Waterfront Ballpark in Oakland a Tough Sell

Following unsuccessful attempts to move the Oakland Athletics to San Jose (an area controlled by the San Francisco Giants), team owner Lew Wolff is resistant to a plan to move the team to a waterfront location.

1 minute read

January 24, 2014, 10:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Oakland A’s Owner Lew Wolff has been meeting with Oakland city officials about a plan to build a new stadium as part of a sports an entertainment hub at the current Coliseum complex site near the Oakland International Airport.

According to the report by Matthew Artz, a team of business leaders hoping to move the team to a picturesque location at a 50-acre waterfront site near Jack London Square is moving ahead with permit requests, despite the continued opposition of Wolff. Architectural renderings for the proposed waterfront stadium include the iconic port cranes (which have become an unofficial symbol of Oakland) located just over the outfield wall between the stadium and the San Francisco Bay.

According to Wolff, the waterfront idea would place the stadium too far from BART. He also notes that the waterfront site would require environmental remediation and at least one significant regulation hurdle: “A stadium at the port also would require state regulators to find that there is no viable maritime use for the property.”

Wednesday, January 22, 2014 in San Jose Mercury News

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