I hope the A's eventually move to the South Bay where they would no doubt attract much larger crowds than the hideous Oakland Coliseum (I hate that place!) The residents of San Jose and the rest of Santa Clara County are probably more financially prepared to pay for a new stadium than Alameda County(Where Oakland is located). Another strong argument for the move is that San Jose is the largest city in the Bay Area with nearly 1 million people, much larger than Oakland or San Francisco. If you want to read a related story from the Mercury News, here it is: Time for S.J. to enter the arena

That's rich, no pun intended. Move the A's out of Oakland, take 'em to rich-bastard central. Those poor people in Oakland have no right to host MLB. The audacity of these people.

San Jose is bigger than San Francisco?? :confused: I don't live there, but I always thought Frisco had something like 4 million people.

Marc, there is about 6-7 million people in the Bay Area itself. S.F. is about 850,000 in the city alone, and I believe San Jose is now over a million. Guys, correct me if I am wrong, but I lived there for 3 years awhile ago. wink

from Marc:

san jose is bigger than frisco?

To muddy the water some:

The CMSA (consolidated metropolitan statistical area) comprises San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose and has just over 7,000,000 people. Separating the cities, San Jose has approximately 890,000 people while San Francisco has 775,000 and Oakland just about 400,000.

I think it would be a mistake to move the A's from Oakland to San Jose. As it is, there is a "class" difference between the Giants and A's--Oakland being perceived as so much more blue collar than San Francisco (think 49er's vs. Raiders and their respective fanbase,) while San Jose is just a "higher-tech' version of sophisticated SF. Leave San Jose for the Sharks--the Tank is the only arena in which I've had a chardonnay (What?? No Pinot Noir??)!

~Adam

The City limits sign in San Jose is something like 923,000 I believe. I should know because I'm usually stopped in traffic jams when I pass that sign.

Also, I'm not saying that San Jose is a better city than Oakland because they're slightly better off financially, it's just that Oakland doesn't seem to be making any efforts to build a new stadium for a team that really deserves one. One more thing to add, the fine citizens of Oakland/East Bay have an abysmal attendance record during regular season games! They are not Athletics Supporters in my opinion! eek! That didn't sound right, did it? wink

[ November 03, 2003, 10:07 AM: Message edited by: Mike T. ]

Thanks for the info, Puckman and Adam. 'Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area'... that's quite a mouthful! Adding up the populations of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, I get just 2,065,000. That's still leaves a whopping 5 million unaccounted for. Or does that total 7 million figure include every town stretching to the northern limits of Los Angeles county? I don't doubt your numbers (after all, I know California has more people than all of Canada); just trying to figure out where they all live.

'Athletics Supporters'...good one, Mike! Up here the Oakland team is known as the (Ehs?)

Marc: the following cities comprise the San Francisco/San Jose/Oakland CMSA:

Alameda, Alamo, Albany, Antioch, Ashland, Atherton, Belmont, Berkeley, Blackhawk, Brentwood, Brisbane, Burlingame, Castro Valley, Cherryland, Clayton, Concord, Corte Madera, Cupertino, Daly City, Danville, Discovery Bay, Dublin, East Foothills, East Palo Alto, El Centro, El Sobrante, Emeryville, Fairfax, Fairview, Foster City, Fremont, Gilroy, Half Moon Bay, Hayward, Hercules, Hillsborough, Kentfield, Lafayette, Larkspur, Livermore, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Lucas Valley, Martinez, Menlo Park, Mill Valley, Millbrae, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Moraga Town, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Newark, North Fair Oaks, Novato, Oakland, Oakley, Orinda, Pacifica, Palo Alto, Piedmont, Pinole, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, Portola Valley, Redwood City, Richmond, Rodeo, San Anselmo, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Francisco, San Jose, San Leandro, San Mateo, San Pablo, San Rafael, San Ramon, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Sausalito, South San Francisco, Stanford, Sunnyvale, Tamalpais, Tiburon, Union City, Walnut Creek, West Pittsburg, Woodside.

My job requires me to have this sort of information at my fingertips--population information on any or all of these cities available upon request. And remember-- YOU ASKED FOR IT!!

~Adam

Um, I think the whole idea is stupid. Maybe it was viable in the late 90's, but now? It's a dead issue, as far as I can see. Who's going to put up the money to build a stadium? I'd be willing to bet that the taxpayers in the area wouldn't be willing, there's not the abundance of dot.com billionaires that there once was and so on.

The A's should concentrate on trying to build a stadium of their own in Oakland.

The A's have hired a "Vice President for Venue Development" to focus on building a new stadium for the team. The search for a location will be in the Bay Area; either Oakland/Alameda County or San Jose/Santa Clara County. The relocation issue is far from dead as previously thought.

Also, I resent the fact that some people believe that San Jose is merely a "dot-com engulfed, rich- bastard region"! Most of my friends and I don't fit the typical stereotype of a "Silicon Valley" resident. For instance, I'm not rich, or a "high-tech" type. I'm racially mixed and not conservative. I just believe that the largest city in the Bay Area, not to mention the only one that seems interested in building a new ballpark, should be the new home for the Athletics!

Here's a new link related to this issue:

A's move may signal look to S.J.

[ November 16, 2003, 10:32 PM: Message edited by: Mike T. ]

Aren't the Giants adamantly opposed to an A's relocation to San Jose? I read a while back that they sort of see that whole area south of San Francisco as the psychic heart of their fan base. Not sure what their official major league "territory" is, though.....

Yes, San Jose is technically "Giants Territory", but I'm sure a deal can be worked out if the team decides to relocate.

[ November 17, 2003, 09:55 AM: Message edited by: Mike T. ]

I think it would be a huge mistake to move the A's to San Jose. On the several occasions I go to A's games over in Oakland, I just hop on the BART and it lets me out right in front of the stadium! Nothing like that available in San Jose!