Time for the Return of the Multi-Use Sports Stadium? by Andy Dolich

If you look at the history of stadiums in the United States, the venues of the early 20th century showed the following characteristics:

* They were close to the center of the city.

* They had roofs and overhangs supported by steel beams.

* Most of them were symmetrical.

* All of them were named "Field" or "Park."

* Most of them had unique nooks and crannies in the outfield.

* All had natural-grass fields.

* Most underwent major expansions in the 1920s and '30s.

* They were home to more than one sport.

The early '60s saw the advent of circular stadiums, many of them in the suburbs:

* Eight of the 15 stadiums had artificial turf.

* Five of them were domed.

* Ten of them were multipurpose - housing MLB, NFL, pro soccer, concerts and other entertainment events.

* Most of them were largely financed by public money.

Trends in the stadium-building boom of the '80s and '90s:

* Stadiums moved back to the cities from the suburbs.

* All of them had natural grass.

* Most of them had asymmetrical outfields.

* The venue names went back to "Field," "Park" or "Ballpark."

* All but one of them (AT&T Park) were primarily supported by taxpayers, who provided over 60 percent of the funds for construction.

The lack of public funding has negatively affected new stadium deal-making. No state has been more affected than California. Levi's Stadium, the new home of the 49ers, was the first one built in California since San Diego's Petco Park opened in 2004. The 49ers were responsible for the majority of the current $1.4 billion price tag. The Giants had to privately finance their jewel of a ballpark in China Basin 15 years ago.

Take a look at the current stadium-building scorecard in the Golden State.

The San Diego Chargers have been attempting to build for 11 years. There is no deal in place, and they are moving forward on two negotiating fronts: Carson and downtown San Diego.

The Oakland A's pined for San Jose for seven years. MLB has told the Green and Gold no. Now the A's are exploring the complexities of building a new stadium in the midst of the confusing construction future of sports venues in Oakland. Think of it as a Rubik's cube, only with tons of concrete, steel and heavy machinery.

The city of Los Angeles has been trying to lure an NFL team and build a new stadium since the Raiders moved back to Oakland in 1996. The major players and complex negotiating road map are ever-changing. One keeps hearing the rumor that the Raiders are moving to L.A. Kim Kardashian will win a Nobel Prize before that occurs.

The Sacramento Kings have broken ground on a new $500 million downtown arena, which is scheduled to open in 2016. Kings ownership and Mayor Kevin "I can dunk over any mayor in America" Johnson led a miraculous fast-break effort to keep the team in the Capital and fast-track a new arena. Former ownership had been trying to build a new arena downtown since 2003.

The San Jose Earthquakes privately financed and built a new soccer-specific stadium, Avaya stadium, which will host the MLS All-Star game in San Jose next July.  

The most significant conundrum exists at the Oakland Coliseum site. It underscores a major problem for which new thinking must be brought to the process. The perfect laboratory for a revolutionary solution is at the 66th Avenue exit off 880 in Oakland.

The Raiders and the A's are trying to develop traction for new single-use stadiums. As Levi's was being built, the NFL urged both Bay Area football teams to share it. The Raiders decided to go their own way, even though the sharing model in the New York metro area is working well for the Jets and Giants.  

There have been numerous stadium proposals for the teams, promoted by a long list of elected officials, developers, investors, league officials and the teams themselves. Coliseum City, Victory Court, the Concord Naval Weapons depot, Downtown Oakland, Inglewood, Carson, Coliseum Swap Meet, 580-680 nexus, San Antonio, Howard Terminal and Fremont.

A new multipurpose stadium on the existing Oakland Coliseum site could be home to the Raiders and A's.

The price tag for all three single-use venues in Oakland is:

A's: $600 million.

Raiders: $900 million.

Warriors: $900 million. The team is planning to move to San Francisco's Mission Bay by 2018.

Total: $2.4. billion. Where is that pile of cash coming from? Most of it from the bank accounts and the financing programs of the team owners, along with naming rights, presenting sponsorships, premium seating, luxury suites and seat licenses.

The cities, counties and the state of California will provide little or no funding for any of these efforts. In the midst of the agonizingly drawn-out process of teams and communities attempting to turn their stadium plans from perception to reality, a blind spot exists. It's called the multi-use stadium.

Advances in architectural design, construction materials, modular manipulation, hydraulics, computer-driven infrastructure, convertible capabilities, field maintenance and LED technology, coupled with the necessity of new and creative funding mechanisms, have created an opportunity to explore a brave new era of multi-use sports stadiums. We are on the path to stadiums that can morph from one sport or event to another without compromising the fan experience. Think of these stadiums as giant "Transformers."

For example:

* ANZ stadium in Sydney, Australia, has a movable grandstand to allow for a change of playing-field shape. It can accommodate, cricket, Aussie-rules football, rugby, soccer, American football and baseball.

* University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals, has two football fields that can be moved in and out of the stadium using a hydraulic track.

* The new Meadowlands stadium, housing two NFL teams, has state-of-the art LED technology that can change branding, colors and sponsor-look with a touch of a computer key. One week it's the green and gold of the Jets, and a few days later it's the blue and red of the Giants.

* Stadium roofs now open and close in a matter of minutes.

* The new Dallas Cowboys stadium has the world's largest HD video board, which has changed the way fans consume live sports and entertainment.

Single-use sports stadiums will be more controversial and complex to finance. Implementation will require significant regional support from business, political and civic leadership. The long-term regional benefits will have to be easily explained and make bottom-line sense.

Now is the perfect time to go "Back to the Future" and create the new multipurpose stadium that is dictated in these challenging economic times. That opportunity exists in our own market on the current footprint of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

Andy Dolich has worked as an executive in all four major sports leagues, including the Oakland A's, Golden State Warriors and San Francisco 49ers. He is the managing director and head of U.S. sports practice for Odgers Berndstson, the UK's leading executive search firm, and director of career development for the University of San Francisco's online master's program in the business of

Send us your Memorable Sports Moment or SportsPulse and we will share them with our readers. Write: [email protected]. 

 Southpaw: A Knockout

by Michael Berkowitz

 Southpaw begins and ends with boxing matches. The two hours between are filled with life's battles. Some spill into the boxing ring. But the battles of daily life are not so cleanly configured, nor can life's other cut men stop the bleeding of the soul. That may be a more personal struggle.

There are few spoiler alerts for Southpaw. Jake Gyllenhaal's Billy "the Great" Hope's path is well worn. Director Antoine Fuqua doesn't so much avoid clichés as pump greater life into familiar fight film themes. We meet Billy Hope as reigning undisputed and undefeated World Light Heavyweight champion. When tragedy befalls Billy, the fall from grace is pitted with betrayals, deprivation, tests of character, found friendship and, of course, the opportunity for redemption. As Rachel McAdams, Billy's wife, warns him: when the bubble bursts, his entourage will scatter like roaches. It bursts. They scatter. Billy's fall is taken alone.

Films about boxing are almost always about conflict and difficult fits. Boxing is overwhelmingly the story of the underclass, the poor struggling to rise. Successive waves of immigrants have tried to use boxing to escape poverty -- Germans, Irish, Italians, Jews and African Americans. But even when successful, there is seldom a story book ending. It's a landscape of wasted wealth, failed families and broken bodies. Fighters ill equipped to deal with financial success are primed for social failure. The much publicized crashes of Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield obscure the legions of contenders like Benny "Kid" Paret and Davey Moore, who were beaten to death or brain damaged Tommy "Hurricane" Jackson who was reduced to shining shoes. Even the physical depredations of the sport's patron saint, Muhammad Ali, cast a sad shadow.

Billy Hope is no different. His success in the ring patches over his inability to manage his life. The great wealth that fighting confers insulates rather than prepares him for life. Gyllenhaal takes these punches full on, just as he captures the camera directly squeezing his emotions out through cuts, blood and stubble. After last year's brilliant but unrewarded performance in Nightcrawler, Gillenhaal has shared another vastly different, though just as quintessentially American success story.

Director Fuqua returns to the sure hand of his success with Training Day, providing the balance of room and framework for stellar performances from McAdams, trainer Forest Whitaker, daughter Oona Laurence, manager Curtis Jackson and nemsis Miguel Gomez. Kurt Sutter's writing captures rather than over writes the genre. The film is dedicated to the late James Horner who wrote the score before his untimely recent death in a plane crash. As well as still containing his music, the film was originally to star Eminem relating through the boxing metaphor some of the rapper's own struggles.

But beyond recounting personal struggles, the best films about boxing -- and Southpaw is one of the very best -- are about class and social structure in the United States. And what better view of such than from a southpaw . . . a lefty.

Send us your Memorable Sports Moment or SportsPulse and we will share them with our readers. Write: [email protected]. 

What do all these illustrious names have in common?

Michael Altfest, Steve Baker, James Brandt, Paul Brekke-Miesner, Robinson Brown, Walter Champion, Harvey Cohen, Isaac Cronin, Eileen Curran, Nick Curran, Glenn Dickey, Andy Dolich, Jeff Elefante, Pete Elman, Leland Faust, Nancy Finley and Chris De Benedetti, Jim Fitzpatrick, Rob Flammia, Daniel Geary, Andre Johnson, Kenny Karst, Ira Klein, Richard Lupoff, Bruce Macgowan, Patric Mayers, Ross McKean, Robert Moselle, Dave Newhouse, John Ourand, Howard Pearlstein, Rudi Petschek, Laurel Poeton, Phil Schaaf, Jonathan Siegel,

Tom Stern, Shelia Young

All of these fans have contributed articles to 

Sports Today and their acclaimed work can be found at www.ultimatesportsguide.com. Simply click Sports Today

at the top of the home page.

  Highly Recommended! 

 Oaks Card Club

4097 San Pablo Avenue, Emeryville, CA 

(510) 653-4456

www.OaksCardClub.com

  Odds to win the 2015 World Series

 On Saturday, Aug. 8, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Dave Newhouse will be signing copies of his new book, Founding 49ers: The Dark Days Before the Dynasty, ($20), at the NFL Alumni Building, 1311 Madison Ave., Redwood City. Former Niners stopping by will include Dennis Brown, Tim Anderson, Delvin Williams, Eason Ramson, Tommy Hart and Frank Nunley. There will be entertainment, memorabilia, vendors, BBQ, and beverages and games for the kids. For more information or to order books, contact Carolyn Hoskins at 650-921-4191 or [email protected].

Readers will be rocked by Dave Newhouse's warts-and-all history of the 49ers' pre-DeBartolo years, 1946-76. The book can be ordered at Amazon.com and at bookstores.  

There are 190 days left until the Golden Super Bowl at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, on Feb. 7, 2016.

Sports bars we recommend visiting or living in

Below is a list of sports bars we recommend for all your sports viewing needs. Each is a worthy institution and they have the added distinction of also being longtime Ultimate Sports Guide advertisers. When you stop in, please extend our thanks.