By oaklandathletic (12.149.144.130) on Friday, May 28, 2010 - 11:25 am:

McDonnell closes his piece by addressing people "impeding" the A's quest for a new stadium:

Their (the Twins) overwhelming recent success should serve as a motivation and blueprint to those who are currently impeding the Oakland Athletics' quest for a new ball park (sic).


My question for McDonnell is who are these obstructionists he is referring to? Does he mean people who would like the team to stay in Oakland? If so, I guess you will have to excuse us for caring about 40 plus years of baseball in Oakland. In my opinion, the people who keep the A's from being more like the Twins are the current owners.

The A's owners need to stop labeling the Bay Area as a "small" market. General Manager Billy Beane said as much when he told The New York Times in 2004, "We're one of the smallest markets."

The small market excuse used to be given in Philadelphia. Would anyone say that now? The difference is that the Phillies spent money in conjunction with a new ballpark. If McDonnell thinks the facility is the difference maker I would urge him to look at the Pirates -- a poorly managed team with a fabulous stadium, a slim payroll and loads of empty seats.

http://whiteelephantparade.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/05/who_you_talking_about_mcdonnel.html

By oaklandsi (69.107.123.152) on Friday, May 28, 2010 - 11:39 am:

The Bay Area is most certainly not a "small" market. Even the East Bay itself is not all that small in terms of population. And the A's have a fan base that reaches beyond the immediate Bay Area.

By ws9 (99.105.54.79) on Friday, May 28, 2010 - 01:06 pm:

That's some headline from the Whiteelephants blog the only problem is the guy from Forbes didn't actually say it.

Your right about the small market issue, A's management is full of it. I suppose Anaheim could have said the same thing but fortunately for them Artie Moreno didn't whine and cry about it, he punched the Dodgers right in the face and made his team an equal.

By raiderjohn (207.47.31.74) on Friday, May 28, 2010 - 03:17 pm:

Yea, small market, makes you wonder why, there are 2 NFL and 2 MLB teams in this small market. Geez, Obama saw it fit to dump 355 million into a Fremont's startup Solyndra....that ain't small market.

By threepeat (173.16.191.136) on Friday, May 28, 2010 - 03:21 pm:

The "small market" argument is a lie.

By mroakland (76.102.83.101) on Saturday, May 29, 2010 - 10:05 am:

The "small market" is another excuse to move the A's to that "large market" in San Jose.

Everyone always talks about San Jose having 1 million residents as a justification for that city having a ML team. By contrast, the Oakland Metro Area which is consists of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, has 2.6 million residents. City population in a large metro area like the Bay Area means very little. What's important is accessibility to the 7 million residents living in the Bay Area. Oakland is centrally located and all BART lines meet in downtown Oakland.

As far as Oakland not being "A Major League City," let's remember that Oakland is a cosmopolitan city with better theaters, better restaurants, a better zoo, a more impressive skyline, better views, waterfronts, and a more interesting and varied topography than San Jose.

It's time that Wolff, Fisher and Beane, put that "small market" misrepresentation to rest. The "small market" characterization is used as a crutch and excuse for Bean as it takes the pressure off when the team fails, while at the same time, making Beane seem like an overachiever and a "genius" when the team succeeds. The small market lie is also used as an excuse and justification for relocation by Wolff, Fisher, and Selig.

By jmmarx (174.25.104.244) on Tuesday, June 01, 2010 - 09:23 am:

The small market statement is a lie. How can you say that the bay area hosts two NFL teams, two baseball teams, one hockey team, and one NBA team is a small market is ludicrous.

Lew, stop and smell the coffee. You, too, Mr. Selig.

A's belong in OAKLAND!!!

By eyleenn (71.131.25.207) on Tuesday, June 01, 2010 - 02:30 pm:

If the A's are a small market team, then so are the Giants and nobody says that. IT'S THE SAME MARKET.

By jmmarx (174.25.78.252) on Thursday, June 03, 2010 - 03:52 pm:

I agree with you eyleenn. I mean like when it comes to the A's, they are a small market team. When it comes to the SF Gnats, they don't say anything about that.

The media LOVES the GNATS. They will say anything to promote GNATS fever.

They do the same for the 49ers too.

No matter what happens, I will never say SAN JOSE.

By diamond_lil (187.15.146.156) on Thursday, June 03, 2010 - 05:28 pm:

The "small market" label is used as a stigma to excuse small minded ownerships when they fail...

There is no more small market sponsorship in mlb...
no mom and pop shops...the game no longer belongs to neighborhoods or blue collar workers...

The sponsors are large corporations and the only thing that counts are the media dollars, not the butts on the seats.