Wednesday, May 5, 2010
A’s Owner Alienates Fans, Bitches About Low Attendance
Politics / People / Business / Sports Robert Gammon — Wed, May 5, 2010 at 11:40 AM
So what happens when you publicly declare that you want to move your ballclub to San Jose, and then field a mediocre team after cordoning off some of the least expensive seats in the coliseum? Surprise, surprise, your attendance plummets dramatically. And yet despite this predictable outcome, Oakland A’s co-owner Lew Wolff continues to act as if he’s not responsible for his team having one of the worst attendance records in Major League Baseball.
In an interview with the Chronicle, Wolff also appears to claim that he had previously reviewed the two new ballpark sites proposals for Jack London Square and dismissed them as not viable. It’s well-known that baseball’s blue-ribbon committee is looking at the sites, which were pushed forward last year by Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and a local booster group, Let's Go Oakland. Yet Wolff appeared to indicate to the Chron that he had reviewed the sites several years ago and dismissed them, saying he would be “shocked” if the committee concluded differently. Here’s his full quote:
“I’m not privy to what the committee is doing right now, but if they’ve got some plan I don’t know of, I’d be shocked.”
Since Wolff obviously knows about the new sites — they’ve received a lot of press in the past few months, he appears to be saying here that he had previously checked them out and found them wanting — although it’s not clear why.
Comments (2)
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If you told your wife that she was ok for now, but once that hot blond a few blocks away got her divorce finalized you were going to take up with her, how much affection would you get? That's the situation of Oakland fans, many of whom have been with the team for more than 40 years. They pushed 3 million in attendance when the Haas family, who cared about Oakland, owned the team. But why go now to put money in Wolff's pockets?
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There are a lot more reasons for the low attendance:
-$18 and $30 parking
-expensive seats, beer, and merch
-no broadcast games (only cable)
-no superstar players
-lack of other fans. not much fun being the only one in your section
-whiny players
-keep changing radio stations and personalities
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