The A's are "exploring using a gondola ski lift to transport fans from downtown to the Port of Oakland's Howard Terminal, where the team is thinking of building a new ballpark," according to Matier & Ross of the S.F. CHRONICLE. A's President Dave Kaval said, "You have to be creative in how you approach these problems in the modern era, where you have transportation gridlock." Howard Terminal is "one of two sites the A's are looking at for a new ballpark." Transportation challenges at the port site are a "key reason the A's are taking a renewed look at staying at their current home at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, but in a new ballpark." Kaval said that he still has not "given up on the idea of a new BART stop at the port, though an aerial gondola conceivably could be built for far less." The gondola would give fans a "spectacular view to boot during a five-minute ride between downtown and a waterfront ballpark." The gondola system the A's are looking at "could carry more than 20 people per gondola," and could "carry anywhere from 4,000 to 6,000 passengers an hour." Estimates for building the gondola system "range anywhere" from $50-100M. It is "not yet known how much the city would be expected to kick in -- if anything -- or how much A's fans would have to pay to ride it" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 4/11).
