A's Agree To Five-Year Lease Extension; Record Crowd Set
The A's and East Bay officials yesterday reached a tentative agreement on a five-year lease extension at Network Associates Coliseum, a deal that "would cost A's owners little while they pursue a new home," according to Barry Witt of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, who notes the A's currently pay no rent and are on a year-to-year lease. Under terms of the new deal, which would begin in '03 and include three one-year options beginning in '08, the A's would pay an annual rent of $450,000, plus $0.50 per ticket sold above two million. The rent payments "would slightly reduce the annual taxpayer subsidy needed to pay off stadium and arena renovations that benefitted the Raiders and Warriors. This year, that subsidy is expected to be more than $18[M]." The A's "could break the lease at any time at no cost to move to a new stadium in Alameda County. To move out of Alameda County, the A's would have to pay any remaining rent plus a $250,000 penalty." Meanwhile, A's President Mike Crowley "estimated that in the most optimistic scenario, a new stadium wouldn't be ready until" '06 (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 4/25). In CA, Bonita Brewer reports K.C.-based HOK Sport has been working with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority in analyzing four potential sites for the new ballpark: three in Oakland and one in Fremont, CA (CONTRA COSTA TIMES, 4/25).
FILLED TO THE BRIM: In San Jose, Mark Gomez writes last night's Yankees-A's crowd of 54,513, a sellout and the largest ever regular-season attendance at Network Associates Coliseum, "was helped by the team's $1 Wednesday ticket promotion." The previous high was 54,268 for D'Backs-A's on July 8, 2000 (MERCURY NEWS, 4/25). In S.F., Susan Slusser notes the A's have sold one million tickets already, "the earliest they've done so since" '92 (S.F. CHRONICLE, 4/25).
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