Sacramento Bee - May 13, 2007

Bay Area Baseball Insider: A's have familiar blueprint for boosting attendance
By Nick Peters - Bee Staff Writer

Last Updated 12:29 am PDT Sunday, May 13, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C5

Thanks to A's owner Lew Wolff, the Giants finally have something to worry about in their attendance war with their cross-bay adversary -- and they can blame themselves for providing the inspiration.

The Giants' model for success has been as much their downtown stadium as Barry Bonds. Ever since the ballpark-by-the-bay opened in 2000, they have joined elite baseball franchises by attracting more than 3 million paying customers annually.

While they have played in their jewel box, the A's have been as successful afield, but their football-friendly ballpark, McAfee Coliseum, is often referred to as the "Mausoleum." Wolff is no dummy. He has a pretty good idea why the other guys are more popular.

Instead of using clever sayings to mock the Giants -- "They build ballparks; we build champions" comes to mind -- Wolff would rather fight them at their own game. In this case, it's a proposed 32,000-seat ballpark in nearby Fremont.

Wolff knows the Giants have outdrawn the A's by about 1.5 million per year since 2000, concluding that the attractive venue is the main reason. The new Fremont digs are designed to boost attendance instead of hurting their rival, but that could happen, too.

By moving to Fremont, which is in Alameda County, the A's will avoid a territorial rights battle with the Giants over nearby Santa Clara County, yet they'll be close enough to Silicon Valley to affect popularity there.

In Wolff's vision, the new ballpark would generate enough revenue to make the A's a prime-time player. It would allow the franchise to keep the likes of Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Jermaine Dye, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito. No longer would the A's be the 90-pound weakling getting sand kicked in their face by bigger, richer teams.

Wolff plans to compete for free agents and expand international scouting. And it's partly because the Giants paved the way by building a fan magnet.

According to plans for the proposed Cisco Field -- the antithesis of AT&T Park -- the Fremont complex would include 2,900 townhomes and a hotel. A report by Economics Research Associates estimated the ballpark would cost $450 million and the entire project $1.8 billion.