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A's could move away

By Mark Purdy

San Jose Mercury News

(MCT)

OAKLAND, Calif. - The festivities at Tuesday's opener of the A's playoff series against Detroit in Oakland had all the usual touches.

Fireworks. Packed house. Player introductions. The National Anthem, belted out by Taylor Dayne and her impressive lungs. More fireworks. The ceremonial first pitch, tossed out by Purple Heart recipient Jonathan Gehweiler. Then came the game itself.

Attention, South Bay baseball shoppers: Sooner than you think, this could be coming to a neighborhood near you.

Because it seems the Athletics are very, very close to stocking your aisle.

As was first reported in this space four months ago, A's managing partner Lew Wolff is serious about moving the team to Southern Alameda County - specifically, to a site in Fremont that is just a few miles from the Santa Clara County border and less than 20 minutes from downtown San Jose.

I don't know about you. But to me, that instantly makes the A's a South Bay team.

And I don't know about me, given my objective obligation to provide an unbiased postseason look at the A's chances (as well as at Taylor Dayne). But for you, it might be a good idea to grow more interested and excited than usual about the A's and their World Series quest.

Reason? A winning team always makes it easier to get a deal done, in any county, anywhere.

Monday, there was yet another indication of Wolff's ongoing southward strategy. The Oakland Tribune reported that one of Wolff's companies has purchased 10 acres of land near the proposed 143-acre ballpark site. It is now vacant land controlled by Cisco Systems under a 34-year lease.

On the way to Tuesday's game, I pulled off Interstate 880 briefly at the Auto Mall Parkway exit to take a gander at the property. It's a huge chunk of grassy plain. It takes some imagination to envision the sort of project Wolff wants: A ballpark village with a compact ballpark of less than 40,000 seats, surrounded by residential and retail development.

But according to the Silicon Valley grapevine, the deal is almost done. The financing is in place. Cisco will be involved heavily as an A's partner in the deal. Cisco employees have already brainstormed ideas for a futuristic facility with all sorts of gizmos and amenities, providing a 180-degree alternative to the traditional configuration of the Giants' AT&T Park. This will be more of a Santana Row, combined with a high-tech expo and the infield fly rule.

Something else I know: The Giants are concerned about the A's possible move. Team owner Peter Magowan has stubbornly invoked his territorial rights clause to prevent the A's from moving to Santa Clara County. However, Magowan can do nothing to stop Wolff from going right to the county line and snatching away consumers on the other side.

How about this? About six weeks ago, Magowan and Giants executive Larry Baer were spotted in a vehicle in Fremont, eyeballing the A's potential new home. A tipster saw them stop for coffee at Starbucks, drive around the proposed ballpark site in their SUV, then hit the freeway.

When Baer was recently asked to confirm this sighting, he jokingly asked whether someone had placed a tracking chip in the vehicle.

And then Baer said: "I can neither confirm nor deny that it happened."

In other words, it happened.

Why would Magowan and Baer be curious enough about the A's potential site? Maybe because they did not previously realize how close the new ballpark really is to San Jose - and, more importantly, how close it is to the disposable income of inner Silicon Valley.

In fact, the conventional wisdom is that Wolff is proceeding with plans to re-name the franchise as the San Jose A's or the Silicon Valley A's. (When asked directly about that possibility last spring, Wolff's response was: "It's not an illogical thought.") Wolff already has opened an office in San Jose's Fairmont plaza to handle the A's business in San Jose, as well as his attempt to bring an expansion Major League Soccer team to town.

If this all comes down, it will be a brilliant example of ambush marketing - stealing a competitor's advantage by invading his province - and will surely make Magowan ponder whether he blew it. Magowan could have cut a deal with Wolff to take a financial payoff in return for the rights to build a ballpark in San Jose.

For those rights, the A's might have given the Giants a lump sum payment. Or perhaps a percentage of television revenue. Under the Fremont scenario, Wolff doesn't have to pay Magowan a dime to become a South Bay franchise.

Maybe you don't have to root for the baseball team. But you have to admire the A's business strategy. It's not a fantasy to think that if the A's win the 2010 World Series, the victory parade could be in downtown San Jose.