Löwenherz
Starter
We have a lot of Giants fans on this board and I'm sure you're all very familiar with the drama surrounding the Giants' near move to Florida in '92.
I was too young to follow it at the time (and I'm an A's fan anyway) but in looking back, I've noticed many similarities between the Kings situation and that of the '92 Giants.
A lot has been made about how AT&T Park was built without using public funds. That it's an example of San Francisco's big market ingenuity and connections, while Sacramento is too small time to figure it out and get something done.
But the Giants, a struggling franchise at the time, were all but gone to Florida after four failed attempts to get public funding for a new stadium and no prospects on the horizon:
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/08/s...iants-reach-agreement-to-move-to-florida.html
NYT August 8th, 1992 - "Bob Lurie, who has owned the Giants for 17 years, has tried to keep the team in the San Francisco area by getting a new stadium built to replace Candlestick Park, which is an undesirable place to play because of forbidding and chilling winds. But voters in the city and elsewhere -- most recently San Jose in June -- have defeated four referendums in the last few years that would have approved construction of a new stadium."
The owners, led by a big push from the Dodgers (because their rivalry with the Giants was good for business), voted down the proposed sale to the Tampa Bay group, opening the door for grocery store millionaire Peter Magowan and his team of investors to buy the team and keep them in the City by the Bay.
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/11/sports/baseball-look-what-wind-blew-back-baseball-s-giants.html
The Giants would sign Barry Bonds the next season, break ground on a privately funded gem of a stadium five years later and eventually win the 2010 World Series for San Francisco.
Different sport, different era, different situation, I know.
But I really liked the script.
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme" - Mark Twain
I was too young to follow it at the time (and I'm an A's fan anyway) but in looking back, I've noticed many similarities between the Kings situation and that of the '92 Giants.
A lot has been made about how AT&T Park was built without using public funds. That it's an example of San Francisco's big market ingenuity and connections, while Sacramento is too small time to figure it out and get something done.
But the Giants, a struggling franchise at the time, were all but gone to Florida after four failed attempts to get public funding for a new stadium and no prospects on the horizon:
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/08/s...iants-reach-agreement-to-move-to-florida.html
NYT August 8th, 1992 - "Bob Lurie, who has owned the Giants for 17 years, has tried to keep the team in the San Francisco area by getting a new stadium built to replace Candlestick Park, which is an undesirable place to play because of forbidding and chilling winds. But voters in the city and elsewhere -- most recently San Jose in June -- have defeated four referendums in the last few years that would have approved construction of a new stadium."
The owners, led by a big push from the Dodgers (because their rivalry with the Giants was good for business), voted down the proposed sale to the Tampa Bay group, opening the door for grocery store millionaire Peter Magowan and his team of investors to buy the team and keep them in the City by the Bay.
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/11/sports/baseball-look-what-wind-blew-back-baseball-s-giants.html
The Giants would sign Barry Bonds the next season, break ground on a privately funded gem of a stadium five years later and eventually win the 2010 World Series for San Francisco.
Different sport, different era, different situation, I know.
But I really liked the script.
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme" - Mark Twain
