San Francisco Update: San Jose Wants A’s With No Strings Attached

by Jeremiah Tittle

SFC recently reported on the Oakland A’s and San Francisco 49ers’ pursuit of new stadiums to house their clubs in the near future. What we’ve learned about bay area tax payers is that they are a force to be reckoned with.  They are informed and won’t allow sports teams to bully them into constructing a billion-dollar coliseum on the public dime. Good for them.

The latest news out of northern California is that San Jose County would be interested in donating land in their downtown area for a new A’s ballpark. While SFC loses respect for any kind of donation to billionaires, the local residents of San Jose have shown backbone in their demand that the team pay to build the stadium and for all operations going forward.

Like any team owner, Lew Wolff would love for someone else to pay for his big plans. Neil deMause of FieldofSchemes.com astutely points out that Wolff has yet to clarify how the city will handle traffic issues in downtown San Jose, Freemont, or Santa Clara (that is, if Major League Baseball allows the A’s to move onto cross-town rival Giants’ land).

Furthermore, our friends at NewBallpark.org have picked apart the San Jose State University poll – which found a majority of San Jose residents in favor of bringing the A’s to their downtown district - providing keen local insight into the struggles ahead for Commissioner Bud Selig and the owners in developing their plans to build in the bay area.

Note to San Francisco: Sports stadiums are not churches or government buildings and should be taxed ESPECIALLY if you provide the land free of charge to the club. SFC applauds your fight to keep billionaires out of your pockets in their pursuit of new toys.

Continue to follow developments in the San Fracisco saga here.

To start a Local Chapter in the bay area, email us here.

Jeremiah Tittle is the Managing Editor of SportsFansCoalition.org.