Santa Clara 49ers & Fremont A's?

The shocking news about a 49ers move, along with the Oakland A's expected announcement of a move to Fremont represents a less than serious effort to keep both teams in town. Let's look at the 49ers. Since 1980 the 49ers have been a cash cow for The City. During the Niners' glory years, the team was so successful it was taken for granted the Niners would go deep into the playoff every year, often playing until mid January and bringing millions of dollars to The City's businesses and tax coffers. Even though the current ownership of John and Denise York have competitively turned the NFL's elite team to the doormat of the NFL, the 49er Faithful continue to sell out every game. During the Niners glory years former Mayor Willie Brown realized that the 49ers needed a new stadium and that The City needed to make a commitment to keeping the Niners in San Francisco without spending public dollars to build a new stadium. The controversial 1997 bond measures for the Candlestick stadium/mall complex endorsed by former owner Eddie DeBartolo and passed with Brown's political muscle committed both the city and the Niners to a new stadium. The new 'Stick was in the planning stages when the NFL forced Eddie D to give up ownership of the team to the Yorks, who ditched the stadium/mall complex and until last year, had little to say about a new stadium. Should Gavin have followed the advice of former Mayor Brown in getting a signed agreement for a new 49ers stadium a top priority of his administration?

If the 49ers do move, what will be the fate of Candlestick and its relationship to the Bayview/Hunters Point area? A good question to ask Mayor Newsom is if the city had long term plans for Candlestick, why did Muni not build an extension of the Third Street light rail extension to the 'Stick? York's press release about the Santa Clara move said poor transit access to the 'Stick was a key factor in favor of the move to Santa Clara.

Across the Bay in Oakland, it's reportedly a done deal that the A's are moving to a stadium on land owned by Cisco Systems in South Fremont. There's apparently little political will in Oakland City Hall to do anything to keep the A's in town. After being burnt badly on various public financed projects for the Raiders and Warriors, Oakland city officials would approve being annexed as an eastern neighborhood of San Francisco before spending a dime on any of Oakland's three pro sports teams.

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