A's Form Committee to Plan for New Stadium

[GaryMrMets]

A's Form Committee to Plan for New Stadium

.c The Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - New Oakland Athletics owner Lewis Wolff announced Wednesday the formation of a venue and design development committee to prepare a plan for a new stadium.

``The formation of this committee is an important step in the ongoing process of securing a baseball-only facility for the A's in the East Bay,'' Wolff said in a statement. ``They are starting with a blank canvas. I'm confident this group will produce a design that will be state-of-the-art while keeping with the traditional look and feel of a ballpark.''

Team president Michael Crowley will head the committee, whose prototype will not specify a site for the new ballpark. The A's currently share the Oakland Coliseum with the NFL's Oakland Raiders.

Wolff, a Los Angeles real estate developer, and his ownership group purchased the A's in late March. Wolff is the managing partner.

Wolff was hired by the A's in 2003 as vice president for venue development to help find a new stadium. He is a former part owner of the NBA's Golden State Warriors and the NHL's St. Louis Blues, and a longtime friend of baseball commissioner Bud Selig.

05/18/05 17:04 EDT

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

[HRmohawkT]

question: if they build it on the parking lot, what will happen if the warriors and the A's have a game on the same night, or a concert at the arena?

[PopTop]

My first thought is that, with the attention paid to all schedules these days to prevent such a scenario and not let fans have competing professional events in town at the same time, that wouldn't happen. And parking issues can be overcome with very little forethought, even by your average local politician standards. The Pirates, Steelers and UPitt share what I would call a relatively small central parking lot area, and I didn't hear many of their fans moaning much when I was up there for 2 of 3 events one weekend. Parking and traffic were supposed to be scary issues when Houston built new downtown baseball/basketball/convention facilities within a few blocks of each other. And it's really been way better than the big-ass parking lot they had at the Astrodome all those years as far as traffic in, parking, and traffic out.

And the sweetest deal is that if all three events happen at the same time and are competing for the same parking lot(s), it will make ESPN and expose the need for more parking and then it won't be a problem after that ;) What's that they say about publicity, good or bad, being a good thing? :D

[imgreat95]

PNC Park and Heinz Field share parking lot space. There have been days in the past where there have been events in both ballparks on the same day. They just arrange things so the lots will be emptied out from one before the other starts loading up. For instance, last season, the Steelers had a home game on the same day the Bucs were scheduled to be at home. The Pirates simply moved their 1:35 start to a 7:35 start. Problem solved.

[HRmohawkT]

the oakland coliseum is not that smart though, why dont you send your bulls to oakland and give us a crash course in time management

[bA'sball]

Wasn't Wolfe brought to Oakland to do this very same thing? Hmm.... weird.