Capstone Component 2: Recommendation Presentation

Relocating the Oakland A’s to Vancouver, B.C. – A Feasibility Study

John Gomez

SPT-700

Final Project

Dr. Janet Howes

July 11, 2021

Project Description • The Oakland A’s moved to the Bay Area of California for

the 1968 Major League Baseball (MLB) season.

• The team has won 4 World Series championships since moving to Oakland (1972-1974, 1989) (MLB.com, 2021).

• Shared RingCentral Coliseum (née Oakland Coliseum) with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders until 2020.

• Stadium issues have led the team to ask the city for support either upgrading the stadium or building a new facility.

Project Description – Stadium Issues

• September 2013 – heavy rain and plumbing issues caused sewage to flood into the visitors’ dugout and A’s coaches’ bathroom. Game delayed by 3 hours (Miedema, 2021).

• April 2014 – Home game rained out without any rain present. The night before the grounds crew did not cover the field with the tarp. The area got rain, and the field was flooded (Miedema, 2021).

• May 2019 – Game delayed about 90 minutes due to stadium light outage. This proved to be a blessing as A’s pitcher Mike Fiers threw a no-hitter that night (Miedema, 2021).

Project Description - Continued • Due to a lack of a deal with the City of Oakland, MLB has given the

A’s permission to explore other markets in which to relocate.

• Cities identified as potential suitors include:

• Las Vegas

• Nashville

• Montreal

• Portland

• Vancouver, B.C. (Canada)

(Gardner, 2021).

Market Feasibility • Vancouver would be the third Canadian city to host an MLB

franchise, after Toronto and Montreal.

• Population of over 600,000 with a majority of them aged between 25 and 29.

• Average household income of $65,300 (TownFolio.co, 2017).

• Vancouver is larger than current MLB cities Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Cleveland, and Milwaukee.

• The Canucks of the NHL, Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL), Whitecaps of MLS, and Canadians of MiLB all call Vancouver home.

• The A’s could retain their team identity and name while bringing MLB to southwest Canada.

Technical Feasibility • March 2021 – City of Oakland publishes a draft economic impact

report on the proposed Waterfront Ballpark at Howard Terminal.

• The city noted in the report the new, 35,000-seat ballpark, up to 3,500 residential dwelling units, 1.5 million square feet of commercial space, up to 270,000 square feet of retail space, a hotel with about 400 rooms, a 3,500-seat performance venue, and numerous parks (US Official News, 2021).

• The lack of a deal between the City of Oakland and the A’s means that the team can look to other cities in which to relocate.

• The plan here would be to use the Howard Terminal plan in the Jericho Beach area of Vancouver to allow the project to retain its waterfront design.

Technical Feasibility - Continued • Should the city not authorize the Jericho Beach area, the team could also

look to the south and the Pacific Spirit Regional Park.

• This area gives the team a larger plot of land but also presents environmental challenges.

• The University Endowment Lands Ecological Reserve rests in the southwest corner of this area.

• Regardless of location, the impact on local business would be minimal.

• If the project were to be done in Oakland, the maritime industry would lose waterfront land for operations.

• This cold lead to conflicts between seaport operations due to truck traffic, water navigation, and ballpark construction.

• This could also lead to a loss of jobs at the seaport (Port of Oakland, 2021).

Financial/Economic Feasibility • The proposed development would include a 35,000-seat stadium

that is privately financed by the A’s.

• Includes a mix of housing, offices, restaurants, retail, small business space, parks, and a public gathering space (MLB.com, n.d.).

• The overall estimated cost of the entire project would be about $12 billion.

• This project would create an estimated 35,000 jobs and generate $7 billion in revenue for Vancouver over the lifetime of the facility (Moran, 2021).

Financial/Economic Feasibility - Continued • The team will ask the City of Vancouver for $855 million for

infrastructure enhancements and improvements.

• These enhancements include roads, sidewalks, and transportation improvements (Moran, 2021).

• Ideally, the money provided by the city would be generated through hotel/motel taxes or taxes on car rentals.

• While it would be easy to say the money should go to affordable housing projects or support for the homeless, it should be noted that these tax dollars are being paid by tourists from outside of Vancouver.

• The A’s have committed to pursue a community benefits agreement that would address concerns about affordable housing and displacing residents near the development site (Moran, 2021).

Financial/Economic Feasibility - Continued • The A’s moving to Vancouver would be a win for the city.

• While Vancouver has a large number of Seattle Mariners fans, those fans would likely become A’s fans as the team would be in their hometown.

• 142 miles separate Seattle and Vancouver, including the U.S.- Canadian border.

• Fans in western Canadian provinces such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba would have an MLB team to call their ‘own.’

• Fans in those provinces would be likely to travel to Vancouver to attend games.

Financial/Economic Feasibility - Continued • MLB teams that build new ballparks see an increase in their team valuation.

• An example of this is the Atlanta Braves, who built Truist Park and its surrounding development, The Battery Atlanta.

• Since opening The Battery and Truist Park in 2017, the Braves team value has increased by 4% as of March 2021 (Forbes.com, 2021).

• (Forbes.com, 2021)

Financial/Economic Feasibility - Continued • Unfortunately for the A’s, their team valuation has not seen much of an

increase in the same time period (2016 – 2021).

• The team has seen an increase in valuation of about $250 million since 2016 (Forbes.com, 2021)

• (Forbes.com, 2021)

Conclusions/Recommendations • The chances of the A’s relocation from Oakland have never been higher.

• The team does have a lease with RingCentral Coliseum until 2024.

• MLB has expressed their unhappiness at the lack of progress on a deal between the A’s and City of Oakland (Gardner, Athletics threatening to leave Oakland if city doesn't approve new MLB stadium, 2021).

• There are some large positives and small negatives to the potential move of the A’s to Vancouver.

• The biggest negative would be the impact on the city’s MiLB team, the Vancouver Canadians.

• The Canadians are a popular MiLB team that would have to either fold or relocate if the A’s were to move to Vancouver.

Conclusions/Recommendations - Continued

• The major positives of the A’s moving to Vancouver would be the possibility of the team/city hosting MLB’s annual All-Star Game.

• Generally, teams that build new stadiums are favored to be chosen to host the All-Star Game and its associated festivities.

• Not only would the city have the showcase event of the summer, it would also have a number of fan-friendly events that come with hosting this event.

• The All-Star Futures Game and Celebrity Softball Game take place on a Sunday.

• Monday night brings one of the most anticipated events of the year, the Home Run Derby.

• Finally, the showcase event on Tuesday night, the All-Star Game.

Conclusions/Recommendations - Continued

• The All-Star Game and its events have generated and average economic impact of $70.5 million for the host city between 1996 and 2020.

• (Summers, 2021)

Conclusions/Recommendations - Continued

• The Oakland A’s becoming the Vancouver A’s would be a boon for the City of Vancouver over the next 20 to 30 years.

• The immediate impact of construction jobs to build the stadium and surrounding development would have a positive impact on the city’s revenue.

• The long-term jobs created to maintain the stadium and surrounding development would be have an even bigger impact as those are permanent jobs.

• Hosting an MLB team and marquee MLB events will catapult Vancouver into one of the most sport-friendly cities in North America, if not the world.

References