The Official David Kaval thread

The Raiders following the Warriors out of town leaves the A's as the last team in Oakland... this WSJ article from a few weeks ago with lots of Kaval quotes is now even more relevant:

How the A’s Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Oakland
The Warriors’ exit and the Raiders’ possible relocation could present an opportunity for the Athletics as the city’s last team standing

 

Among A's fans he's going to be a tremendously heroic figure. The man who built the A's stadium and kept the last remaining sports team in Oakland. They may build a bronze statue of his likeness at Lake Merritt or something. Of course it is Fish who is bankrolling it, assuming it happens.

 

Still don't see how Fisher/Kaval will get a $600 million PRIVATELY FINANCED ballpark built in Oakland. Oakland would have to give the A's everything the Raiders wanted, but they weren't willing to give up: complete control of Coliseum land, public funds for stadium construction. Add in demolition costs for current arena, Coliseum and remaining debt on Mt. Davis...the A's will have Oakland by the balls! Meanwhile, down in SJ at Avaya...

 

Kaval on twitter today lol

Proudly flying over our city #RootedInOakland @Athletics pic.twitter.com/TPGUlfIlEO

— Dave Kaval (@DaveKaval) March 27, 2017

 

See what I mean? He's gunning for a statue of himself at Lake Merritt . David Kaval - "The Patron Saint of Pro Sports in Oakland".

 

This guy is everywhere, video from a few hours ago:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155120623716873

Oakland Athletics feeling artistic in Oakland, California.
2 hrs ·
▶️ Oakland A's President Dave Kaval tags the downtown mural with the Illuminaries. #RootedInOakland


I don't remember him working half this hard when he was with the Quakes....

 

Kaval should just resign already as Quakes (supposed) president! Bring someone in who will put the Quakes front and center!

 

Hey, give him a break! He allowed Doyle to draw double-pay as GM and head of Mustangs Soccer for how many years?

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the Raiders actually end up vacating before the Warriors do. After having to redo the toilet design, then the legal fights they've gone through. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a number of construction issues that come up as well, delaying the thing from being built.

In any case, it's hard to imagine Oakland with only one professional team and league left in it, but it's a future I look forward to.

 

...because...? Why wish anguish on Oakland sports fans? If anyone should be empathetic to fans having their team moved it would be us.

I wasn't a huge fan, but I used to root for the Raiders before they went to LA. Then I turned on them and never came back, even after they returned to Oakland. Now even though I don't like them, I feel real bad for Raiders fans. So loyal after so many bad years, now the team is good again, and they're going to turn around and leave again. That's brutal.

 

Nothing but admiration for Oakland and its sports fans.

Also, municipalities should have the right of eminent domain over pro sports franchises, whose product, reduced to its essence, is civic pride.

 

I'm remember the city of Oakland tried to use eminent domain to keep the Raiders when they moved to LA in 1982 but to no avail.

 

LOL. DKav and Rickie Henderson, bros forever.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v1255619783/henderson-on-rapport-with-as-president-kaval

Kaval is so deep into A's these days, can we just stop the charade? He's not Quakes prez anymore. No on can be president of two sports franchises.

 

I had visions of him frantically trying to find a Quakes jacket to wear under his pile of shiny new A's threads.

 

He was probably wearing a veneer-thin Quakes windbreaker over his prized possession: his kelly green and gold autographed ("To my homey, Daved Kabal") Rickey Henderson jersey.

 

Those fans aren't really from Oakland.


For the A's only 26% come from Alameda where Oakland makes up only 26% of the county population. Funny, if the fandom is equally distributed across the Alameda county, the A's have significantly more fans in SF than in Oakland.

You can imagine that the numbers look even more extreme for the Raiders and Warriors with their ticket prices.

These teams are regional assets and we're losing the Raiders because the Giants blocked the A's move to San Jose.

 

Interesting hypothesis. But the proximate cause of the Raiders' move is Marc Davis' greed. The NFL is obscenely profitable for every owner no matter where individual franchises are based. Nothing about the situation in Oakland forced the Raiders to move.

 

Wow, less than 3 percent of A's fans have post-graduate degrees. I actually know one who posts here (and, yes, he does not live in Oakland).

On the other hand, for the last couple Bills / Raiders games, I was the guest of and tailgated with actual Oakland homies.

 

Please don't bring up the Giants blocking the A's move to San Jose: experiencing bad PTSD from my newballpark.org days..

 

He was there before the game began.

 

Kaval is making changes .. removing the traps creating cheap seats in Oakland.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/04/11/as-removing-all-tarps-from-coliseums-third-deck/

Note: He now refers to A's fans as “The best fans in baseball ... ". An important qualifier.

 

That oughta go over well with his buddies in Cleveland.

 

Kaval: such a GREAT team president!...

 

Which team?