Whispers Of New Ballpark For Oakland Athletics Growing Stronger
How Long Will the O.Co Coliseum Be the Oakland Athletics’ Home?
While three major trades involving the Athletics have taken place over this past week, there have been some other rumors circulating around Oakland. This gossip would be surrounding the issue of the O.Co Coliseum and a potential new home for the Oakland Athletics. Yes, this issue has been in the news for quite some time now, but this time, something may come to fruition soon.
On Monday, Billy Beane had a press conference call with various writers to talk about the Tyler Clippard trade. In the midst of talking about their recent trades, Beane casually stated that the team is acquiring younger, more prominent prospects that would potentially be playing in a new stadium somewhere down the road; this was reported by San Francisco Chronicle writer Susan Slusser:
"“If we’re going to have hopefully some sustained success, it’s going to have to be done organically, with a large group of players coming through,” Beane said, citing the Astros as a model. “It may take a little bit longer, but hopefully we’ll be able to hold on to them longer. Understand, too, I think we’re all hopeful and optimistic about the venue situation here changing sometime in the near future, and if it does, this is probably the best approach, anyway.” (Susan Slusser, San Francisco Chronicle)"
On A’s Talk after the game on Tuesday night, 95.7 The Game’s Chris Townsend expressed his shock that Beane would even bring up the idea of a new stadium. In the past, Beane has been very tight lipped and even pessimistic about the possibility of a new ballpark. Could something be happening behind the scenes in Oakland that could result in more positive feelings regarding a new baseball-only stadium in the near future?
Let’s not forget that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is also dedicated to finding the A’s a new home and has expressed extensively to the media. He has stated numerous times that the MLB is supportive of the Athletics’ desire for a new stadium and will help in anyway. Could this possibly mean financial support as well? Additionally, Manfred seems to be in constant contact with Athletics’ co-owner Lew Wolff as well as the mayor of Oakland. With all the effort that Manfred is putting into this issue, the probability of a new ballpark happening soon is getting higher.
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Even though Oakland signed a 10-year lease agreement deal with the O.Co Coliseum, they could get out of this contract as early as December 2017. With all of their recently acquired minor league players down in Single- or Double-A, 2017 is around the time when they would be coming up to the majors. To be exact, 25 of their 30 top prospects are currently projected to reach the majors between 2016 – 2018. If Oakland were able to debut a new ballpark by the end of 2018, all of these young ball players would have a nice, shiny, new stadium to call home.
However, even if the Athletics have the support of the MLB and the financial means to build a stadium, they are going to need to kick out the Oakland Raiders once their one-year lease deal is up after the 2015 NFL season – especially if the A’s plan to build a new ballpark on the same site as the current O.Co Coliseum.
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