It's true the current site could work for a new stadium. It's in a shitty neighborhood though. The real issue is that the good people of Oakland and Alameda County are not about to pay for Wolff's stadium.

“It’s not relative to our situation,” Wolff said of a new Coliseum home

Everything's "relative," Lew.

It's true the current site could work for a new stadium. It's in a shitty neighborhood though. The real issue is that the good people of Oakland and Alameda County are not about to pay for Wolff's stadium.

A lot of public places are in shitty areas, but as the article notes, you have the BART to get in and out of the place.

This blogger (http://newballpark.org/2011/10/16/shea-asks-if-the-as-could-stay-at-the-coliseum-if-the-raiders-leave/) seems fairly doubtful:

Sometimes I wonder if, given the lack of juicy topics, some of the local media default to writing about the A’s stadium situation. It’s not sexy, and it’s easy to write about without getting into any real depth. That’s exactly what Chronicle baseball writer John Shea did when opining about a new Coliseum ballpark.

Shea thinks that the possibility of a joint 49ers-Raiders stadium in Santa Clara should provide an opening for the A’s to stay there. The land is already there and paid for, as is BART and a ton of parking. Sounds simple enough, right?

Should the Raiders decide that they want to stay in Santa Clara long term, then yes, this could work out just fine and dandy. Except for a few minor details. Allow me to enumerate.

1.The Raiders may only view Santa Clara as a temporary thing (10 years), with an eye towards building somewhere else in the future. The prime location would be the Coliseum, which as reported previously, has plans on the drawing board for a new football stadium and land purchased to support it.

2.MLB wants this thing wrapped up by 2015. They’ve said so to both Oakland and San Jose officials. By waiting out the Raiders’ decision making process, they’re guaranteeing that a new ballpark for the A’s couldn’t open until 2017 or 2018 at the earliest. ...

6.Wolff responds in the article to Shea’s idea by saying that he couldn’t privately finance it at the Coliseum site. And he’s right. A “rebuilt” Coliseum is out of the question since MLB would never go for it. And investing $450 million at the Coliseum is impossible for some time to come, given the state of stadium lending and the fact that it’s a “depressed area“.

The only thing that could drive this is if MLB outright rejected the A’s efforts to gain territorial rights in Santa Clara County. ...

Sounds great until you try to figure out who will pay for the $450 million ballpark and carry the $100 million in remaining debt for the demolished Coliseum. Got any ideas? Realistic ones?

A lot of public places are in shitty areas, but as the article notes, you have the BART to get in and out of the place.

And thanks to the ease of getting in and out of the place, people from all over the bay area are flocking to Oakland see the A's night after night.

Another problem: This team might market itself more poorly than any other team.

They don't need a new stadium; just tear down Mt. Davis.

Mr. Wolff, take off those pants. Er, I mean, tear down that stadium.

1.The Raiders may only view Santa Clara as a temporary thing (10 years), with an eye towards building somewhere else in the future. The prime location would be the Coliseum, which as reported previously, has plans on the drawing board for a new football stadium and land purchased to support it.

If the A's move out of the Coliseum, and if the Coliseum is a good location for the Raiders, couldn't they simply build a "new" football stadium around Mount Davis? Mount Davis, while an eyesore from a baseball perspective, seems to be reasonably current in football terms. Even allowing for the fact that this would be taking place several years from now, I can't imagine Mount Davis being that out-of-date for football by then.

Another problem: This team might market itself more poorly than any other team.

What are you talking about, they just had a movie made about them! And they didn't have to pay for it! Nobody could buy that publicity!