The A's said that they need revenue from a new ballpark to boost their payroll to competitive levelsATHLETICS
The A's said that they "might have to push back their plan to open a new ballpark at Howard Terminal for the 2023 season" due to delays from the coronavirus pandemic, according to Scott Ostler of the S.F. CHRONICLE. The club and President Dave Kaval have "long held firm on that 2023 date, even in the face of growing political and logistical hurdles." A's VP/Communications & Community Relations Catherine Aker yesterday said, "The timeline may be adjusted due to the COVID-19 pandemic." Ostler notes the hurdles, even before the pandemic, are "enormous and growing by the day," but the virus-related delays "bleaken the picture." The A's said that they "need revenue from a new ballpark to boost their payroll to competitive levels." Ostler notes no new ballpark -- or even a delay in its construction -- "would represent a loss of revenue and make it hard for the A's to keep their young stars." The A's could "pivot at any time away" from Howard Terminal and to the Coliseum site, especially since building a ballpark there "would be cheaper, much easier and much quicker." But if the A's are even "considering taking a harder look at a Coliseum ballpark, they aren't tipping their hand, which is not surprising" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/28).
UP FOR THE CHALLENGE? THE ATHLETIC's Tim Kawakami wrote there really is "no other way to view the events of the last few weeks, and particularly Tuesday, when it was revealed that the A's were making a series of economic cutbacks due to the pandemic shutdown," other than Managing Partner John Fisher "showing the world that he is not up to this moment." Fisher is "not up to building the A's a new stadium or lifting them into any level of financial success," and it is "not an easy moment, to be fair." But Fisher is the man who "decided what the stakes were before the pandemic hit." Kawakami: "How in the world will the A's be able to pay for all the costs associated with the Howard Terminal site and just continue to grind through this process if they can't hold off cutbacks right now?" (THEATHLETIC.com, 5/27).
