to move to SJ. That would have to cut into the Giants fan base, and disrupt/end their relationship with their farm club there.

I understand that several of you here are A's fans as well - no problem, and nothing personal, and I'm sorry. As Michael Corleone said, it's strictly business.

Besides, IMHO, the A's should move to San Antonio. I'm not sure why some other struggling MLB team hasn't already. It's the seventh largest city in the US, great baseball weather, and they have money out the wazoo.

 

[msgkings322]

Giants | May block San Jose move

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:03:18 -0800

The San Francisco Giants may block the Oakland Athletics' proposed move to San Jose, citing territorial rights it claims it owns over Santa Clara County.

Comment (0) | Share: Tweet! Share on Facebook | Source: San Francisco Chronicle - Susan Slusser

Read more: KFFL - San Francisco Giants News and Notes

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Now I'm not from the Bay Area, and don't know all the nuances involved.

That being said, IMHO, I would have to believe it would be pretty foolish for the Giants to allow the A's to move to SJ. That would have to cut into the Giants fan base, and disrupt/end their relationship with their farm club there.

I understand that several of you here are A's fans as well - no problem, and nothing personal, and I'm sorry. As Michael Corleone said, it's strictly business.

Besides, IMHO, the A's should move to San Antonio. I'm not sure why some other struggling MLB team hasn't already. It's the seventh largest city in the US, great baseball weather, and they have money out the wazoo.

The city itself is large but it's so sprawling there's not much else around it. The 'metro' area would make it a pretty small market, although Austin is only an hour away. But I agree it's still an uptick over Oakland, Tampa, etc.

SF is a medium/low population city with a very large 'metro' area.

 

[CameronFrye]

Giants | May block San Jose move

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:03:18 -0800

The San Francisco Giants may block the Oakland Athletics' proposed move to San Jose, citing territorial rights it claims it owns over Santa Clara County.

Comment (0) | Share: Tweet! Share on Facebook | Source: San Francisco Chronicle - Susan Slusser

Read more: KFFL - San Francisco Giants News and Notes

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Now I'm not from the Bay Area, and don't know all the nuances involved.

That being said, IMHO, I would have to believe it would be pretty foolish for the Giants to allow the A's to move to SJ. That would have to cut into the Giants fan base, and disrupt/end their relationship with their farm club there.

I understand that several of you here are A's fans as well - no problem, and nothing personal, and I'm sorry. As Michael Corleone said, it's strictly business.

Besides, IMHO, the A's should move to San Antonio. I'm not sure why some other struggling MLB team hasn't already. It's the seventh largest city in the US, great baseball weather, and they have money out the wazoo.

It's not about cutting into the fan base or about the SJ Giants. Those two things are both VERY insignificant. The reason the Giants cannot let the AAAA's move to San Jose is because the Giants have a LOT of money tied up in partnerships with South Bay businesses. If they allowed the AAAA's to move there, it would jeopardize the team's ability to make money off a very large segment of the Silicon Valley dollars. Why would Yahoo! or Google spend money 50 miles away in San Francisco when the AAAA's had a stadium 5 miles away in the heart of the Silicon Valley?

It's just bad business. Let Lew Wolfe twist in the wind and eventually sell the franchise to someone who will move it to Portland or San Antonio or Vegas or Oklahoma City. Eff the A'ss.

 

[sfsportsfan]

didnt Wolf just buy a some land in SJ?

hes either really stupid, or knows something we all dont.

tbh, if the A's give the giants like 300million, and we can lock up timmy, cain and madbum, i'd be fine with them moving.

 

[mistgl]

didnt Wolf just buy a some land in SJ?

hes either really stupid, or knows something we all dont.

tbh, if the A's give the giants like 300million, and we can lock up timmy, cain and madbum, i'd be fine with them moving.

The Orioles got 70mil when the Nationals moved to DC, but they didn't actually own the rights to the DC area. That was more or less a pay off to get them to STFU.

We, on the other hand, actually have it in writing that we own SJ. The A's can whine that they were the ones who gave it to us all they want, but it really wasn't smart to not put a time limit on our ownership of the territory.

 

[calsnowskier]

The funding for AT&T also came with promises of control of Silicon Valley, so the G's have built their foundation on the fact that they OWN that territory. If, some how, they lose it, the days if 130M payroll will be over, and the G's will be a mid of the pack team, at best.

 

[sfsportsfan]

The Orioles got 70mil when the Nationals moved to DC, but they didn't actually own the rights to the DC area. That was more or less a pay off to get them to STFU.

We, on the other hand, actually have it in writing that we own SJ. The A's can whine that they were the ones who gave it to us all they want, but it really wasn't smart to not put a time limit on our ownership of the territory.

Explain the part about the A's giving the land?

I was talking to someone who saod they heard on the radio they gave us the land but didnt know the back story.

 

[CameronFrye]

Explain the part about the A's giving the land?

I was talking to someone who saod they heard on the radio they gave us the land but didnt know the back story.

Back in the 1993 when the Giants were trying to get a ballpark built in San Jose, no one had territorial rights to San Jose. The Giants and the AAAA's worked out a deal to give the Giants rights to the South Bay so that they could pursue the right to build a stadium in San Jose. Of course we all know that the ballot measure failed and the Giants were almost sold to Tampa.

When the Giants were lining up the private financing of AT&T Park in the late 1990s, former CEO Peter Magowan claims that part of the reason they were able to attract the financing that they did is because they had the agreement for territorial rights to the South Bay - and all the marketing that goes with those business ventures.

I am sure that for the AAAA's to get the Giants to back off, they are going to have to come up with a VERY large chunk of change - and I am guessing that SF's ownership group is not going to take it in small monthly installments.

If Selig caves and gives his college fraternity brother the South Bay rights, you can rest assured that the Giants will fight it in court. Let's just hope that recently ousted CEO Bill Neukom is still on speaking terms with the majority owners.

 

[SFGRTB]

The funding for AT&T also came with promises of control of Silicon Valley, so the G's have built their foundation on the fact that they OWN that territory. If, some how, they lose it, the days if 130M payroll will be over, and the G's will be a mid of the pack team, at best.

Not necessarily. There is obviously a huge amount of G fans there that will still last a couple generations if they were to sell. Plus, the Giants will receive a huge sum of cash in that situation as well, which would be able to go to the stadium tax, taking a chunk out of that cost and creating wiggle room.

I think we can expect the Giants to demand a ton of money for the sale or tell Wolf to F-Off and as said forced to sell and look else where.

 

[SFGRTB]

didnt Wolf just buy a some land in SJ?

hes either really stupid, or knows something we all dont.

tbh, if the A's give the giants like 300million, and we can lock up timmy, cain and madbum, i'd be fine with them moving.

Probably has to do with the SJ Earthquakes.

 

[CameronFrye]

Probably has to do with the SJ Earthquakes.

No. It is for the AAAA's. Wolf has agreed to option two parcels of land in downtown San Jose where he intends to build a ballpark for his team. There are a few problems - first, the City of San Jose has agreed to sell the land for about $7 mil - less than one-third what they paid for it when they bought it. To take a loss on the property, the city would have to put the issue before the voters. To sell that to the voters, the City of San Jose would have to have a DAMN good reason for taking an $18 million bath on land - especially since the AAAA's don't have the right to build a ballpark on it right now. The options that Wolff has on the land are for three years ($50K each of the first two years and $25 K the third year), so he's definitely hoping to get MLB's approval first.

There are other groups who have wanted to use that land to make money for the city of San Jose for a long time. Other cities in the Bay Area who have land parcels that large lease the land to large corporations and make boatloads of cash. Plus, the City of San Jose is not making too much money on HP Pavillion so it's not like they can use that as an example of a good way to make money for San Jose.

Also, Wolff just bought the Saint Claire Hotel in downtown San Jose. It really is not an indicator of anything in particular, as he already owned the Fairmont in San Jose and San Francsico and has 17 luxury hotels to his name as of late. At one point, his company owned almost 50 luxury hotels.

 

[mistgl]

They should just move to Portland.

They're never going to be big spenders, and it's not like the OR market is any worse than their already stagnate territory in Oakland. The fact that they want to move to our greener lands is just laughable. The G's spent the better part of the last two decades making our territories profitable for us, and now they wanna just move in all kthxbia style? No thank you.

Like Cam said, even if the MLB tries to force to issue, we'll just take it to court. We have a contract in writing and they don't, so suck it A's imo.

 

[the_broom]

They should just move to Portland.

They're never going to be big spenders, and it's not like the OR market is any worse than their already stagnate territory in Oakland. The fact that they want to move to our greener lands is just laughable. The G's spent the better part of the last two decades making our territories profitable for us, and now they wanna just move in all kthxbia style? No thank you.

Like Cam said, even if the MLB tries to force to issue, we'll just take it to court. We have a contract in writing and they don't, so suck it A's imo.

Repped....

 

[msgkings322]

More on this from the always interesting Grantland:

Jonah Keri looks behind the curtain of the alleged woes of MLB's second-class franchises - Grantland

 

[SFGRTB]

How does the A's winning this season change things (if at all)?

There's also this: San Jose gets tough on A's move opponents - San Jose Mercury News

 

[tzill]

didnt Wolf just buy a some land in SJ?

hes either really stupid, or knows something we all dont.

tbh, if the A's give the giants like 300million, and we can lock up timmy, cain and madbum, i'd be fine with them moving.

Not me. I want them gone and the nation's fifth largest TV market all to myself. That way, we can play the Red Sox to the doyer's Yankees.

Don't kid yourself, the Giants are trying to freeze the A'ss out of the Bay area just so they can do that. The big money is in the TV contract, as the doyers, yanks, red sox, philth, cubs, etc. prove.

 

[tzill]

Or as Jeff Kent might say "the money lies in the viewing eyes."

 

[SFGRTB]

Or as Jeff Kent might say "the money lies in the viewing eyes."

'Survivor' cast includes Jeff Kent and 1980s sitcom star - San Jose Mercury News

 

[sfsportsfan]

yeah, i no longer stand by my comment after what the dodgers have done.