Oakland Coliseum Site Has Big League Sports Teams – SF Chronicle Shows Ignorance
The Oakland Coliseum has played land host to not one, or two, but three major sports teams. In spite of that, and in the face of a Coliseum City plan that could have accomodated the wishes of the Golden State Warriors had the organization showed a real interest in investing in a majority minority town, it’s spokesperson uses a mainstream media outlet to issue a stupid comment against The Coliseum.
In today’s Matier and Ross space, P.J. Johnston, whom I’ve never met in person but know and is a good man, wrote that the Coliseum was not suitable for big-league sports. Then, he issued a take that made me wonder what he was smoking: “A lot of what drives a deal is what you can build next door” said P.J.
Wow, so let me get this straight: the Warriors went over to Mission Bay to build something “next door”? Where? The land is, well, blocked on all four sides. Moreover, Warriors Owner Joe Lacob told me the reason for trying to move to San Francisco was that Mayor Ed Lee and his economic development staff were more aggressive than that for Oakland. Take a look at my 2012 talk with Labob here:
What P.J. wrote, or more accurately, said to Matier and Ross was the product of spin – trying to defend a move in the face of owing the Coliseum JPA and the City of Oakland and Alameda County a lot of money. If The Warriors were really in need of land to develop, then the 100 acres that is Coliseum City would have been a better choice than the Mission Bay land they selected.
Which brings me to this: the reason the Warriors are building at Mission Bay is because SalesForce Founder and CEO Marc Benioff called Lacob and offered him that land he owned at a good price for the Golden State Owner. It wasn’t about “what you can build next door.”
And as far as Las Vegas, Matier and Ross know nothing of value about that deal, just the planned $750 million subsidy – something that is in jeopardy after the sad event in Las Vegas. That subsidy, which has not yet been given for stadium construction, is depended on tourist flow to Sin City, which is now certain to take a dive.
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