Few projects in history have aged with less grace than Mt. Davis.
15 years after its construction it remains a towering monument to
hubris and ineptitude, Oakland's own Xanadu.
With each passing year life before Mt. Davis fades from memory. For me
it's just a series of flashing images: The Oakland Hills above the ice
plant, watching The Wave pass unimpeded through the bleachers, the
field flickering through gaps in the fence so
the action plays out like a flip-book comic. Like so many things we
forget the bad as we grow older, choosing only to remember the good
times. The Coliseum was never a great place for baseball, it's
cavernous, ugly and in a bad location. But it's hard not to dream what
would have happened had Mt. Davis never been built....
It's
1995 and the Raiders are moving back to the Bay Area. Instead of
agreeing to Al Davis' demands for major stadium upgrades the city of
Oakland tells him to stuff it. Davis agrees because he's
already burnt all his bridges in L.A and the Coliseum is fine for football. With a stadium capacity of
around 50,000 demand for Raiders tickets goes up, games aren't blacked
out and a new generation of Raiders fans is spawned throughout the East
Bay. Davis and the city also avoid a messy lawsuit and taxpayers are
spared the indignation of feeling like they've been held hostage by a
mad man.
Meanwhile the A's begin to take stock of the success of
baseball-only parks in places like Baltimore and Colorado. With a city
government still sweet on the idea of expanding the sports presence in
Oakland, and a tax base that hasn't been soured by the Raiders stadium
fiasco, plans develop to build a new baseball stadium on the waterfront
near the West Oakland BART station. Construction is fast-tracked and
Safeway Field opens in the summer of 1999, one year before Pacbell Park.
With the real estate market booming, developers rush to fill the empty
lots around "The Safe" with lofts and restaurants. Oakland steals its
share of the urban revival from San Francisco, giving the city much
needed tax revenue. The A's have a packed stadium to greet a new wave
of players named Hudson, Mulder, Zito and Tejada. Able to re-sign their
stars, the team goes on to win two titles by 2005 and becomes the
poster child for small market team success.
Following their
appearance in the Super Bowl, in 2004 the Raiders privately fund
upgrades to the Coliseum, installing permanent seats in the outfield,
new luxury boxes and a special discounted "costumed fans only" section
officially named the Black Hole.
John Madden Stadium reflects the gritty, blue-collar, nature of the franchise and remains one of the few truly great tailgate spots in the NFL.
Clearly this revisionist history is disillusion. Even if Mt. Davis was
never built, it's likely the city would have bungled some other equally
stupid expansion project. And the A's owners would have been too cheap
to build their own stadium anyway. But any slight change in the future
would have to be better than our current reality: A decrepit,
tarped-off baseball stadium that provides no hope for the future of the
franchise. And a half full football stadium that only empowers the ego
of a crazed owner.
I realize dreams of a baseball-only stadium
in Oakland are foolish and hopes of the Raiders returning to relevancy
in the NFL are far off, but I'd settle for somebody taking a wrecking
ball to the top half Mt. Davis. At least we could see the hills again.
