New Pro Baseball for San Jose Website!

Though we are quickly moving towards the coldest part of the year, things are heating up for Baseball San Jose.  First we have a new website, Pro Baseball for San Jose.  The new site has links to information, faq's and more, make sure to bookmark the new site and send the link to all your friends and family members, especially if they live in San Jose.

I will still be writing the blog (there is a link to the blog on the new website), posting on events and other things you can do to help bring Pro Baseball to San Jose. One of the most important things you can do right now is to make sure you spread the word about our Facebook group, the blog and the new website. 

Secondly the Mercury published an article today comparing the owner of the A's to the managing general partner of the Giants:

With their teams sitting out this week's World Series, both are looking ahead to winter, when baseball's 30 owners will meet to decide everything from TV deals to big trades. As Wolff, co-owner of the Oakland A's, and Neukom, managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants, rub elbows, they'll no doubt be mindful that this same group of millionaires soon could redraw the Bay Area's baseball map.

With a three-quarters vote, baseball's owners can terminate the Giants' territorial rights to the South Bay and let the A's move to San Jose. But first, a commission appointed by Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is studying the A's stadium options. That committee met Thursday with San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and other city officials who've been assembling plans for a privately financed $489 million ballpark.

 And:

However, Selig's committee may conclude that a move to the South Bay would make the most money for baseball's owners. MLB teams participate in revenue sharing, where the wealthiest teams end up supporting less lucrative ones like the A's. Team boosters are certain a move to the more demographically affluent San Jose would lead to higher ticket sales and end the team's taking subsidies from the revenue pool.

The Giants also are fighting to hold onto that affluent South Bay fan base, as well as the profitable advertising deals, sponsorships and club suites the team has secured at AT&T park with high profile Silicon Valley companies.

One source close to MLB, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the issue, stressed that whatever Selig does will be based on what is best for baseball, not his friendship with Wolff.

 Those of us who live in San Jose know that the best place for the A's is San Jose, we have the population, a great site for a stadium and the building of a new stadium would be a financial boom for our city and the entire county. 

The decision to allow the A's to move to San Jose, as noted in the Merc article, will be based on what is financially best for MLB.  Those of us who live and work in San Jose already know that our wonderful city is the best financial move for MLB and San Jose, for now we just have to wait for the owners to come to that same conclusion.

While we do not have much control over what the team owners will decide, we can show MLB that the residents of San Jose support bringing the A's to our great city by making sure to increase the number of people who have joined our Facebook group and subscribers to this blog.

Play ball San Jose.

 

Baseball Season Never Ends

Did you know that Baseball season never ends?  It just goes into extra innings : )  Ok, so that was my lame attempt at humor, just one of those things one has to do on a Tuesday when Friday is still farther away then Monday.

Speaking of Baseball season never ending, how about a special event featuring the A's?  The San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce is bringing the A's and Earthquakes together for a special recognition:

This year, you are in for a special treat as we recognize The Spirit of Santa Clara Valley within our community and celebrate not one but two teams.  We are pleased to announce that the Oakland A's and the San Jose Earthquakes have joined forces with the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce for this special luncheon. 

Join us and hear how these two teams will SHAKE our valley with their exciting plans, and how these plans will JOLT our economy.  This event will be off the Richter scale.

"Experience the Quake" Spirit of Santa Clara Valley Luncheon

Monday, October 26, 2009

11:30am - 1:30pm

Fourth Street Summit Center

88 South Fourth Street

San Jose, CA  95112

A player, coach or member of the management team from either the A's or Earthquakes will sit at each sponsor table.  To RSVP, email janah@sjchamber.com not later than Monday, October 19, 2009.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Stephanie Caldwell at 408-291-5280

Tickets are $100 and you can register by visiting the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber's website.  Looks to be a fun event, make sure to grab your ticket before they are all gone.

More news: Lew Wolff knows the way to San Jose

A couple of things:  The new A's ball park blog has a great overview of the released report, and since I am still reading through the report I will quote him here:

1. The firm used for this version, Conventions Sports & Leisure, is the same one used by the City of Santa Clara for their 49ers stadium study. I will be looking carefully for unrealistic projections.

2. Cost of the 32,000-seat ballpark is projected to be $461 million in 2009 dollars, $489 million in 2011 dollars. Ballpark would open in 2014.

3. The City's projected impact is ~$1.5 million in additional general fund revenue, net of increased city service costs ($45k). The A's would pay for all gameday police, emergency and traffic expenses.

4. Projected 2.1 million in attendance plus 3 non-baseball events.

5. 50% of attendees would not be from
San Jose and would be coming in solely for an A's game.

There are a few more points to read on the new A's ball park blog so make sure to click on the link and read the entire post. 

And then we have a Bloomberg article that quotes Lew Wolff:

Wolff said San Jose is now the best option for the team’s new home. The city, which has a population of more than 1 million and is the 10th-largest in the U.S., is about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Oakland.

“We’ve explored the Bay Area for a long time now and I think our only real option is downtown San Jose,” Wolff, chairman of Los Angeles-based developer Wolff Urban Development LLC, said in a telephone interview.

Wolff, 73, said he’s waiting to hear whether a move to San Jose would be allowed by Major League Baseball since the San Francisco Giants hold territorial rights to San Jose. Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney didn’t immediately return telephone and e-mail messages. 

As for Las Vegas or Portland:

San Jose is the best option “to stay in northern California and that’s what we want to do,” Wolff said. “We haven’t really explored other cities, nor do we want to.”

What never fails to amaze me is that we have no news for literally months, and now?  More news then we could have imagined.

Clearly San Jose is positioned for the A's, our job is to make sure that we are organized and ready to work hard to make this dream happen.

Last but never least, our facebook group went over 800 supporters today!  GREAT job everyone, and please keep on referring people to the group.

Play ball San Jose!

Just released: Economic Impact Analysis for the Proposed Major League Ballpark

I haven't had time to read the entire analysis yet, but wanted to make sure that you were able to download and read the report for yourself.  Will read and post on the report tomorrow, until then feel free to post your thoughts in the comments.

Update:  The Mercury just published an article on the report:

The analysis also shows that a new stadium would create a total of 2,100 full-, part-time and seasonal jobs in San Jose, of which 980 would be new jobs. That number does not include players but does include team personnel.

The analysis more than pleased Mayor Chuck Reed.

"San Jose is ready to play ball," Reed said in a statement issued this morning. "This report finds that it makes fiscal and economic sense to bring baseball to downtown. Our residents will benefit, our downtown businesses will benefit and surrounding communities will benefit."

At its core, the 74-page analysis — prepared by a consulting firm at a cost of $130,000 — establishes a set of negotiating principles that frame any possible agreement with the A's, including that the team — and not taxpayers — would be responsible for financing and building the stadium and financing all stadium operating costs
"We've told them that that is our expectation — that they would agree to cover all costs in and around the stadium that relate to their activity," said Paul Krutko, the city's lead negotiator. 

The link to the report is here, and here is the press release from the mayor's office:

Statement on Stadium Impact

Time to show your support

Bringing MLB to San Jose is going to be a process, and you can be part of that process by attending an upcoming workshop on Saturday, September 12th, 9 am to 12 pm, at the Parkside Hall, Room B
(west of the Tech Museum of Innovation)180 Park Avenue (east of South Almaden Boulevard) San José, CA.

The visioning workshop will focus on the Diridon Station Area Plan, and we have the opportunity to be heard as the planning for this area starts to take shape.

This event is one more way for us to show that support for MLB is alive and well in San Jose.  Mark your calendar and show up to be heard at this workshop.

Play ball San Jose.

VisioningWorkshop09_12_2009

SVLG supports bringing the A's to San Jose UPDATED

Another huge vote of support for bringing the A's to San Jose! The Silicon Valley Leadership Group:

adopted a formal position of support for the city’s efforts at a meeting of the Group’s Working Council, its policy-setting body, on Thursday, June 4. The support aligns with an earlier poll of Leadership Group members that found strong endorsement of the proposition that San Jose should be home to a major league team.

Here is a link to the survey given to SVLG members, and here are some highlights:

• More than 70% of the 121 respondents agreed that the “City of San Jose (the third largest city in California and 10^thlargest in U.S.) should be the home of a Major League Baseball team.” Only 9 percent disagreed; the balance had no opinion.

• Notably, nearly 70% of respondents that currently “sponsor, advertise or purchase game ticket packages, would support both the Giant’s and ‘San Jose A’s’”.

Clearly we are moving along folks! And in the not too distant future we will be asked to step up to the plate and help bring the A's to their new home. Stay tuned as things are certainly getting interesting with more news to come.

And thank you for your good work in driving up our facebook numbers, right now we are at 773 members and growing!

Play ball San Jose : )

UPDATE:

From the Business Journal:

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said Friday he is hopeful the voters of his city will be able to vote in November on whether to build a stadium for the Oakland Athletics.

And:

He told the audience he hopes to have an agreement with Wolff hammered out by early July so the San Jose City Council could take up the issue in August. That time frame would need to be followed in order to get a stadium proposal on the ballot this fall.

Though Reed has said previously his city can’t afford to spend any public money on building the A’s ballpark, it does have a 14-acre site at Park Avenue and Autumn/Montgomery streets on the western edge of downtown San Jose where it could be built.

If the vote is in November, clear your weekends and be prepared to knock on doors : )

Yes, I have been away

Sorry everyone, life gets in the way of blogging sometimes : ) Anyhow, am back and have an action item for you.

But, before I get to the action item, things seems to be moving along for the "home team" San Jose, and given that our population has passed 1 million, our numbers should help convince MLB that San Jose is "the" place to be (we already know this, just have to make sure the powers that be get the message as well).

Action item: Tomorrow there is a city meeting, early afternoon, and one of items on the agenda has to do with the stadium:

Tuesday, for the first time, the City Council will vote on a handful of principles meant to shape any future negotiations with the A's. While those provisions hold the promise for some form of city contribution, they also make clear such an investment would require a citywide referendum and couldn't include San Jose's strapped operating funds.

The item should come up at about 3 pm or so, and if you can, please try to make the meeting (always good to show the council and mayor that there is support for MLB). The meeting is in the council chambers, San Jose City Hall, and don't forget to wear your baseball hat : )

If you can't make the meeting, you can also watch online, click here to go to the live stream.

Here is a link to the agenda, print it out if you like, or save it for historical purposes : )

Ok, that is it for now, be back after the meeting tomorrow.