News Release
June 04, 2009
San Jose, California
Leadership Group backs San Jose’s efforts
to bring the A’s to downtown site
Members of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group strongly support
the City of San Jose’s efforts to bring the A’s to a stadium in downtown San Jose and the
guidelines the city established in a May 12 resolution for site acquisition and improvements,
stadium operations and public expenditures.
“A major league baseball team in downtown San Jose would be an economic boost for our
region,” said Carl Guardino, President and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. “The
location, adjacent to HP Pavilion, light rail, Caltrain, and future BART and high-speed rail lines –
is ideal from a transportation and land-use perspective. The Leadership Group applauds the city’s
sound fiscal approach.”
The members of the Leadership Group adopted a formal position of support for the city’s efforts
at a meeting of the Group’s Working Council, its policy-setting body, on Thursday, June 4. The
support aligns with an earlier poll of Leadership Group members that found strong endorsement
of the proposition that San Jose should be home to a major league team.
Mayor Chuck Reed and the City of San Jose have urged Major League Baseball to permit the A’s
to build a stadium in downtown San Jose.
In its May 12 resolution, the city council adopted a set of negotiating principles. They require the
stadium development to be a net benefit to the city’s general fund; the stadium itself to be built
without public financing; a vote of San Jose citizens on any related public expenditures; and the
team name to include San Jose.
In April the Leadership Group surveyed its members on the stadium proposal. That survey found:
- More than 70% of the 121 respondents agreed that the “City of San Jose (the third
largest city in California and 10th largest in U.S.) should be the home of a Major League
Baseball team.” Only 9 percent disagreed; the balance had no opinion.
- Notably, nearly 70% of respondents that currently “sponsor, advertise or purchase game
ticket packages, would support both the Giant’s and ‘San Jose A’s’”.
Survey Results [PDF]
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