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 Cisco
Field
Fremont, CA
After almost 40 years of playing at McAfee Coliseum,
and for the first time in five years, the Oakland A's announced
plans in November 2006 to build a new ballpark in Fremont, CA. After
approval from Alameda County and the City of Fremont, the ballpark
will be built on a 143 acre tract of land located on the west side of
Interstate 880 off of Auto Mall Parkway. Cisco Systems purchased the
naming rights to the ballpark for $4million per year over 30 years.
Cisco Field will resemble
old classic ballparks of the past while combining the most advanced
technology in the world. The ballpark will be the smallest in Major
League Baseball, seating up to 34,000 fans. The main three tier
grandstand will extend from the left field foul pole to homeplate,
and down the first baseline to right field. Additional seating will
be found in both right and left field. The break down of seating
will consist of field level box seats, 66 four person mini seats 15
rows behind homeplate, lower reserved seats, 41 16 person suites,
and rooftop box seats. The main video/scoreboard will be located
beyond the left/centerfield fence. A videoboard will be located on
the opposite side of the main videoboard allowing fans outside the
ballpark to view video of the A's. Early estimates had the ballpark
originally opening in 2009 and later 2011. In April 2008, the A's
announced that the earliest Cisco Field would open is 2012. Estimated cost of the
ballpark is between $400-$500 million. The anticipated funding for
the ballpark will be a combination of private equity and the
application of the value of land use entitlements that will be
generated by the activities of the ballpark and the adjacent
ballpark village developments. The public assistance sought will be
in the form of processing the development activity in the most
efficient manner possible, the agreement that benefits generated
solely by the development will in part or in total be used to
facilitate the development program in a manner that will not impose
on General Fund or Bonding issues on local government and other
aspects of public-private cooperation that will stand the test of
public acceptance.
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