Oakland's three pro teams are all looking for new facilities, and the divergent paths of the Warriors, Raiders and A's have garnered plenty of conversation lately. Veteran sports marketing exec Andy Dolich said a report that the Warriors and Giants could work together to develop and build a new arena near AT&T Park "makes the most logical sense." The Warriors have been looking to build an arena on Piers 30-32, but teaming with the Giants would take "ego out of the equation." Dolich: "Clearly, the Warriors want to come to San Francisco. They're going to leave Oakland, and it will be an incredible location to have both basketball and all the other events that will go into the arena, plus what the Giants have done." He added, "It will be a win/win for San Francisco. The sad part of it, if the Giants and Warriors can work it out, then we're pretty assured that Oakland is definitely losing one of its teams." Dolich said local government likely would support a Giants-Warriors proposal because "all the heavy lifting, all of the politicking has been done at AT&T Park" and the area has "become a miracle of city development." Dolich: "If the Warriors come and the Giants and the Warriors can put aside their ego and get this thing built, it will be a positive for the mayor and the citizens of San Francisco" ("Yahoo Sports Talk Live," CSN Bay Area, 3/3).
RAIDERS ONLY HAVE TWO OPTIONS? CBS Sports Network analyst and former Raiders Chief Exec Amy Trask said the team has two possibilities of getting a new stadium -- either they will remain in the greater Bay Area, or the team "leaves the greater Bay Area." A new stadium on the site of O.co Coliseum would be the "perfect site ... geographically for many reasons." However, the hurdles are the "same hurdles that cities all across California are having and the state is having as a whole." Trask: "This is no longer the day and age a municipality can build a stadium and turn the keys over to a sports team. It needs to be a true private-public partnership." Another hurdle is whether the corporate business community will "support two buildings 32 miles from one another" with Levi's Stadium and a possible new stadium for the Raiders. Another would be "establishing whether this corporate business community will support roughly $2 billion of new football infrastructure, and you add to that whatever it is the Warriors want to do and the A's want to do" ("Yahoo Sports Talk Live," CSN Bay Area, 2/28).
WHAT'S THE CATCH? ESPN's Keith Olbermann noted the A's "have been trying to secure a new home for a long time" and now "suddenly the Giants are extending an olive branch." Olbermann noted Giants President & CEO Larry Baer last week said the club is "willing to share its home ballpark with the A's while they build a new stadium as a 'neighborly thing.'" Olbermann: "Can you see the catch coming? The Giants will welcome the A's as tenants provided the A's stop trying to build that new ballpark in San Jose" ("Olbermann," ESPN2, 2/28).
