Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
November 09, 2006
Time to Sell Cisco?

Barry Witt offers more information on the new A's ballpark, to be sponsored by Cisco.

The deal is contingent on Fremont approving a large-scale development plan for the ballpark, homes and shops on the 143-acre parcel west of Interstate 880 in an area known as Pacific Commons. Cisco holds a 34-year lease on the property, which it obtained in 2000 when it thought it would expand its business operations there. The company has an option to buy the property in the next three years from the original developer.

Wolff, who declined to speak to reporters Wednesday as he was escorted to his car by Fremont City Manager Fred Diaz, told council members the development would have similarities to San Jose's Santana Row. That development features condominiums and a hotel stacked above street-level retail stores.

The major difference will be the addition of a high-tech ballpark with 32,000 to 35,000 seats that is filled with Cisco-produced infrastructure.

"He said this is going to be the most modern, most advanced technological facility in the country," said Fremont Councilman Bob Wieckowski, one of four council members who met with Wolff. The term of the council's fifth member, Dominic Dutra, ends in December, and Wolff did not meet with Bill Harrison, who was elected to the seat Tuesday night.

Cisco Chief Executive John Chambers has used a ballpark setting in recent weeks to demonstrate his company's new intelligent networking systems, showing how baseball fans could use a wireless device to buy ticket upgrades, order concessions, watch instant replay, get player statistics and even pay to have their pictures shown on the stadium jumbo screen. Cisco officials declined to discuss the ballpark Wednesday.

Sounds like a bloggers dream! Whenever I read about Woff and the stadium, I'm always impressed at how well he covers all the bases. Although he wants the city to help build the facility, he's setting it up more as a partnership than a blackmail scheme to the point where Fremont might actually benefit financially.

I hope, however, that they build the ballpark so it can be easily expanded. While it's fine to build a small park (it works for the Red Sox), if the A's become wildly popular, it would be nice to be able to easily add 5000 seats. If you plan for that when you build, the addition can be appended quickly.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:21 AM | Stadiums | TrackBack (0)
Comments

There is video of the presentation by Cisco execs in the "ballpark of the future" on News.com. My thoughts on where technology might take us and a link to the video are here:

http://www.redsoxtimes.com/?p=297

Posted by: Tim at November 9, 2006 09:29 AM

CSCO is up about $1.80 or more than 7% on strong earnings. It is now trading at a new 52-week high.

Posted by: Rich Lederer at November 9, 2006 12:29 PM

why would you build a new stadium with only 32,000 seats? If you can't fill more than that, even for a playoff game, why bother building a new stadium at all?

Posted by: josh at November 9, 2006 01:33 PM

Because then the A's get to call it their own stadium, not share it with the Raiders, and can make sure the stadium looks filled very often. Plus, by decreasing the supply and keeping demand constant, Wolff can justify raising prices. Also, the A's can write off the costs to increase the money they get in revenue sharing.

Posted by: Adam B. at November 9, 2006 03:02 PM
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