Oakland floats waterfront site for A’s stadium

A’s team officials are in desperation mode. They need to come up with a feasible site for a new stadium in Oakland so they can avoid losing the team to another city.

According to the Oakland Tribune, the MLB committee set up to discuss the A’s stadium issue wants a:

“…waterfront stadium near downtown rather than the Coliseum site.”

I’m with the committee: Any site in Oakland is better than the current Coliseum site.

That’s where the Howard Terminal comes in to the picture. The idea of building a stadium on the pier housing the expendable terminal was raised during a supposedly secret meeting between city officials and MLB executives over the weekend.

Just seven blocks from Broadway, the 51-acre parcel of land is close to Jack London Square and right on the Oakland Harbor.

The location mirrors AT&T Park and China Basin. It’s not downtown, but it’s close enough that with a few tweaks to public transit, it can be accessed fairly easily. And it would definitely help revitalize the area.

But as everyone who has been following the situation could have predicted, A’s owner Lew Wolff wanted absolutely nothing to do with the idea of a stadium on the Howard Terminal location:

“We have analyzed Howard Terminal upside down and sideways and it has no ability to be implemented for a ballpark.”

Wolff is like the kid that only wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner and would rather not eat than even consider going somewhere else.

Hey Lew, San Jose ain’t happening. It’s time to start considering sites in Oakland, or sell the damn team.

KGO-TV reported that Oakland mayor Jean Quan was in attendance at the meeting, as was Clorox CEO Don Knauss, who challenged Wolff to sell the team if he has no interest in keeping the team in Oakland.

If Oakland city officials think they can honestly build a stadium at Howard Terminal, then Quan and MLB executives need to push for that site. This stadium needs to built somewhere where fans can do something before and after the game.

What makes AT&T Park’s location so appealing is all of the eateries and bars around the stadium. I know A’s fans are very protective of the Coliseum, but the current site does not provide that. It’s too far from anything appealing.