From the Sacramento Bee, via AP:

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Kansas company scouting new locations for Oakland A's

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- The Kansas City, Mo., company that designed Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco has been hired to scout locations for a new stadium for the Oakland Athletics.

Oakland and Alameda County officials say building a baseball-only park is central to keeping the A's in town.

The team's current ownership has never made a secret of its dislike of the Network Associates Coliseum, which was extensively remodeled for football when the Raiders returned to Oakland in 1995.

HOK Sports Inc. is expected to complete its study by the end of November, and its findings will be presented to A's officials by the end of the year, said Rosie Rios, director of economic development for Oakland.

HOK will be paid $100,000 to analyze five sites in Oakland to gauge their feasibility for the type of intimate ballpark park that has become the rage in cities across America.

At the request of Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, the company also has agreed to analyze sites in the Pleasanton-Dublin area and near Fremont.

Despite the team's success on the field and at the ticket booth this year -- they made the American League playoffs and drew more than 2 million fans -- speculation is rampant that the team will leave the city that has been its home for 33 years.

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Wonder who's paying for this? Oakland wants a park near the waterfront, the county wants to look at sites south of the city, and the report will be given to the A's. And, of course there's the small matter of who will pay for the park?

Ran across this while visiting my son in the East Bay. Hope y'all had a Cool Yule!

Op-Ed piece from the Oakland Tribune (Dec. 26, 2001):

ADVOCATES of keeping the A's in Oakland finally have something concrete to talk and get excited about.

In fact, they have options as to where a ballpark seating 42,000 folks with 70 suites, two restaurants and a family center just might appear on the Oakland skyline as early as Spring 2006.

Now all we have to do is decide on a site, come up with a plan and the money -- $385 million is the lowest estimate -- to pay for it. The last barrier is a big if -- especially since it needs to be done without leaving local taxpayers, who are still paying for the return of the Raiders, holding the bill.

That and the current recession make finding funds a tougher task than it was a couple years ago when we first started flying the idea of Oakland and Alameda County taking the initiative to keep the A's here before another metropolis lures them away. Yet, as City Manager Robert Bobb, Oakland's eternal-ballpark-optimist, notes, economic downturns also can be a good time to initiate major capital ventures that spawn jobs and other development.

A perfect place for such an injection of funds to take place is a 12.5-acre swath of uptown property bounded by Telegraph Avenue, Martin Luther King Jr. Way and 18th and 20th streets. HOK Sport, our nation's top builder of the retro ballparks that have revived the sport elsewhere, says that plot of land "provides a rare opportunity" to site a new $385 million baseball edifice that also could be a catalyst for revival of an area that needs a facelift.

So much so that Mayor Jerry Brown has long considered the property part of his "10K" effort to attract a concentration of higher class residents to downtown Oakland. Hopefully the two ideas can be reconciled. If not, there are alternatives.

No. 2 on the HOK base-hit parade is the North Parking lot at the Coliseum, expected to cost $400 million. The site's location adjacent to Interstate 880 has worked for more than three decades; there's no reason why it can't again.

There also could be a new $465 million "there" in Fremont on a patch of land between Fremont, Old Warm Springs and Grimmer boulevards. Fourth was the Port of Oakland's Howard Terminal -- $517 million -- which many observers thought might get a better ranking because of its waterfront location.

All of which is fodder for public discussion and debate about what Oakland should do to keep the team, where a new stadium might fit and how we go about getting the job done.

A first step for the city, county and Coliseum Authority is to get the A's ownership involved in the discussion and lay the groundwork for dialogues with citizens as well as possible corporate and individual investors by the time the city releases its massaged version of the HOK assessment in February.

While they're at it, public officials may want to thank A's co-owner Steve Schott for the motivation he provided this year by asking his hometown of Santa Clara to consider building a new stadium. That seemed to be the stimulant needed to get Oakland and Alameda County to consider alternatives.

The important thing is that they didn't waste the year. Instead they responded to reality and began making an effort to keep the A's here. Perhaps 2002 will be the year of decision.

Bob Bobb's comment about economic downturns actually presenting some advantages to municipalities hoping to fund large projects like stadium-building echoes what PNB' Louisville site mentioned. Sure, it's bad right now, but that often means you can get a good deal on interest rates and from companies who are just happy to have the business and will cut their rates for the work.

Portland in the National League.

Funny how this report comes out after the "mystery" investor comes into play. The city manager still wants housing on the site, but everything seems negotiable. From the Oakland Tribune:

Study confirms uptown best site
Recommendation based on design, transit nearby, total costs

By Robert Gammon, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- Uptown Oakland remains the premier site for a new Oakland A's ballpark in the East Bay, according to the final results of a study commissioned by the city of Oakland and Alameda County.

Results of the yearlong study by HOK Sport of Kansas City comes on the heels of news that a wealthy Silicon Valley venture capitalist wants to buy a half-interest in the Oakland A's.

The investor, who wishes to remain anonymous for now but plans to make a formal offer to the team in the next few weeks, also "loves downtown Oakland" as a site for a new A's ballpark, two high-ranking sources familiar with the potential deal told The Oakland Tribune this week. Proponents say the uptown site is the only financially viable stadium spot in the city.

The investor is interested in buying out A's co-owner Ken Hofmann, who owns half of the A's, the sources said. The investor also wants to take full control of the baseball team, but the other A's co-owner, Steve Schott, is not yet ready to sell his half. Schott, the sources said, wants to wait to see whether the team wins the World Series in 2003.

Sam Spear, a spokesman for Schott and Hofmann, partially denied the pending deal Friday, saying that although Hofmann has at times expressed an interest in selling his half of the team, neither Schott nor Hofmann -- as of earlier this week -- were aware of a "bona fide candidate" who had surfaced to buy the A's.

Spear, who said he last talked to Schott on Dec. 23, added, "At no time is Mr. Schott interested in selling. ... The team is not for sale."

Spear also said anyone who wants to buy Hofmann's 50 percent stake would have to be approved by Schott because he is the managing general partner of the A's. The buyer also must receive approval from Major League Baseball, Spear noted.

One source told the newspaper, however, that the league is aware of the Silicon Valley investor and may be willing to approve the deal.

Moreover, Schott and A's officials twice in the past 16 months have denied reports of two other potential sales of the team, only to acknowledge later that the original reports were essentially true.

News of the Silicon Valley investor coupled with the final HOK report could rekindle the debate over what to do with Oakland's languishing uptown area.

As of last week, the site all but seemed destined to be a large housing development -- a plan strongly backed by Mayor Jerry Brown and Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente (Fruitvale-San Antonio).

"I was at the point of giving up on the uptown site," said A's superfan Larry Jackson, who was the first to propose uptown as a potential spot for a new A's ballpark. "This new investor, to me, is our last hope. The uptown site is a perfect spot for a ballpark."

According to the report by HOK, which designed San Francisco's Pacific Bell Park and Baltimore's Camden Yards, uptown ranks as the best site among seven locales analyzed in the East Bay.

Uptown won in every category from design to proximity to transportation and total costs.

The uptown site is a 12.5-acre parcel between San Pablo and Telegraph avenues bordered by 18th and 20th streets. It's one block from the 19th Street BART station and a few blocks from Interstate 980. Not counting costs to acquire the property, which is mostly a parking lot, HOK estimated a ballpark uptown would cost $352 million.

HOK's report, to be presented to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority next month, represents a further analysis of findings made by HOK earlier this year.

After uptown, HOK ranked the Coliseum parking lot next to the A's current home in second place, followed by a site in Fremont near the NUMMI auto plant. A spot in Pleasanton came in fourth.

The Pleasanton site, which borders Interstate 580 and El Charro Road, moved up a notch in the final report, while the Port of Oakland's Howard Terminal dropped from fourth to fifth.

Representatives from HOK were unavailable for comment Friday, but according to the report Howard Terminal was downgraded because it would take too long to build on the site, thereby missing the 2006 or 2007 goal for completing a new stadium.

Nevertheless, HOK recommends in the report that the Howard Terminal, which sits on the Oakland Estuary next to Jack London Square, remain in the mix for potential stadium sites.

A's co-owner Hofmann has told ballpark proponents he would prefer a spot along the city's waterfront, such as Howard Terminal.

Coming in sixth and seventh, just as they did in HOK's previous report, were a spot on the campus of Oakland's Laney College and a site along Oakland's waterfront near the port's old Ninth Avenue Terminal.

Despite HOK's findings and the potential change in A's ownership, Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb said the city still is committed to building the Forest City housing project on the uptown site.

"We've always known that uptown is the best site for a ballpark, but it's not in the cards," said Bobb, who has been the leading backer of a new A's stadium in downtown Oakland. "It's going to be housing."

However, some City Council members who previously showed support for a ballpark on the uptown site but voted earlier this month for the Forest City deal left open the door Friday for ballpark in uptown.

Changing their votes, however, would depend on the A's current or future ownership coming up with a concrete financial plan to build a new stadium -- something Schott and Hofmann have never done. It also would take cooperation with Forest City.

"At this point, I think it would have to be in combination with Forest City," said Councilmember Jane Brunner (North Oakland), noting that Forest City officials have said they would listen to proposals by the A's. "Plus, there's still the problem of how to finance a ballpark."

Councilmember Larry Reid (Elmhurst-East Oakland), who was a reluctant supporter of the Forest City deal, added, "The question for me will be, are (the A's) willing to step up to the plate and say they're going to put in 'X' amount of their dollars?'"

Staff writers Paul T. Rosynsky and Mark Saxon contributed to this report.

San Francisco Giants - 2002 National League Champions!

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Kansas company scouting new locations for Oakland A's

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Then next read line

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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- The Kansas City, Mo., company that designed Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco has been hired to scout locations for a new stadium for the Oakland Athletics.

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Real smart media they have in Sacramento.


Kansas City Royals - 1985 World Series Champions

The Missouri part or the Kansas part?

http://www.hoksve.com/sport/projects/proj_list_alpha_1.htm

Here is their portfolio of sports venues they did...

Check out the Fresno Grizzlies stadium and tell me that isn't a great park...

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Anaheim Angels 2002 World Champions

Vada Pinson deserves to be in the Hall of Fame