MikeO said:
The Oakland A's cry poor, but then go spend $300-$400 mill OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKET to build a new stadium in San Jose
They cry poor because they ARE poor WHILE they play in the stadium they are currently playing in. They will not be poor in 2011 when they finally get a new yard.
Previous ownership was trying to extort the city of Oakland into publicly financing a stadium and the city would not bite.
Lew Wollf came on board and gave Billy Beane more money last offseason (they did not lose any MAJOR free agents last winter). In that time Wollf has been in charge he has been trying to:
- Find a location for the new stadium
- Find some financing for the new stadium
These things do not happen over night. I would never expect an owner of a team to dump money into a bottomless pit. That is what Oakland is right now. Worst stadium in baseball by a wide margin, bad location and their attendance is around 20,000 a night even though they are a competative team.
Once Wollf got his ducks in a row (a location and the financing) he stepped forward to get the deal done.
Would it be better for him to spend the money on players instead? Great idea. Go out and have a $120 million dollar payroll but stay in the same ****ty ballpark.
Don't give me the "teams that spend more are more sucessful on the field and get better attendance" crap because this team has been to the playoffs 5 times in 7 years and were still drawing flies. Spending more on players would achieve NOTHING without a new ballpark.
If they went by your economic model they would have a huge payroll, no new stadium and be drowning in debt.
Instead the NEW OWNER came in, got things done and is moving the team to a new ballpark spending PRIVATE money, and for that he is wrong?
You are the KING of blanket statements. The A's get an owner (FINALLY) who is ready to step up and build a new park and the first thing out of your mouth is "they have been crying poor, how can they afford a new stadium?" Well, the guy needed time to get everything together. You don't find a location and get the financing together for a new ballpark, while dealing with territorial rights in a week.
I know for a FACT that you'll totally disregard this entire post because your'e always right and everyone else is always wrong unless they agree with you, regardless of evidence.