Hello, Canadians, and Americans who couldn’t find a way to get out of town for the holiday weekend! This Friday roundup is handcrafted especially for you!
I wish the news were better, but we have to go with what we’ve got:
- The latest bad news from Sacramento: So few people want to go to A’s games that tickets are selling for a fraction of what they were at the start of the season, leaving season ticket holders with a massive case of buyers’ remorse: “It is really rough,” one told SF Gate. “I’ve given away a bunch of them. I’ve given them to friends. The other day, I set a record: I sold $90 seats for 12 bucks. So, it’s kind of pretty bad.” At least worries that season ticket holders will miss out on playoff games if they’re not playing in Sacramento are probably moot: The A’s can’t see a playoff spot with a telescope right now, and that’s even before they trade their best pitcher because he keeps complaining about how much their stadium sucks.
- Speaking of the A’s, I got quoted a lot in this Guardian article on their LOLgroundbreaking in Las Vegas, check it out if you enjoy John Fisher schadenfreude. Economist J.C. Bradbury is also cited as speculating that the A’s could end up in Salt Lake City or elsewhere next season, which he rushed to clarify doesn’t mean he thinks SLC is a long-term solution either (“too small,” yup, checks out).
- Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie needs to make a decision on whether to build a new stadium to replace their 22-year-old one, says CBS Sports, because “the clock is ticking due to the lease expiring in seven years” and no no no no that is not how leases work, you can renew them, I just can’t even. Lurie hasn’t actually said anything about wanting a new stadium beyond being asked if he’d like a roof on one and saying he’s “torn,” but rest assured that the sports media is going to keep up the pressure for one regardless.
- The Niagara Reporter took a look at Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino’s plans to build a $200 million hockey arena and determined that to meet its revenue projections it would have to attract a junior league hockey team (as yet uncertain), host 60 concerts a year (typical similarly sized venues average 12 to 20), and host 60 youth tournaments a year, which the Reporter deems “impossible” — and even then still would fall short of meeting the city’s $13 million a year in debt service.
- “Pioneer League’s Northern Colorado Owlz fold after playing start of season in Colorado Springs following being evicted from their Windsor stadium for ‘health and safety’ reasons and are replaced by new Colorado Springs team with all of the same Owlz players and staff” is quite the story, if only for all the interesting questions it raises about when a sports franchise is no longer the same sports franchise. Also Colorado Springs already had a Pioneer League team, and they’re called the Rocky Mountain Vibes? So very many questions.
- In case you needed more reason to block the Daily Mail from your news feeds after it was banned as a source by Wikipedia for being unreliable, this article (Wayback link, they don’t deserve the traffic) headlined “NFL team finally given green light to build new $600 million stadium” when it’s a $2.4 billion stadium and the Cleveland Browns owners still want another $600 million to go with the $600 million in state money they just got should be the icing on the cake.
- How are subsidies going in the non-sports world, you ask? Well, California just raised its tax credit for film and TV production from $330 million a year to $750 million, meaning 35% of all filming costs in the state will now be covered by taxpayers. This has worked out extraordinarily poorly for states in the past, and stories of wasteful tax expenditures continue to pile up, but elected officials keep on insisting it’s necessary to keep economic activity from leaving the state, sound familiar?
Philly has had a nice run of hosting these “premium” events lately. With new construction of domes possible in Chicago, Cleveland, one being built in Nashville- they’re moving to the bottom of the list for a lot of those type of events plus if they get a dome they’d be guaranteed a Super Bowl.
That’s gonna be what they feed local officials when it comes time to pay for it.
If Jeff Lurie is “torn” on whether he wants a dome, surely moving to Tampa is his best option???
I can’t/won’t say “called it”, but the A’s planning to trade Severino before the all star break in year one of his contract is ALMOST as good as them trying to trade him before the end of spring training…
The funny thing is they’re probably going to have to trade him AND pay a big chunk of his salary, because if they full under a certain threshold they will receive a grievance from the players association.
Agreed. The king of the cheapskates is going to have to eat some of that contract. Wouldn’t it be great if they shipped him back to NY at half the cost of scooping him up or less?
“I set a record: I sold $90 seats for 12 bucks. So, it’s kind of pretty bad.”
I feel like this (at least the second sentence) could replace E Pluribus Unum in this, our enlightened age…
I was reading the Guardian about the Oakland/Sacramento/Vegas Athletics’ when I did a double-take with quotes from none other than our host Neil and regular contributor J.C. Bradbury.
The comments reflected their thinking that we FoS readers regularly enjoy.
The Guardian article held nothing back about A’s owner John Fisher and his preference for shooting himself in the foot. The Guardian piece also featured another pic of Fisher shaking hands with unsmiling youngsters at last week’s press conference — what a sad, lasting image.
My working theory is that the reason they showed him shaking hands with the girl at the end of the line of seats is that all the kids between her and the podium had already refused to shake his hand.
If Fisher’s armadillo in Vegas somehow does get built, I suspect comped A’s tickets will end up carpeting the Strip right alongside the ubiquitous handout ads for, ah, “room service” from various strippers
I went to an A’s game last month in Sac. It was a Wednesday nite game v. the Twins. A pleasant evening at the ballpark with a nice breeze, especially in the shade. The A’s website had tickets behind home plate for $100 or so. I got a seat 20 rows behind the plate for $23 on seat geek. Parking was $30 in the main lot. All in all, it felt like a minor league experience from the lack of signage around the ballpark and parking lot to the simple items at the concession stands and the small crowd.
Yeah, it seems the Rays have done a much better job with their minor league park. Of course, it helps that the park was already one of the largest in Spring Training and Single A ball, that it’s owned by the Yankees and functions as part of their year-round Tampa operations, that the Rays are still in the heart of their media market and that their relocation isn’t yet a fait accompli, and that they are playing decently. But there still have been quite a few empty seats.
Tampa Bay has sold out well over half of their games. 10,046 is a sellout in Tampa. The A’s claimed to have sold out opening night at 12,119 which included over 1000 comped tickets. The A’s have about 5 game with 12k tickets sold. Most games are in the 8 to 9 thousand range in west Sacramento. So far the A’s are doing much worse in attendance than the Rays
Real-life story that occurred a couple of weeks ago …
“Handcuffed woman in Raiders gear steals LAPD SUV — and gets away near Magic Castle”
The story is behind the Orange County Register’s paywall but the implication remains the same. The NFL correctly assumed it would be the loser in any culture war had the Raiders returned to Los Angeles.
I gotta fact check you on the Pioneer League snafu because it’s very important to be correct on those details.
The Northern Colorado Owlz were based in Windsor, Colorado, which is on the other side of the state to Colorado Springs and were supposed to be part of this epic sports complex that was to host a USL soccer team and all sorts of other stuff… which you’ve actually reported on several times on this website. However, that complex has had all sorts of legal trouble with them owing contractors money and having permit issues, so it’s basically been foreclosed and shut down by the city. The replacement team the league created was the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (since the Owlz were already stuck playing games in Colorado Springs to begin with), who will share the same facility as the Vibes and are using the Owlz staff and players and thus seems to be the source of your confusion.
No confusion — that’s precisely what I wrote in the bullet point above. (I remain perplexed that there’s a professional sports team called the Rocky Mountain Vibes, though. I’m afraid to look up what their mascot is.)
The mascot, Toasty, is a S’more. His hobbies include “…skiing, boarding, rafting, and camping.” https://www.vibesbaseball.com/Team/Meet_the_Mascot
Okay, that’s just as terrifying as I feared.
Whew! I was afraid it might involve Isaac Hayes…
NoCo Owlz ownership had tried to build a ballpark destination (near Greeley, CO, which is SE of Fort Collins, home of Colorado State U) which that would house minor league baseball and soccer along with multiple fields for youth teams to come for tournaments, coaching etc. However, they had financing issues which metastasized at the end of last season and there were multiple judgments against them in local courts, which led to the local governing body refusing to grant them a certification of occupancy for their multiuse stadium (both the Owlz and the soccer team, the Hailstorm, were playing there- it was a strange place to watch a game). Without that generating revenue, they were done for. The Pioneer League stepped forward to give the team and players a home for the rest of the season.
Had to check out the Pioneer League’s teams listing to see what is up with that league.
Laughing that the Ogden Raptors (essentially a Salt Lake City suburb) has a game attendance average of 3,500 while the Salt Lake City Bees of the relatively rarified AAA level (and in a brand spanking new ballpark!!!!) has only ~4,200 average.
Is this video and the work seemingly being started to be believed, given what we know about the financing and what a construction project entails?
https://youtu.be/3avR9fODAKk?si=4b3k4ZxuaigT290y