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Multiple investors could fund stadium
That appears to be the best solution for the A's, who would find it very difficult to get Oakland to shell out $300 million
By ERIC GILMORE
The Contra Costa Times

SO A'S STADIUM czar Lewis Wolff has finished his long-awaited report for A's co-owners Steve Schott and Ken Hofmann, outlining a plan of attack in their quest for a new baseball-only stadium.

At first glance, you might think it adds up to good news for loyal A's fans in the East Bay who fear their team will be sold and moved.

Under Wolff's plan, the A's would be willing to kick in up to $100 million for a new stadium, but only if it's built at the Oakland Coliseum parking lot, deemed by him to be the most affordable spot in Oakland.

All thoughts of building a stadium in the South Bay or the East Bay suburbs are apparently out.

It's Oakland or bust. So what's not to like, other than the thought of a stadium on this far-from-sexy site alongside the Nimitz Freeway?

Well, do the math, and what's not to like is obvious. The price tag for a new stadium at this site is around $400 million. Even if Schott and Hofmann fork over $100 million, someone else will have to pay $300 million.

Where's that money going to come from? Oakland's schools are broke, sending out pink slips as if they were pieces of junk mail. The city has higher priorities: public safety, housing and education, to name three.

What's more, Oakland taxpayers already have been burned by a sports deal gone bad. They spent millions to expand the Coliseum and entice Al Davis to bring the Raiders back to Oakland from Los Angeles in 1995.

Since then, the Raiders have had far more television blackouts than sellouts. A supposed silver and black cash cow turned into a black hole, devouring millions of taxpayer dollars, many of those used to fight Davis in court.

These folks have been burned once. They won't be burned again. At least you hope not.

If Schott and Hofmann truly want a new stadium in Oakland, they'll need to be much more creative and accept much more of the financial burden.

This isn't Cleveland. This isn't Pittsburgh. This is the Bay Area, and the Giants have set the bar incredibly high when it comes to building a stadium.

The Giants paid for their own sparkling new home. They didn't raid the city's vault, the traditional way professional sports teams have financed new stadiums.

Those tax-grab days are done in the Bay Area. If the 49ers can't get more than the promise of $100 million from taxpayers for a new football stadium, what chance do the A's have of getting $300 million? You know the answer.

Wolff, the A's vice president for venue development, has a one-year option to buy a controlling interest in the A's if he lands the team a new stadium.

If they don't want to foot the bill themselves, Schott and Hofmann should follow the Giants' lead and recruit an entire team of investors to own the A's and build a new stadium.

Granted, the corporate pockets in the East Bay are not as deep as those the Giants tapped, but there is no shortage of multimillionaires on this side of the Bay Bridge who might want to own a piece of the A's. Someone must own all those Mercedes, vineyard estates and hilltop mansions in the East Bay.

Schott has dropped not-so-veiled threats before that he may have to move the team or sell it to someone out of the area if he doesn't get a new stadium. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig never misses a chance to say the A's can't survive in Oakland without a new stadium. Wolff reportedly reached the same conclusion.

They might be right, although that's debatable. Finding a way to build that new stadium without burdening the taxpayers should be Wolff's next project.