Fremont A's in 2011 ? ? ?

CISCO FIELD: Coming Soon to Fremont?

Hmmmm, it looks like the Oakland A's will be heading down the Nimitz Freeway (aka I-880) and build their new ballpark village there vs. in Oakland (who probably couldn't afford to contribute any money to the project, knowing how poor ass broke the city is). Will the team switch their name to Fremont or keep Oakland? Funny, after seeing how all of these new ballparks/stadiums/arenas have been built near downtown over the last 15 years, are the A's starting a new trend by heading back out to the 'burbs ? ? ? ?

THE BOTTOM LINE: After jumping thru all the environmental hoops to get approval for the project (I'm sure someone in Fremont will protest the ballpark village, which will kill the habitat of some obscure creature 99.9995% of folks have never heard or seen before . . ) I think CISCO FIELD will open for play in 2011. Its going to be a nice ballpark; Too bad fans are going to have to slug thru an extra 20 miles of Bay Area nighttime traffic to get to a game now vs. taking BART.


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[Purdy: A's stadium to enhance 'fan experience'

Mark Purdy
Mercury News

The worst kept secret in Bay Area Sports -- that the A's were moving from Oakland to Fremont -- was confirmed Tuesday morning.

And here was the best part about the worst kept secret:

It didn't disappoint. At least from the whiz-bang standpoint.

In fact, it's not understating the case to say that the marriage between Silicon Valley and Major League Baseball will be one of the more interesting experiments in sports history.

No, this isn't Jackie Robinson joining the Dodgers. It's not that big. It's also not as big as Babe Ruth joining the Yankees. But the decision of a high-tech company such as Cisco to jump inside baseball in a huge way is very significant.

Previously, the high-tech industry has not shown much eagerness to embrace sports, except for buying the naming rights to various stadiums and arenas. The deal between the A's and Cisco goes much beyond that. Cisco is buying the naming rights, to be sure, but the company's involvement is going to be much deeper.

``The idea is to enhance the fan experience while not taking away from the fans' enjoyment of baseball,'' A's owner Lew Wolff said.

For example, if you like the idea of ordering your hot dogs from your Blackberry and having them ready when you arrive at the concession stand so you don't have to stand in line, you are going to love the new Cisco Field.

And if you like the idea of something called ``TelePresence'' at your box seat, you will definitely be in the right place.

And if you like the ability to decide which instant replays you want to watch on the scoreboard -- or whether you want to put a picture from your cell phone displayed on the scoreboard -- you are going to adore attending the games.

Do I think that all of these gizmos are something fans necessarily want? I always go back to the Mirage Hotel plan. When the Mirage opened in Las Vegas more than a decade ago, it touted a huge aquarium with sharks built behind the reception desk. No hotel patron I know had ever asked for sharks behind the reception desk. But the sharks were a huge hit. It's the same with this stuff.

There were also a few other surprises that came out of the presentation at Cisco headquarters, which featured Wolff and Cisco CEO John Chambers laying out their vision for their ``ballpark of the future.''

Namely:

• We won't know the official name of the team for a few years. It could be the East Bay A's or the NorCal A's or the Silicon Valley A's or the San Jose A's. However, Wolff said the only sure thing is that Fremont will be somehow included -- as in the Whatever A's of Fremont.

• Inside the Cisco buildings, the code name for developing the A's ballpark has been ``Project Elephant,'' a nod to the team's mascot. And once word of the experiment surfaced, volunteers were eager to sign on.

• Traffic issues at the proposed site along Interstate 880 are not going to be minor. Everyone knows that. But the Cisco technology is supposed to help with that, too, with digital signs to create smarter traffic flow.

• Chambers is an A's season ticket holder, with box seats behind the visitors' dugout at McAfee Coliseum. The guess here is, he will get better seats in the new digs.

• There are a lot of political hurdles to still jump in Fremont before the deal happens. But if Wolff and his people navigate those hurdles as smoothly as they rolled out the ballpark plans Tuesday, it's hard to see the ballpark not rising from the Fremont flats within a few years.

• Watch out for the sharks behind home plate. Who knows? THey could be next.

 

Any reason to get out of Oakland is a good reason.

:newsmile60: