A’s clear crucial hurdle in push to build new Howard Terminal ballpark

OAKLAND -- The A's proposal to build a new waterfront ballpark at Howard Terminal cleared a significant hurdle Monday night, as the California State Assembly Committee on Natural Resources voted 7-0 to move the legislation forward.

"With the 7-0 vote, they're really giving a resounding yes that Oakland should have the same time of waterfront [ballpark] as San Francisco, and that's a great thing," A's president Dave Kaval told NBC Sports California. "It's really the key step. These bills never die on the floor, they die in committee. And so the fact that we've gotten out of committee -- and this is kind of the key committee -- this is where we had to bring our supporters, our fans and everyone from the Green and Gold nation to make sure it happened."

Good evening Sacramento! Thank you for the 7-0 vote 🗳🗳🗳 in Assembly Natural Resources in favor of our ballpark legislation! Big Thank you to all the @Athletics fans who came out to support!!! 💯💯💯 #RootedInOakland pic.twitter.com/ZnReIHW3ep
— Dave Kaval (@DaveKaval) April 23, 2019

With our All Access Daily newsletter, stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams!

Kaval noted that approximately 350 A's fans packed the State Capitol earlier in the day to rally in favor of Assembly Bill 1191, authored by Rob Bonta (D-California), in support of developing Howard Terminal for a new ballpark.

"We're pretty excited about the results and that so many fans came out," Kaval said. "I think that's what I was most excited about -- 350 fans, many of them traveled up from the Bay Area to spend an afternoon in Sacramento supporting the A's and our legislation. That's a big deal."

Great rally at State Capitol! @Athletics Thanks to the hundreds of fans who represented in green and gold 💚💛💚💛 pic.twitter.com/NNO8eGscRy
— Dave Kaval (@DaveKaval) April 22, 2019

Kaval and the A's face another important vote Tuesday when they aim for approval to buy half of the Coliseum property from Alameda County for redevelopment.

"That's obviously transformative for our second project in Oakland," Kaval said. "We set forth in November with these two projects -- one at the waterfront and one here in East Oakland -- and we're making great progress on both, which is a great thing."