The Los Angeles Forty Niners
So I'm sitting at my desk and I see this come down on the news wire.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The San Francisco 49ers ended negotiations
with the city about building a new stadium and plan to move to
either Santa Clara or somewhere else in California, The Associated
Press learned Wednesday night.
Surprised... yes.
Even though we're an hour plane ride away I didn't realize that the city and the niners were at the end of the line.
It just goes how insulated we are. Not people in Portland necessarily, but anywhere you live. Sometimes if you don't come up for air in your daily life you don't know what's going on. Even in a city just 700 miles away.
What's next for the Niners. Take a guess.
The Niners will start playing "Where Will We Move ?"
It will play city vs city and see where it gets the best deal.
This type of scenario is going on everywhere. People in Seattle didn't exactly give the new owners what they wanted in Tuesday elections.
The same can be said in Sacramento where voters aren't putting their money where their team is. Check out this from the San Jose Mercury News.
SACRAMENTO - Sacramento civic leaders said Wednesday that they'll try again in two years to convince voters to help pay for a sports arena to revitalize a vacant railroad yard and the city's downtown.
Only in passing did they mention the arena would help keep the Sacramento Kings professional basketball team in town.
Look what happened in Portland over the summer when the Blazers met with the city. Mayor Potter said we'd like you to stay but we have no money to help you out.
The same theme is running rampant all over the country.
Comments
It's true that the San Francisco 49ers are looking for a new home. Candlestick Park unfortunatley has become a real wasteland when it comes to a football stadium. Even the San Francisco Giants left to build their own stadium.
The Niners have been looking at relocating for a long time now, and it's been a problem both with the City of San Francisco and the turmoil in the ownership of the Niners that's also contributed to negociations that have gone no where.
Former owner Eddie DeBartolo had his plan to build a shopping/stadium complex, but had to give those up giving up his ownership to his sister, Denise York and her husband, Dr John York. They then tried a couple more proposals that didn't go anywhere.
And of course the City of San Francisco had it's own changes from Mayor Willie Brown to Mayor Gavin Newsom who then changed the personalities involved.
It's no wonder the Yorks are looking for a new home, and Santa Clara is a possiblity since it's near the Niners training facliity, and the Niners have a working relationship with the city of Santa Clara with having their training facility and corporate offices located real close to the proposed new stadium location.
Of course, this may not be the end of the story, as the Yorks maybe still using this as a leverage
against the City of San Francisco to come up with a deal also...
The other intersting thing is in the San Francisco Bay Area, another team is now in the process of relocating their home-The Oakland A's have pushed for a new ball park with the City of Oakland for over 10 years---And look at the similiarites with the Niners--The A's are trying to get away from a ball park that was ruined by a football conversion by the Oakland Raiders, and the Niners are tyring to get away from a baseball stadium that was converted to football.
Ironic isn't it.
After being on both sides of the fence as both as a being a season ticket holder for both teams at one time, and also a member of the media covering these teams off and on during the last 20 years, to see two teams move in an area at the same time isn't something that happens very
often in the world of sports.
As for here in Oregon where I spend half my time now, the situation with the Trailblazers is better than what is going on in Sacramento with the Kings. The Rose Garden may not be the prize location to play in, but Arco Arena in Sacramento is definitely a bad place to watch basketball. Lousy sight lines, and it's also another facility that's outlived it's usefulness.
(Try to watch hockey there...It's just awful)
The Kings ownership has tried to get a plan together for a new arena, but they've failed also.
I agree, what you're going to see in the near future is pro sports teams negocaiting for a new location to play, and if they don't get it in the city they'r currently located in, watch out as some other city, even one right next door may be intersted in giving the team a home.....
Gonna be intersting....Sorry for being so long winded...
Posted by: sportswatch | November 12, 2006 9:50 AM