When the A's move to Fremont...

[RShack]

When the A's get their new ballpark, are they gonna change their name again? Will it be the "Fremont A's"? I know it sounds goofy now, but most people never heard of Oakland when they moved there. At first, "Oakland A's" sounded very goofy too. At the time, it sounded like the name of a MiL team. Or maybe the "San Jose A's" (which rhymes!). Fremont is a lot closer to San Jose than it is to Oakland (which AFAIK is the main reason they're moving there). I know that the Giants somehow have the rights to the *territory* of the San Jose city limits, but a name is just a name, I doubt if the Giants somehow own the name.

I asked this before, but it was buried inside a thread about something else. Does anybody know the answer?

[Mad Mark]

I have no idea, although I imagine "California A's" is open. That looks like it's going to be a sweet park.

[scOtt]

Could be the Bay Area A's... which rhymes too.

My bet is Fremont A's. San Jose is still a little ways away.

[Bosibus]

Fremont is not a city though, not even a town. More like a business district.

I think Bay Area A's is nice but SF would be pissed so that won't happen.

[orioles119]

Fremont is not a city though, not even a town. More like a business district.

I think Bay Area A's is nice but SF would be pissed so that won't happen.

How about Silicon Valley A's? Too techie?

[giantfan]

The stadium isn't a done deal yet, they still have environmental stuff to take care of.

[RShack]

Fremont is not a city though, not even a town. More like a business district.

Nope, it's an actual city. Not a huge city, but it's a city. Couple hundred thousand people. Fourth largest city in the area, after San Jose, SF, and Oakland. It's main advantage to the A's is that it's only about 15 miles from San Jose. San Jose is the biggest one in the whole area, it passed SF. Oakland is about 40 miles from San Jose.

As for it being "a business district", the first time I ever saw it's name was on some Hell's Angel's colors. Across the top of the denim, it said "Hell's Angels", across the bottom, it said "Fremont". Wonder what the business was? ;-)

[TyCobb]

The new stadium plans looks like it is going to be one of the best design parks.

http://www.ballparkwatch.com/stadiums/new/oakland_3.htm

[Todd-O]

Ballparks site is cool... thanks for the link.

By the way, check out the third image down in Camden Yards link:

http://www.ballparkwatch.com/visits/oriole_park.htm

Why not just change the name to Fenway South now...:002_sbiggrin:

[howie14]

"The Oakland A's of Fremont"

[Jagwar]

I understand that the days of building 50,000 plus seat stadiums is over, but Cisco Field is only supposed to seat 35,000 max.

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/oak/ballpark/new/facts.jsp

Doesn't that seem a little bit low, even for the A's?

[Jagwar]

I read something in Bloomberg magazine that John Chambers (Cisco CEO) described some ideas for some tech innovations at the park. He said that the entire park would be rigged for WiFi, and that certain seating areas would make multiple replay angles available for fans for every play in a game on demand.

[Why Not?]

I understand that the days of building 50,000 plus seat stadiums is over, but Cisco Field is only supposed to seat 35,000 max.

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/oak/ballpark/new/facts.jsp

Doesn't that seem a little bit low, even for the A's?

It creates demand, which means ticket prices go up. If Fenway sat 50K, people wouldn't have to buy tickets for crazy prices well before the season starts.

[byrdz]

Bay Area A's wouldn't fly with the SF Giants, I think they have some power over that possibly. I used to live there and Oakland down to Fremont is referred to as "East Bay". So, it would have to be something like "East Bay A's" which doesn't sound so bad I guess.

Calling them the "Fremont A's" would be like calling the O's the "Timonium Orioles". Sorry, worked in Timonium when I lived out there.

[RShack]

Calling them the "Fremont A's" would be like calling the O's the "Timonium Orioles". Sorry, worked in Timonium when I lived out there.

I know you're kidding, but not everybody will, so let's pretend you're serious, OK? ;-)

Timonium isn't even a well-defined entity, and it's certainly not a city. It's just half of a post office name. Lutherville and Timonium combined only have a little more than 15K.

In the Bay Area, the 2006 city populations are about:

• San Jose: 930K
• San Francisco: 740K
• Oakland: 400K
• Fremont: 210K

The A's want to be the San Jose A's, its just that Fremont is the closest place they can actually move to. It's only about 15 miles away from San Jose, and almost twice that far from Oakland. The combined population of San Jose-and-Fremont is about the same as the combined population of San Francisco-and-Oakland.

Plus, Fremont is just a little bit down the interstate from where the Oakland ball park actually is, it's not in the middle of Oakland anyway. So, they're giving up not-very-much of Oakland people and picking up a ton of San Jose people who don't wanna go to either SF or Oakland. If you think of the area as being a clock-face with water in the middle, then SF is at 11, the OAK stadium is between 1 and 2, Fremont is between 4 and 5, and San Jose is at 7. Silicon Valley is between 7 and 11, with a couple bridges that go across the water to the other side. When I was in Silicon Valley, not many people there seemed to care much about baseball. Fremont is actually a great location for the A's, IMO.

Anyway, I wonder when we'll find out what name they're gonna use...