What To Do With The Stadium When The Team Leaves?

"With Cisco Systems and Oakland Athletics officials promising to build a high-tech ballpark of the future in Fremont, Oakland city leaders are exploring how to use McAfee Coliseum without the team."

"...Ignacio De La Fuente, an Oakland City Council member who also serves on the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority's board of directors, suggested that his city might even benefit if the team moved.

"To be candid, we made more money in one Rolling Stones concert than the A's made (us) in a whole year. We will deal with it," De La Fuente said.

"It won't hurt the taxpayers of the city and the county," said Mark Kaufman, who works as general manager for the private company that runs the Coliseum complex, adding that it also could benefit his firm, SMG, which doesn't profit from the baseball games."

"A's managing partner Lew Wolff, who repeatedly pointed out (at a news conference) Tuesday (Nov. 14) that the team is staying in Alameda County, also promised a bright future.

"We're not moving to Timbuktu. We're going down the street, in our mind," Wolff said.

"Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig (also present at the news conference) said baseball teams must have adequate revenues to stay competitive, and new ballparks with the latest features are necessary to ensure that income.

"I think this does it beautifully," he said. The A's "did what they had to. They had no alternatives."