Oakland Athletics: Stadium plans should feel all too familiar

In a season where the Oakland Athletics are streaking towards an improbable playoff berth, is there trouble lurking behind the scenes?

The Oakland Athletics are winning. Once again living up to the story line we’ve all grown accustomed to seeing. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Despite one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, the A’s are finding a way to compete.

The competing part is wonderful. The winning part, divine. It’s the lowest payroll part that leaves A’s fans wildly conflicted, although it’s certainly easier to swallow this season.

With a low-budget team built on launch angles and fly balls, this current group of misfits (a commonly used misnomer Oakland baseball could do without), are putting together one of the more remarkable summers we’ve seen in recent history.

And if the team’s performance isn’t enough to get you excited, optimism for a new stadium is spreading like wildfire in the East Bay.

The first logical step in that direction occurred last week with BIG (Bjark Ingels Group) being brought on board.

The architecture firm has been tasked with not one, but two stadium designs as plans will be drawn up for both the Howard Terminal location and the Coliseum site.

So, what’s the problem?

The A’s are trying to chase down a pennant.  New stadium design plans have been commissioned. After languishing in the basement of the AL West over the last three years, things are finally trending up in Oakland… right?

Not so fast my friend. It’s never that simple for an A’s fan. Not while John Fisher is the majority owner of this team.

I was reminded of such this weekend by Scott Ostler, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. The title of Ostler’s column says it all.

“A’s get serious about pretending to build ballpark”

Talk about drawing a line in the sand.  It gets better.

“In studying any matter involving an A’s ballpark, it’s important to have fresh batteries in your fiction-detector.”

If you’re familiar with Ostler’s columns, he has always employed a tell-it-like-it-is approach and he takes the gloves off for this one as well. At first read, I was taken aback. Why all the skepticism, especially right now?

It’s high times for A’s fans in the Bay Area. This isn’t the season for condemnation of the owners, not when the A’s are breathing down the necks of the Houston Astros for the division lead, or is it?

Actually now is the perfect time to illuminate the baggage A’s ownership forces it’s fans to lug around year after year. What better way to draw attention to an issue than to plaster it on the wall when the most people happen to be looking?

The skepticism from Ostler is fully warranted.  It just took me a minute to get there because I’ve been blinded by Matt Chapman dumping home run balls over the wall.

I’ve been so caught up in this season, and the chatter involving a new stadium, that I’ve forgotten why the mantra “Rooted In Oakland” gained traction in the first place.

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It’s not just some frivolous saying printed on t-shirts.  It represents a commitment from the team to fans that the A’s will indeed remain in Oakland even though the Warriors and Raiders have moved on.

The irony of the statement is rich because it came shortly on the heels of a failed attempt by our friends Lew Wolff & John Fisher (Yes, JF shoulders the blame as well) to move this team out of Oakland and down to San Jose.

The “Rooted In Oakland” campaign was ownership’s way of seeking atonement for it’s mistakes. Let’s rebuild our fan base by telling them we promise to stay… this time around.

So perhaps going forward, when we read this mantra, we allow it to serve as a reminder that Fisher is still at the helm.

Who takes the blame?

Ostler’s article isn’t targeting the fans, the team, or Billy Beane who has zero to do with stadium matters. The only person on Ostler’s radar is John Fisher. It’s all about the ownership. It’s always been about the ownership. Why shoot the messenger?

Ostler is simply reminding us that just because talk of a stadium is floating around in the air, it doesn’t mean action is taking place.  We’ve been down this road previously. Ownership has pulled the rug out from under us before, are they setting us up to do it again?

As Oakland Athletics fans, we’ve had our heart strings tugged every which way by Fisher.  We’re building, we’re staying put, we’re leaving, we’re back. This part of being an A’s fan is exhausting.

“I plan to open a museum in Oakland to exhibit all the scale models and artist renderings of new A’s ballparks”

Now, I’ll admit, Ostler does come across a little flippant with his remarks, but is he wrong? Hit up Google and see how many artists renderings you can find of A’s stadium plans over the last decade.

Flippant or not, Ostler has a point and I have to say, I appreciate his sense of humor.  Gondolas have been mentioned as a means of transportation for the Howard Terminal location should the A’s decide to build a stadium there.

“Another thing about a ballpark at HT: You can’t get there, except on Kaval’s fan gondola, or Fandola (my name). A’s could save on gondola-construction costs by making it a hot-air balloon shuttle.”

The irreverence is hilarious. Fandolas?  I mean… that’s pure gold! And point taken Mr. Ostler. It all seems a little far-fetched, especially when it’s being spoon fed to us by John Fisher.

Throw in the fact that Bjark Ingels Group’s last plan for an NFL stadium had a moat going around it and maybe we are setting ourselves up to be bamboozled here.

Stadium plans

I’m not trying to be the parade killer. I’m loving every moment of this season and this team is unmistakably something special. I’m also optimistic about the A’s future in Oakland and stadium plans being part of the conversation is a good thing. I’m just skeptical that John Fisher will be the owner that takes us on that journey.

With that said, I agree with Ostler on one point, approach this with some caution. Embrace it, love it, but don’t believe it completely until we see action, not just words.

John Fisher hasn’t earned our trust. I urge any of you who are reading this to comment below about anything specific you can put to paper that Fisher has done for this ball club or it’s fans over the last thirteen years. Maybe I’m forgetting something.

What I do know is that John Fisher purchased this club in 2005 for $180 million dollars. Today, Forbes estimates the valuation of the franchise at just over $1 billion dollars.

Fisher has failed to put revenue back into this team.

Fisher’s long term vision for the A’s never included Oakland.

Fisher will no longer receive revenue sharing checks after the 2019 season.

Fisher has demonstrated time and time again that he is here for the money.

The money play here, and Ostler mentions this as well, is for Fisher to sell the team. All of the stadium talk could very well be posturing on Fisher’s part, and it shouldn’t surprise us if that’s the case. In fact, I hope it happens. The Oakland Athletics fan base is worth far more than he deserves.

The team will remain Rooted In Oakland. The team is being shaped into a perennial contender as we speak. A new stadium will be built at some point. Maybe, just maybe, we can come out of all of this with a new owner as well.