When Giants fans first heard that the team was talking to the Raiders about letting them play in AT&T Park in 2019, their reaction was probably "No, no, don't do it."
But for broadcasters Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow, they are on board with the idea, though they do have reservations.
"I have no problem with it now, but I'm not a player," Krukow said on KNBR 680 on Thursday. "I know one thing, in September, when we were at Candlestick and we shared the field with the 49ers, we hated it because the mound got torn down, it got rebuilt, it was never right, it was a horrible mound. The infield was brutal."
"When they rolled the stands out there, it was crazy, so [a ball] would get hit through the infield and it would snake towards the right fielder and there was always the possibility of an error, the grass would just die. It was ugly. I don't even like it when they put concerts and you have the imprint of the concert stage out there in center field at AT&T. I don't like anything that scars that place. If I was a player, I don't think I'd like it, but to me, I can live with it, especially if it means you're going to get something new in the ballpark."
Kuiper was asked about the issue on Wednesday and believes the two sides can make it work, but also referred back his playing days when he was in Cleveland.
"They know how to do it," Kuiper said on KNBR 680. "The conditions of the field is always gonna be an issue. Player safety is an issue. But for 1,000 years, football and baseball have shared fields, even though it's not perfect. I remember when I was playing with the Indians, it was awful."
And if you thought having a football game and a baseball game on the same field on the same weekend was bad, Kuiper can top that.
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"We had days where they had a concert on a Friday, a football game on a Sunday, a baseball game on a Monday and it rained for three days and you had to play," Kuiper said. "So, it can be done. It's just not a perfect scenario."
Kuiper can sympathize with Giants fans that might not want a football team tearing up the field at AT&T Park, but he can see why the team would have interest in it for just one season.
"I'm sure Giants fans are going ‘No, don't do it,' Kuiper said. "And on the other hand, the Giants are thinking ‘Well, if you write a big enough check, then we have to at least think about it' is probably what they are doing.
