Letter From the Owner
November 14, 2006
Dear A's Fans,
Today marks the beginning of a new era in A's baseball.
It is with great excitement which I inform you the A's are purchasing a 143-acre parcel of land in the City of Fremont from Cisco Systems, with the intent of constructing a new, state-of-the-art baseball park that will become a destination attraction for fans throughout the Bay Area and beyond for generations to come.
The ballpark will be named Cisco Field as part of a 30-year naming rights agreement with one of the world's leading companies. The location of the ballpark allows us to significantly expand our fan base and take advantage of the tremendous marketing and corporate sponsorship opportunities offered in the Silicon Valley and beyond.
With the help of Cisco, 360 Architecture and Gensler, we plan to build a traditional, classic looking ballpark that will be one of the most technologically-advanced sporting venues in the world. With a seating capacity between 32-36,000, Cisco Field will be the most intimate ballpark in the Major Leagues.
Groundbreaking on the project will commence once the A's gain approval from the City of Fremont, Alameda County and other government agencies with construction time taking between 24-36 months.
When our ownership group took over control of the A's in April of 2005, our main priority was to secure a new facility to replace the Coliseum, which is no longer an acceptable Major League Baseball facility. The biggest challenge we faced was finding a piece of land that was large enough to accommodate a project this size.
Our initial focus was limited to Oakland, which has been our home since 1968. As you might remember, in August of 2005, we unveiled an ambitious plan to revitalize a 90-acre parcel of land just north of the Coliseum along the 880 corridor. It was our vision to create more than just a ballpark, but one of the next major urban centers of the Bay Area that we felt would add greatly to the economic base and community image of the City of Oakland.
Follow up discussions regarding this site with Oakland city officials unveiled insurmountable challenges, specifically relating to the existing businesses in the area. All other sites we explored in Oakland were unsuitable for a wide variety of reasons, thus we focused our attention on other sites in Alameda County and eventually came to the conclusion the Fremont site was our best option for a future ballpark site. The land was both available and attainable, it's location was well within our territorial rights as defined by Major League Baseball, and was owned by one of the world's leading companies that demonstrated interest in partnering with our organization on a naming rights agreement.
Cisco Field not only secures the A's long term future in the Bay Area, it will provide you the fans with a first class, traditional ballpark experience that will emphasize entertainment, comfort and of course, great baseball. With the help of Cisco, the technological component of the ballpark will be state-of-the-art and designed to heighten the fan experience.
Cisco Field is a realization of a dream that has been shared by A's fans for many years and will be made possible due to the hard work and dedication of many. I thank you for your continued support of the A's, for your loyalty continues to be a driving force to see this project to fruition.
Sincerely,
Lew Wolff
Owner and Managing Partner
Oakland Athletics
Ballpark
