A tale of two cities: San Francisco vs Oakland sports arenas

On Monday, Oct. 5, the United States Supreme Court  formally declined to consider the city of San Jose’s challenge to Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption, putting to end the Oakland A’s long-standing attempt to overturn the Giants' territorial take on the A’s desire to move to a new ballpark in San Jose.

“The Court’s decision, while significant, has no impact on our intense and unwavering focus on solving our ballpark issue and providing A’s fans the first-class experience they deserve,” A’s managing partner Lew Wolff said.

[REWIND: San Jose's antitrust lawsuit turned down | Ratto's take]

On Tuesday, Oct. 7, the Golden State Warriors, the city of San Francisco and UCSF reached an agreement on how they will cooperate on the privately funded new home for the Warriors at Mission Bay. Days later the team completed the purchase of twelve acres of land from Salesforce on which the arena will sit. The opposition of several deep-pocketed backers of the Mission Bay Alliance (MBA) could still file a legal challenge to the city’s environmental impact report on the arena.

The MBA may slow down the franchise's fast break, but in the end the team will be playing as the NBA’s San Francisco Warriors at their new home in “The City.”

[REWIND: Warriors formally purchase Mission Bay land]

Any successful project requires four essential elements:

1. Quality Ownership/Leadership
2. Aggressive/intelligent management teams
3. Financial viability
4. A product that consumers care about

You have to have champions, not just on the field but in City Hall, council chambers, franchise front offices, corporate HQs and the League. Unless there is a unified vision and the spine from all the constituencies to negotiate like pros and get a deal done, it's just a bunch of warm oxygen.

How can two cities separated by a few miles of salt water be so far apart when it comes to having the right stuff necessary to visualize, negotiate, finance, politic, plan, work as a team, and then build first class sport facilities for their home teams. I turned to one one the most knowledgeable minds in the world of sports and politics for perspective -- Charles “Chuck” Dickens from the London Times.

Here is what he had to say about the conundrum of the competitive cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." It’s the perfect analogy on how the two cities are trying to keep the home in home team...

SAN FRANCISCO -- "THE BEST OF TIMES"

SPORTS ARENAS
AT&T -- Home of San Francisco Giants opened in March of 2000. Viewed by many as the finest ballpark in America.
Mission Bay Arena -- Proposed new home of the NBA champion Golden State Warriors. Earliest opening could come as soon as the 2018-19 season. Estimated cost from $800 million to $1 billion. This project will be privately funded.
Candlestick Park -- As Frank Sinatra used to croon, "There Used to be a Ballpark."

ELECTED MAYORS 
Ed Lee -- 2011-2015 
Gavin Newsom -- 2004-2011 
Willie Brown -- 1996-2004 
Frank Jordan -- 1992-1996 
Art Agnos -- 1988-1992 

TEAM OWNERSHIP
San Francisco Giants
Charles Johnson -- 2008-Present
Peter McGowan -- 1993-2008
Bob Lurie -- 1976-1993
Horace Stoneham -- 1957-1976 

San Francisco 49ers 
York Family -- 2000-Present 
Eddie DeBartolo Jr. & Family -- 1977-2000
Morabito Family -- 1947-1977 

BREAKDOWN
Candlestick Park was a wind-blasted heap of outmoded hopelessness for decades, although the 49ers were winning championships in balmy fall weather at "The Stick." The Giants were freezing their bats and balls off waiting for a new home.

Giants’ owner Bob Lurie saw four new stadium referendums defeated between 1987 and 1992 -- two in San Francisco and one each in San Jose and Santa Clara. Lurie saw the writing on the wall and agreed to sell to a group planning to move the Giants to Tampa. Major League Baseball blocked the sale. In 1992 Lurie ended up selling the Giants to a group led by former Safeway CEO Peter McGowan for $100 million.

The Miracle of Mission Bay and China Basin, which began with Pac Bell Park, is a shining example of what can happen when the parameters of cooperation that were referenced earlier come together. Willie Brown playing his role as “Da Mayor” to perfection, making sure that the Giants stayed and helping ownership led by Peter McGowan, Larry Baer and their partners to become one of the few teams in America that financed and built its own magnificent ballpark.

The 49ers were going to build a new stadium and retail center at Candlestick Point until then-owner Eddie DeBartolo ran afoul of Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards, the Feds, and his fellow NFL owners. DeBartolo gave up control of the 49ers in 2000, ceding oversight of the team to his sister Denise DeBartolo York. In succeeding years there were a number of plans for a new stadium in order to guarantee a long-term future for the 49ers in San Francisco.

Mayor Gavin Newsom failed to create an environment in which a deal could be made with the York family to build new home at Candlestick Point. On Nov. 8, 2006, the 49ers announced that they would abandon their search for a location in San Francisco and began to actively pursue the idea of building a stadium in Santa Clara. Groundbreaking for the 49ers new home took place on April 19, 2012. Levi’s Stadium opened on July 17, 2014. Super Bowl 50 will be played in Santa Clara on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016.

OAKLAND -- "THE WORST OF TIMES"

SPORTS ARENAS
O.Co -- Home of the Oakland Raiders and Oakland A’s. Opened in 1966, retrofitted in 1995-96 for the Raiders’ return and construction of Mount Davis. Original cost $25.5 million.
Oracle Arena -- Home of Golden State Warriors. Opened in 1966, renovated in 1996-97. Original construction cost was $25 million. Just as a comparison on the growth of the pro sports business: Michael Jordan earned $33 million in the 1997-98 season, Kobe Bryant $30 million in 2012-13 and Kevin Garnett $28 million in 2003-04. They all could have paid for the arena and named it after themselves.

ELECTED MAYORS
Libby Schaaf -- 2015
Jean Quan -- 2011-2015
Ron Dellums -- 2007-2011
Jerry Brown -- 1999-2007
Elihu Harris -- 1991-1999

TEAM OWNERSHIP
Oakland A's
John Fisher & Lew Wolff -- 2005-Present
Steve Schott & Ken Hofmann -- 1995-2005
Haas Family -- 1980-1995
Charles O. Finley -- 1968-1980

Oakland Raiders
Mark & Carol Davis -- 2011-Present
Al Davis -- 1976-2011
Wayne Valley -- 1961-1976

Golden State Warriors
Joe Lacob & Peter Guber -- 2010-Present
Chris Cohan -- 1995-2010
Jim Fitzgerald & Dan Finnane -- 1986-1995
Franklin Mieuli -- 1962-1986

BREAKDOWN
Oakland’s elected officials have vowed not to spend a dime in public money to finance the construction of new venues for the Warriors, Raiders or A’s. They have agreed to foot the bill for an estimated $90 to $120 million in infrastructure improvements, such as utility upgrades, parking structures, and realigning roads.

In April, Oakland officials approved a “specific plan” that mapped out the best possible land uses for 800 acres of land surrounding the Coliseum, and the city council certified an environmental impact report for the whole area.

As we know, the sports footprint at 66th Avenue is the only place in America that is home to three major professional sports teams at one site. Regrettably it is also the only shared stadium for an NFL and MLB team.

If you leveled everything that is presently standing on the Coliseum grounds and built new homes for the current tenants, you would be looking at a bill of around $3 billion. At this point, no one has stepped forward with a long term strategy to build anything. As the ongoing struggle between the teams and elected officials continues, it seems there is a greater commitment to effluence than excellence.

All you can say with any certainty today is that the Warriors will be leaving Oakland for San Francisco.

A’s
Oakland and Alameda County recently parted ways with “Coliseum City” developer Floyd Kephart. Wolff had made it clear that he had no interest in Kephart's proposal for a massive mixed-use development on the Coliseum site. The Kephart caper accomplished nothing but a serious waste of time for the city and county during which they could have been negotiating directly with the A’s and Raiders.

Various Oakland sites and developers have floated plans for a new baseball park for the A’s including the Howard Terminal (a shipping facility near Jack London Square), Victory Court (adjacent to Jack London Square), and the “Coliseum City” mega-project on the Coliseum site.

These options came after a failed attempt to move the A’s to Fremont, which the team scrapped in 2009. Fremont officials tried luring the A’s back in 2010, but their idea for a 36,000-seat ballpark at the NUMMI plant site never got off the ground.

The A’s have been in talks with Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf to build a new privately financed ballpark at the current site. Last year the team signed a 10-year lease to continue playing at the Coliseum, but reserved the right to opt out in four years, the time it would take to review, approve and construct a new stadium.

RAIDERS
Raiders owner Mark Davis rejected Kephart's proposal earlier this year. Oakland officials have said that working on a plan with the Raiders is crucial because the team is also seriously eyeing a potential move south -- to build a new stadium in Carson with the San Diego Chargers or become a tenant in a stadium planned by St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke in Inglewood.

The Raiders do not have the finances to build their own stadium.

Next week we'll explore what’s next in the tale of two cities...