Latest / Foul Territory / Sacramento A's transition talk

Transcript

Sacramento A's transition talk · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: You know, there are a lot of balls in the air.
0:01
Speaker 2: Like I don't think it's a sure thing that the
0:03
Speaker 2: A's are going to be in Sacramento this whole three
0:05
Speaker 2: year stretch, Like, I don't think that's that's a given.
0:15
Speaker 3: Here we go.
0:15
Speaker 4: Chris Biederman is joining us covering the a senior reporter
0:18
Speaker 4: for the Sacramento b Chris, Great to have you on
0:21
Speaker 4: and welcome to foul Territory. Welcome to Sacramento, Major League Baseball.
0:27
Speaker 1: How are the first.
0:28
Speaker 4: Few days there? Obviously you can go over what you
0:31
Speaker 4: saw on the field and what you've been experiencing in
0:35
Speaker 4: Sacramento in terms of the fans receiving this team.
0:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for having me. It's been pretty surreal because
0:42
Speaker 2: I've been, you know, going to Rivercats games in different
0:46
Speaker 2: capacities since like two thousand and eight, and to see
0:49
Speaker 2: major League baseball there has been kind of crazy, but
0:53
Speaker 2: it's been It's been very unique and there was a
0:57
Speaker 2: lot of excitement. I think the atmosphere was really good,
1:00
Speaker 2: albeit you know, just under fourteen thousand fans there for
1:03
Speaker 2: opening night and then you kind of saw the crowd
1:06
Speaker 2: numbers taper off a little bit. You had over twelve
1:09
Speaker 2: thousand there on Tuesday, and then over nine thousand there
1:13
Speaker 2: in a matinee getaway day on Wednesday, and things weren't
1:17
Speaker 2: really helped by the fact that the A's gave up
1:19
Speaker 2: the most runs they've given up in their first three
1:22
Speaker 2: games of their home season since nineteen twenty two. So
1:26
Speaker 2: it's been a little bit rough from that standpoint. The
1:29
Speaker 2: wind has been blowing out and the Cubs have taken
1:32
Speaker 2: advantage far more than the A's did, but it's it's
1:35
Speaker 2: a real interesting situation you have. You know, the team
1:40
Speaker 2: that the A's are sharing the ballpark with is the
1:43
Speaker 2: Sacramento river Cats, of course, who are the giants top affiliate,
1:47
Speaker 2: And I think I think the town before the A's
1:50
Speaker 2: got here has been kind of split between Giants and A's,
1:53
Speaker 2: like much of northern California, and so it wasn't going
1:56
Speaker 2: to be a slam dunk that there were just going
1:58
Speaker 2: to be legions of A's fans coming to sacrament I know,
2:00
Speaker 2: and obviously many A's fans have been pretty disenchanted by
2:03
Speaker 2: the direction of the organization and the decision to move
2:06
Speaker 2: out of Oakland. So it's just a really interesting dynamic
2:09
Speaker 2: of very polarizing situation, a lot of strong opinions going
2:13
Speaker 2: both ways, and yeah, it's it's been very unique and
2:18
Speaker 2: we'll see where it goes from here.
2:20
Speaker 5: Does it feel like I know, the seasons early, but
2:22
Speaker 5: does it feel like the organization, the Oakland A's organization
2:27
Speaker 5: has really like put a bunch of signs up and
2:30
Speaker 5: let the city know, hey, you know what, we're here
2:32
Speaker 5: now and like promoted the team or are they just
2:35
Speaker 5: kind of sitting on their hands hoping people come out.
2:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, So what's interesting is is they've partnered with the
2:42
Speaker 2: River Cats, which are owned by the Sacramento Kings and
2:45
Speaker 2: the vekron A DVA, and the Kings have really have
2:49
Speaker 2: really handled a lot of the marketing and a lot
2:51
Speaker 2: of the business and ticket sales operations, and so yeah,
2:55
Speaker 2: there's been a little bit of it, but it doesn't
2:57
Speaker 2: really feel like the A's town right there. There isn't
3:00
Speaker 2: There are billboards, but they're not like everywhere you know.
3:03
Speaker 2: The A's of course, did not make Sacramento as part
3:06
Speaker 2: of their team name. They're the only team in North
3:09
Speaker 2: American major sports without a city attached to their name.
3:12
Speaker 2: They're just the athletics. And so I think some people
3:16
Speaker 2: in Sacramento rightfully, so are a little bit miffed by that.
3:19
Speaker 2: And I asked John Fisher about that specifically on on Monday,
3:23
Speaker 2: the team's owner, and he just he kind of sideset
3:26
Speaker 2: the question, and he said, look, this is an amazing
3:29
Speaker 2: this is an amazing development for Sacramento.
3:31
Speaker 1: There's major League Baseball here.
3:33
Speaker 2: The Chicago Cubs are in town without really acknowledging the
3:37
Speaker 2: fact that, you know, they they aren't really adopting Sacramento.
3:42
Speaker 2: They're not putting it on the uniforms. They do have
3:44
Speaker 2: a patch with the tower Bridge. That's cool, and they
3:46
Speaker 2: gave out hats on opening night that have the tower
3:49
Speaker 2: Bridge patch on the center of the hat. But you
3:53
Speaker 2: know that there's no there's no apparel you can buy
3:56
Speaker 2: that says Sacramento on it, at least none that I've seen.
4:00
Speaker 2: And I'm not sure if that's going to change or not.
4:02
Speaker 2: But the A's did file for the trademark for Sacramento A's,
4:06
Speaker 2: but they aren't making any apparel with it, so they're
4:10
Speaker 2: not fully embracing it from that standpoint, and I think
4:13
Speaker 2: there are some fans in town who are a little
4:17
Speaker 2: miffed by that, but also the A's have made it
4:19
Speaker 2: pretty clear that their goal is to make this a
4:21
Speaker 2: temporary venue because they have sites on Las Vegas, which
4:25
Speaker 2: you know, they hope to open that Dome Ballpark on
4:28
Speaker 2: the Vegas Strip in twenty twenty eight.
4:31
Speaker 1: We'll see if that happens.
4:33
Speaker 2: Obviously, the A's don't have the best history when it
4:36
Speaker 2: comes to finalizing stadium deals and getting shovels in the ground,
4:39
Speaker 2: but they're optimistic that it's going to happen. So we'll
4:41
Speaker 2: just have to wait and see.
4:43
Speaker 3: Chris. A couple of things before we dig in.
4:45
Speaker 6: One nice slave, one behind you whatever it's called now lego,
4:47
Speaker 6: So that's that's kil.
4:49
Speaker 3: I have two of those in my house.
4:50
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you, thank you, sweet touch.
4:53
Speaker 6: Second of all, I played in Sacramento in twenty twenty
4:56
Speaker 6: twenty zero zero, two thousand, and it was a launching pad.
4:59
Speaker 3: So this doesn't supper the run score.
5:01
Speaker 6: But my real question is is they say fourteen thousand
5:06
Speaker 6: seed stadium. Do you know what the attendance recorded by
5:09
Speaker 6: Major League Baseball was on the first game in Sacramento?
5:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was was it twelve thousand, nineteen or something
5:17
Speaker 2: like that, one.
5:18
Speaker 6: Hundred and nineteen, So where in the holy hell are
5:20
Speaker 6: they getting it insto a fourteen thousand seed stadium? If
5:23
Speaker 6: on the first game of the year against the Cubs,
5:25
Speaker 6: now against the team that has a national following, right
5:30
Speaker 6: the Chicago Cubs, they.
5:31
Speaker 3: Only draw twelve thousand.
5:32
Speaker 6: The next night I think was ten thousand, like you said,
5:35
Speaker 6: And then the third night was under nine thousand or
5:38
Speaker 6: hold on, let me I'm looking here.
5:39
Speaker 3: Ten thousand.
5:40
Speaker 6: The second night, yeah, ten thousand, ninety five, and then
5:44
Speaker 6: yesterday was nine thousand.
5:45
Speaker 3: I believe. I know it is a ghetaway day. It
5:47
Speaker 3: was a day game. But where do they keep coming
5:49
Speaker 3: up with this fake number of fourteen thousand? Are they
5:51
Speaker 3: talking about?
5:51
Speaker 6: They talking to vendors, the clubhouse guys, the bat boys,
5:55
Speaker 6: the bird circle in the stadium. I'm like, I'm super
5:57
Speaker 6: confused because then they had ninety three hundred there, Yes,
6:00
Speaker 6: So where do they get fourteen thousand from?
6:02
Speaker 3: Because I can't figure it out.
6:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I'm with you on that. I think
6:06
Speaker 2: that I know they have ten thousand fixed seats and
6:10
Speaker 2: then they have, you know, a few extra thousand that
6:12
Speaker 2: they can fit out in right field and right center
6:15
Speaker 2: field and the grass burm area, and they sell those
6:17
Speaker 2: tickets day of for twenty five bucks. So yeah, I'm
6:22
Speaker 2: not really sure, and I know the A's were putting
6:25
Speaker 2: it out. They put it out over the summer that
6:27
Speaker 2: they sold all of their premium season tickets for the season.
6:30
Speaker 2: They put it out in January that they sold they
6:33
Speaker 2: sold out all of their season tickets. So apparently all
6:38
Speaker 2: the season tickets have sold out per the team's messaging.
6:42
Speaker 2: But you look at the pure attendance numbers of who's
6:44
Speaker 2: actually been in the ballpark, and it would indicate that
6:47
Speaker 2: it's not as successful as the team was talking about beforehand.
6:51
Speaker 2: So you know, I know, look, as I mentioned, the
6:56
Speaker 2: A's are partnering with the Kings in this. The Kings
6:59
Speaker 2: are you know, vivekrona dive has been very vocal about
7:04
Speaker 2: how he wants this to be an opportunity for Sacramento
7:07
Speaker 2: to pay maybe lare an expansion team, and city leaders
7:11
Speaker 2: and politicians and business leaders have all said the same thing.
7:14
Speaker 2: So I think the messaging early on was look how
7:17
Speaker 2: much interest there is, Look how many people are buying tickets,
7:21
Speaker 2: and then you see the first three games they fall flat,
7:24
Speaker 2: not only on the field, but it seems like they
7:27
Speaker 2: fell flat in terms of attendance. And man, if you know,
7:30
Speaker 2: if that's what the first three games looks like, you
7:33
Speaker 2: got to be a little bit worried about what it
7:34
Speaker 2: looks like when you know it's one hundred degrees in
7:37
Speaker 2: the middle of June and July. You know, are are
7:40
Speaker 2: people going to still want to come out, particularly if
7:43
Speaker 2: the team's not winning? And and I am optimistic about
7:46
Speaker 2: you know what the team is. It's a young, exciting team,
7:48
Speaker 2: particularly offensively. They have not pitched well at all early on.
7:52
Speaker 2: But yeah, I'm I'm you know, I'm with you aj
7:55
Speaker 2: and that like, I'm not really sure where these where
7:59
Speaker 2: these ballparks numbers were going. I know there was a
8:01
Speaker 2: lot of messaging coming from the team side about the
8:05
Speaker 2: season tickets and stuff, and we frankly the first three
8:08
Speaker 2: games have been kind of a letdown from that standpoint.
8:11
Speaker 5: You said, you've been going in some capacity to Rivercats
8:14
Speaker 5: games since two thousand and eight, right, so you've been
8:16
Speaker 5: watching some games?
8:18
Speaker 3: How have Yeah, go ahead.
8:21
Speaker 2: No, I was just gonna I intern for them back
8:23
Speaker 2: in the day, you know, in college and all that.
8:27
Speaker 2: So it's been Yeah, it's been a trip.
8:28
Speaker 5: But anyway, continue, How how has the field played these
8:32
Speaker 5: three games compared to what you saw otherwise. Is it
8:36
Speaker 5: big leaguers making a minor league park look like a
8:38
Speaker 5: minor league park or is this an anomaly? And it'll
8:42
Speaker 5: start to get because once it gets warmer, we know
8:44
Speaker 5: the ball flies even more.
8:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, the ball definitely flies in the summer months. I
8:49
Speaker 2: will say the wind that they had this week was
8:53
Speaker 2: blowing out towards right center field, which is typically not
8:57
Speaker 2: the prevailing win. The prevailing wind typically blows in, and
9:01
Speaker 2: so you know, it was a little bit unique from
9:04
Speaker 2: that perspective.
9:05
Speaker 1: It was pretty cold.
9:06
Speaker 2: It was in the fifties and forties late in these
9:08
Speaker 2: games the first two nights, so it was chilly, but
9:11
Speaker 2: the ball really carried because of the wind and as
9:14
Speaker 2: far as the field goes, that's that's kind of another
9:16
Speaker 2: interesting subplot. I'm sure you guys are well aware. The
9:19
Speaker 2: initial plan was to have an artificial surface there because
9:22
Speaker 2: there are one hundred and fifty some odd games played
9:25
Speaker 2: at Sutter Health Park between the A's and Rivercats. Ultimately,
9:29
Speaker 2: the Players Union stepped in. They went with natural grass,
9:31
Speaker 2: and they did they did all they could to have
9:34
Speaker 2: to have a you know, a really regenerative surface that
9:37
Speaker 2: has a super unique injection system when it comes to
9:41
Speaker 2: nutrients and things like that. So apparently the grass is
9:45
Speaker 2: gonna be gonna be able to bounce back from all
9:48
Speaker 2: the wear and tear. But again, that's another thing we'll
9:51
Speaker 2: have to see in the summer. Is it going to
9:52
Speaker 2: get super baked out in July and August? Is it
9:56
Speaker 2: you know, are there going to be massive brown spots?
9:59
Speaker 1: And where the out fielders are?
10:01
Speaker 2: Uh that those are all really significant questions when you
10:03
Speaker 2: get to the summer, in the summer heat. But yeah,
10:06
Speaker 2: I think the ball is going to carry regardless if
10:08
Speaker 2: it's you know, if it's late March early April, you'll
10:11
Speaker 2: get the wind blowing out to right center field. In
10:14
Speaker 2: June and July you'll get the wind coming in from
10:17
Speaker 2: that direction, but the ball will still carry because of
10:20
Speaker 2: how warm it is. So I do expect it to
10:23
Speaker 2: be more hitter friendly and and we'll see if the
10:27
Speaker 2: A's pitching can can combat that at all, because they
10:29
Speaker 2: certainly haven't during the first three games.
10:32
Speaker 3: Are they going to be good? I thought the A's
10:35
Speaker 3: would be good.
10:35
Speaker 6: They picked them kind of as my sleeper team to
10:37
Speaker 6: be their their their their number was very low for
10:40
Speaker 6: over unders. I took the over easy because I thought
10:44
Speaker 6: they would be better with Savarino and Springs and some
10:47
Speaker 6: of the other guys have another year in of the belt.
10:48
Speaker 3: But the a is going to be good because these
10:50
Speaker 3: first three.
10:50
Speaker 1: Games they look like plea, Yeah, I'm with you.
10:56
Speaker 2: I think, you know, it's a tough start, and and
10:59
Speaker 2: you know, the pitching is in isn't what they want
11:00
Speaker 2: it to be, and obviously that was the issue for
11:03
Speaker 2: them last year, much more so than the offense. So
11:06
Speaker 2: I think, you know, I think they're going to be
11:08
Speaker 2: better than they've been during the first week of the season.
11:10
Speaker 2: I think we saw, you know what this team is
11:12
Speaker 2: going to be a better representation of them, I think
11:16
Speaker 2: was the first series in Seattle, and then you come
11:20
Speaker 2: to West Sacramento and you know they don't pitch well
11:23
Speaker 2: at all. They allow thirty five runs in three games
11:25
Speaker 2: they including eighteen on opening night, which was the most
11:28
Speaker 2: ever by or the most been a home opener for
11:31
Speaker 2: a home team since nineteen twenty five.
11:32
Speaker 1: I think it was.
11:33
Speaker 2: You have a couple of records going back one hundred
11:35
Speaker 2: years going against the A's in their first series, which is.
11:38
Speaker 1: Kind of wild.
11:39
Speaker 2: But no, I think they're better than how they've played
11:42
Speaker 2: these three games. I think the offense is going to
11:44
Speaker 2: pick up. They have a bunch of good young hitters.
11:47
Speaker 2: There are some question marks defensively, and obviously the big
11:51
Speaker 2: question is starting pitching. But I think they're better than
11:55
Speaker 2: what they looked like these last three games, and I
11:57
Speaker 2: would expect them to be in the wildcard mix, and
12:00
Speaker 2: that's I know, that's the expectation they set out for themselves.
12:03
Speaker 2: Mark Cotts say, their manager, talked about that that the
12:05
Speaker 2: expectations are a lot different this season coming in, and
12:08
Speaker 2: they do expect to be in that playoff mix. So
12:12
Speaker 2: I hope for their sake that this is just a
12:14
Speaker 2: slow start and they pick things up like they did
12:17
Speaker 2: last year when they were five hundred after the break.
12:19
Speaker 2: So we'll see how it goes. But they're more talented,
12:22
Speaker 2: particularly offensively, than what they've shown these last three games.
12:26
Speaker 6: Chris, you mentioned the field and how they're cheering it
12:28
Speaker 6: with the river Cats. By the way, no field could
12:29
Speaker 6: sustain one hundred and eighty straight games of being I
12:32
Speaker 6: don't care how what they inject it with I mean,
12:34
Speaker 6: but it can't be worse than what was in Oakland
12:36
Speaker 6: right when they used to have the Raiders field on it.
12:38
Speaker 6: I mean they would do a Raiders game and that
12:40
Speaker 6: field was destroyed. It was like playing on concrete. There
12:42
Speaker 6: was no grass. I mean it was painted green, but
12:44
Speaker 6: the grass was dead in most places and it was
12:46
Speaker 6: just painted green. You had the infield, you know, the
12:49
Speaker 6: lines through the field, the whole thing. So it can't
12:52
Speaker 6: be worse than that, even though it will be destroyed
12:54
Speaker 6: because you can't play games on a baseball field one
12:56
Speaker 6: hundred and eighty straight days, and I'd give it a
12:58
Speaker 6: little break somewhere.
12:59
Speaker 3: Yeah.
13:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great point, and we'll see how that goes.
13:02
Speaker 2: They there was a lot of discussion about that with
13:05
Speaker 2: the players union and the league when when they're sorting
13:08
Speaker 2: it all out and figuring out that they did want
13:10
Speaker 2: to use a natural surface instead of artificial grass, which
13:13
Speaker 2: I completely get because you know, you don't want to
13:16
Speaker 2: be out there on an afternoon in Sacramento where it's
13:18
Speaker 2: a one hundred and ten degrees on artificial surface. That
13:22
Speaker 2: just doesn't sound like any fun for anybody. So yeah,
13:25
Speaker 2: I mean that, Well, we'll see. There are a lot
13:28
Speaker 2: of things are going to reveal themselves as the season
13:30
Speaker 2: goes on. As you know, we we talked about the attendance, Like,
13:33
Speaker 2: is that going to hold up over the long term,
13:35
Speaker 2: particularly if the A's aren't winning?
13:38
Speaker 1: Is the field going to hold up? How's that going
13:40
Speaker 1: to work?
13:41
Speaker 2: Is this going to be a situation where you know,
13:44
Speaker 2: there are a lot of balls in the air, Like,
13:45
Speaker 2: I don't think it's a sure thing that the A's
13:47
Speaker 2: are going to be in Sacramento, these these this whole
13:50
Speaker 2: you know, three year stretch, Like, I don't think that's
13:53
Speaker 2: that's a given, particularly if, like you said, the field
13:56
Speaker 2: gets completely baked out, it turns into concrete by the
13:58
Speaker 2: time August comes around. You know, if if opposing teams
14:02
Speaker 2: voice their complaints, the media situation certainly isn't great. I
14:07
Speaker 2: know fans don't care about that, but the media situation,
14:10
Speaker 2: the lack of like real press conference areas and press
14:13
Speaker 2: workrooms and press seating. If the A's do make the playoffs,
14:17
Speaker 2: the press setup is going to be why they won't
14:19
Speaker 2: host a playoff game. And then you'll have a scenario
14:22
Speaker 2: where if the A's do end up hosting a playoff game,
14:24
Speaker 2: more most likely is that'll be in San Francisco, And
14:28
Speaker 2: what kind of look is that going to be for
14:29
Speaker 2: the A's, So you know, there's there's a lot of
14:32
Speaker 2: balls in the air, for sure. The field's absolutely one
14:35
Speaker 2: of them. And if enough of these, if enough of
14:38
Speaker 2: these factors go poorly for the A's, it wouldn't surprise
14:41
Speaker 2: me at all if this Sacramento thing is kind of
14:43
Speaker 2: is a one and done, because you do have a
14:45
Speaker 2: major league ballpark sitting there in Oakland. I know it's
14:48
Speaker 2: being used by the Oakland Root soccer team right now,
14:50
Speaker 2: but it wouldn't take much for them to get that
14:52
Speaker 2: back ready to major league caliber. And you know, despite
14:56
Speaker 2: the team's relationship with the local officials being completely framed
15:00
Speaker 2: and the fan base can be being completely fractured, you
15:02
Speaker 2: do have a major league ballpark there that's sitting unused
15:05
Speaker 2: that could that could potentially, you know, make more sense
15:08
Speaker 2: for the A's than than West Sacramento if things go poorly.
15:12
Speaker 6: Hold up, hold up, I gotta I gotta fall Wait,
15:14
Speaker 6: you're saying the A's could go back to Oakland, which
15:16
Speaker 6: would be awesome, because it would be incredible after all
15:20
Speaker 6: the crap that was said about from the A's, not
15:23
Speaker 6: the fans, not the players, but from certain people in
15:26
Speaker 6: the organization and the war they had for years.
15:29
Speaker 3: To me, you know what.
15:29
Speaker 6: This sounds like that the A's didn't know what they
15:32
Speaker 6: were doing. They rushed into the Sacramento thing. They have
15:35
Speaker 6: no press box, they have the locker rooms around the outfield.
15:39
Speaker 6: The field could be trashed. The fans aren't showing up
15:41
Speaker 6: like they thought they were.
15:43
Speaker 1: Oh but we can.
15:43
Speaker 3: We're gonna rush back to Oakland before hopefully we're one
15:46
Speaker 3: day in Vegas.
15:47
Speaker 6: This sounds like a bigger disaster than even Scott Bron
15:50
Speaker 6: can make it out to be.
15:51
Speaker 1: Like this is this is Scott Bron's.
15:53
Speaker 6: Like dream scenario right here, like his mind, like his
15:57
Speaker 6: bobblehead right here from when he went to the fan
16:00
Speaker 6: stingy the fan fest, Like his head is about to
16:03
Speaker 6: explode because.
16:04
Speaker 4: He's like, careful, careful, I'm bringing that up north. But
16:08
Speaker 4: also I feel like, just to add to this, this
16:11
Speaker 4: came about with two friends, two billionaire friends, John Fisher
16:15
Speaker 4: and Vivek right there. I think neighbors or yacht buddies
16:18
Speaker 4: or whatever they are. They drink together or they do
16:21
Speaker 4: whatever rich people do together, whatever the cool new recreational
16:25
Speaker 4: thing is to do. Let's put it that way. AJ
16:27
Speaker 4: was looking for what I was going to say, but anyway,
16:29
Speaker 4: I mean, he's just sitting with him and he's like, oh,
16:31
Speaker 4: come over here, and he's like, uh, okay, sure, let's
16:34
Speaker 4: do that.
16:36
Speaker 1: Yeah.
16:36
Speaker 2: I just you know, and again this is just me speculating.
16:39
Speaker 2: I haven't heard anything, you know, but it's just you
16:43
Speaker 2: have Cubs players complaining about the situation before the series
16:46
Speaker 2: even started. You have, you know, the media situation being
16:50
Speaker 2: what it is that shed that they have out down
16:53
Speaker 2: the left field line where they have press conferences right now,
16:55
Speaker 2: it's not climbing controlled, and you know, they apparently they're
16:59
Speaker 2: going to climbate control it. But if they don't throw
17:02
Speaker 2: air conditioning in that thing on one hundred degree day,
17:05
Speaker 2: I don't know how you can have a press conference
17:07
Speaker 2: in basically a metal box that's going to turn into
17:10
Speaker 2: an oven. So that's something they have to fix, right
17:13
Speaker 2: They built this new structure out beyond the left field
17:16
Speaker 2: wall that has a new clubhouse, and the facilities are
17:19
Speaker 2: you know, they're top notch. They're not the largest facilities
17:22
Speaker 2: because the footprint isn't the biggest because you still have
17:25
Speaker 2: the Rivercat's clubhouse next door, and then you have the
17:28
Speaker 2: visiting clubhouse next door to that, and you have new
17:30
Speaker 2: batting cages built out there, so all that stuff is
17:33
Speaker 2: very nice, but they didn't build any sort of media
17:36
Speaker 2: facility out there. They're just trying to expand what was
17:40
Speaker 2: already there. And they had like, you know, a three
17:42
Speaker 2: or four person press box that they outfitted and put
17:44
Speaker 2: a couple extra seats in, and then they took a
17:47
Speaker 2: luxury suite and basically pulled the chairs out of that
17:50
Speaker 2: and have these folding chairs with tiny little desk things
17:52
Speaker 2: on them. So it's not a bad vantage point behind
17:55
Speaker 2: home plate, but it's not you know, if you're hosting
17:58
Speaker 2: a playoff game, you need one hundred and fifty two
18:01
Speaker 2: hundred seats for media people, and the A's right now
18:04
Speaker 2: have about like thirty or forty, and you had opening
18:07
Speaker 2: night with one hundred and fifty media people there, the
18:10
Speaker 2: vast majority of them were without seats and we're standing
18:12
Speaker 2: on the concourse watching and you know, basically standing room
18:15
Speaker 2: only areas. So you know, I again like, maybe it works,
18:21
Speaker 2: maybe it gets better, maybe they play winning baseball, maybe
18:24
Speaker 2: it drums up local enthusiasm and maybe everything everything ends
18:29
Speaker 2: up being fine. But today J's point like, if if
18:33
Speaker 2: you know you have one hundred and fifty three games
18:35
Speaker 2: on that grass, if the grass turns into concrete, if
18:38
Speaker 2: it's too hot, if the media situation doesn't improve. Major
18:42
Speaker 2: League Baseball could look at this scenario and say, man,
18:45
Speaker 2: why are we doing this when there's a perfectly usable
18:48
Speaker 2: major League ballpark, you know, ninety miles down the road
18:51
Speaker 2: that we've used for almost sixty years, Like, why why
18:54
Speaker 2: are we putting people through this when there's that facility
18:57
Speaker 2: that's already there. I just think it's a scenario that
19:00
Speaker 2: still in play. But again, I haven't heard you know,
19:03
Speaker 2: I haven't heard anything from any like high level officials
19:06
Speaker 2: that would say that that's super realistic at this point.
19:09
Speaker 2: But me personally, I'm just not ruling it out because
19:12
Speaker 2: we've seen how this organization has been run at the
19:15
Speaker 2: highest levels. To a certain extent, we've seen how the
19:18
Speaker 2: Kings have run their organization at the highest of levels,
19:21
Speaker 2: and that's you know, that's another discussion. But yeah, like
19:24
Speaker 2: when you match up these two owners specifically and look
19:28
Speaker 2: at how competent they've been in their respective sports over
19:31
Speaker 2: the last few years, I think it's completely fair to
19:33
Speaker 2: look at it with a lot of skepticism and say,
19:36
Speaker 2: you know, Ken John Fisher and vivek Ronadive have a
19:39
Speaker 2: successful operation like this given all the moving parts, And
19:42
Speaker 2: I think it's fair to say that, all right, I
19:44
Speaker 2: think it's fair to not be super optimistic about it.
19:47
Speaker 6: By the way, if you think what you had this
19:49
Speaker 6: weekend or this week was crazy with media, wait until
19:52
Speaker 6: Shohey comes there and he starts hitting homers against the
19:55
Speaker 6: A's or Aaron Judge, as John Fisher so eloquently put it. Wait,
19:59
Speaker 6: Tani Judge, come hit homers here?
20:01
Speaker 1: How cool will that be?
20:02
Speaker 6: And you have show Hey with all the Japanese media,
20:04
Speaker 6: with Yamamoto and Sazaki, and then you have the New
20:07
Speaker 6: York media and the seven hundred people that those teams
20:10
Speaker 6: travel with.
20:11
Speaker 3: It's gonna be a disaster. If you think it's bad
20:13
Speaker 3: now just wait.
20:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, we'll see. I mean, and you know
20:18
Speaker 2: that there are some I feel bad.
20:20
Speaker 6: Saying, Chris, you ain't getting a seat, By the way,
20:22
Speaker 6: you better hope you get one out of you might
20:24
Speaker 6: have to sit out on the lawn and be part
20:25
Speaker 6: of the paid attendance.
20:27
Speaker 1: Yeah.
20:27
Speaker 2: And I feel for a lot of the people in
20:30
Speaker 2: the A's organization and people involved, because a lot of
20:32
Speaker 2: these decisions are way above their head, and people are
20:34
Speaker 2: doing the best they can. So I don't want it
20:36
Speaker 2: to sound like, you know, I'm blaming everybody, but there're
20:39
Speaker 2: a lot of a lot of people are trying to
20:42
Speaker 2: deal with things that are way out of their control.
20:44
Speaker 2: And you know, this all came together in less than
20:46
Speaker 2: a year. That's not a lot of time to put
20:48
Speaker 2: something like this together. So you know, you're putting a
20:51
Speaker 2: lot of people in a really difficult spot, and ultimately
20:54
Speaker 2: that's why the results.
20:55
Speaker 1: Might not be what you want initially.
20:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, Chris, we're all on the same page. We know
21:01
Speaker 4: who the main person is at fault. But yes, on
21:04
Speaker 4: on the burm or on the grass out there, they're
21:06
Speaker 4: gonna get spray paint. They're gonna do a circle and
21:09
Speaker 4: then they'll do your initials C, B, and that'll be
21:12
Speaker 4: your spot for A's Dodgers. I can already see.
21:15
Speaker 3: Just take a photo for us. It'll go well, we'll.
21:17
Speaker 1: See the Dodgers. The Dodgers don't come.
21:20
Speaker 2: Uh, they don't play road games against the A's until
21:22
Speaker 2: next year, so we'll see if you get to that point,
21:25
Speaker 2: but we have you know, the Giants will be here
21:27
Speaker 2: on fourth of July weekend. That'll be a huge series.
21:31
Speaker 2: The Yankees are coming at some point. I forget exactly when,
21:34
Speaker 2: but yeah, there there are some big, some big media
21:37
Speaker 2: draws this year, and we'll have to see how that goes.
21:39
Speaker 2: But luckily, I think for the A's. Yeah, but luckily
21:42
Speaker 2: for the A's, the Dodgers aren't coming this year, so
21:44
Speaker 2: I think.
21:45
Speaker 5: There you go.
21:45
Speaker 4: They got a break, they get one year to prep
21:47
Speaker 4: for it. Chris, you were awesome. Thank you so much
21:49
Speaker 4: for joining us. Give Chris a follow at Chris B
21:51
Speaker 4: I D E R M A and appreciate it.
21:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for having me, guys,