Stephen C. Schott | |
---|---|
Born | 1939 (age 84–85) |
Nationality | American |
Education | B.A. Santa Clara University |
Occupation | real-estate developer |
Known for | former owner of the Oakland Athletics |
Stephen C. Schott (born 1939) is an American real estate developer and businessman, best known for his ten-year co-ownership of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Schott was born to a Roman Catholic family in Santa Clara, California in 1939. His father was a part-time professor at Santa Clara University and then worked as an engineer in the public works department for the city of Santa Clara. [1] As a youth, Schott worked in the local fruit orchards and sold prunes from the trees on his father's property. At the age of 16, he began working on road survey crews. [1] He attended the Bellarmine College Preparatory School and then, after qualifying on a partial baseball scholarship, graduated in 1960 from Santa Clara University with a degree in business and management. [1] Both schools now bear buildings in his name (see Stephen Schott Stadium). After school, he joined the Army, and then when he completed his service, he took an accounting job with Ford Motor Company in Milpitas, California. After one year, he took a job with a home builder. [1]
In 1977, he and several partners formed Citation Builders, a real-estate and residence-development company; in 1988 he bought out his partners' shares, reformed the company as a family-run business, Citation Homes Central, and moved it to Santa Clara, California. Despite employing fewer than 25 people, Citation is now one of the largest homebuilders in the state of California, and has been responsible for the construction of over 50,000 individual residences.
In 1995, he and partner Ken Hofmann purchased the Oakland Athletics from the Walter A. Haas Jr. estate. Under their patronage, general manager Billy Beane's novel management and player-procurement strategies allowed the A's, though a "small-market" club, to make the post-season playoffs despite being restricted by financially limited budgets. Beane's approach to obtaining success within Schott's constraints was documented in Michael Lewis's book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game . Schott appears as a character in the 2011 film adaptation Moneyball , played by Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. [2]
Schott and Hofmann sold the A's to a group of Los Angeles real estate developers, headed by Lewis Wolff, in 2005.
In 2003, Santa Clara University began to develop plans to build a new baseball field, allowing their nationally recognized soccer team unrestricted access to pre-existing Buck Shaw Stadium. The project floundered under lack of funds until Schott donated USD $4 million, over half the stadium's total cost. The resulting facility—the Stephen Schott Stadium—opened April 30, 2005, with a game against Gonzaga University.
Stephen Schott and his wife Patricia have three children: Lisa Schott, Stephen E. Schott Jr. and Kristen Schott. [3] His son Stephen Schott Jr. is slated to take over the Citation Homes business. Reclusive by nature, Schott avoids the public eye, and a true estimate of his total net worth has not been released.
The Oakland Athletics are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. The team played its home games at the Oakland Coliseum until 2024, with plans to temporarily move to Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California, for the 2025–2027 seasons before their permanent move to Las Vegas. While in West Sacramento, the team plans on being referred to as simply the "A's" and "Athletics," with no city name attached. The relocation will mark the first move by an MLB team since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, D.C., becoming the Washington Nationals in 2005. The nine World Series championships, fifteen pennants, and seventeen division titles won by the A's throughout their history are the second-highest in the American League after the New York Yankees.
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world and was the top United States publisher in 2016.
William Lamar Beane III is an American former professional baseball player and current front office executive. He is currently senior advisor to owner John Fisher and minority owner of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB) and formerly the executive vice president of baseball operations. He is also minority owner of soccer clubs Barnsley of the EFL League One in England and AZ Alkmaar of the Eredivisie in the Netherlands. From 1984 to 1989 he played in MLB as an outfielder for the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, and Oakland Athletics. He joined the Athletics' front office as a scout in 1990, was named general manager after the 1997 season, and was promoted to executive vice president after the 2015 season.
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game is a book by Michael Lewis, published in 2003, about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane. It describes the team's sabermetric approach to assembling a competitive baseball team on a small budget. It was adapted into the 2011 film Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.
Scott Allen Hatteberg is an American former professional first baseman and catcher. From 1995 through 2008, he played in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics, and Cincinnati Reds. Hatteberg attended Washington State University, where he played college baseball for the Cougars.
Stephen Schott Stadium, or Schott Stadium for short, is the home of the Santa Clara University baseball team, a Division I Baseball team of the NCAA's West Coast Conference. The stadium, which opened in 2005, is located in Santa Clara, California, USA.
Paul DePodesta is an American football executive and former baseball executive who is the chief strategy officer of the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as a front office assistant for the Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics, and New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). DePodesta was also general manager of MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers. He is also known for his appearance in the book and movie Moneyball about his early career as an assistant with the Athletics.
Arthur Henry Howe Jr. is an American former professional baseball infielder, coach, scout, and manager, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1974–1975), Houston Astros (1976–1982), and St. Louis Cardinals (1984–1985). Howe managed the Astros (1989–1993), Oakland Athletics (1996–2002), and New York Mets (2003–2004), compiling a career managerial record of 1,129 wins and 1,137 losses.
Richard Lynn "Sandy" Alderson is an American baseball executive. He was most recently the president of the New York Mets. He previously served as the general manager of the New York Mets from 2011 to 2018, an executive in the Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres organizations, and the commissioner's office of Major League Baseball. As a front office executive, Alderson led the Athletics to a World Series championship in 1989 and led the Athletics to the World Series in three straight seasons. Alderson led the Mets to the 2015 World Series.
Jeremy Scott Brown is an American former professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball for the Oakland Athletics in 2006.
The 2002 Oakland Athletics season was the 102nd season in franchise history and the 35th season in Oakland, California. The Athletics finished first in the American League West with a record of 103–59.
Lewis N. Wolff is an American real estate developer. Wolff had been co-chairman of the Board of Sunstone Investors, Inc. from October 2004 to April 2014. Wolff owned sports franchises. He was most well known for his ownership of the Oakland Athletics and as the co-owner of the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer. However, in November 2016, Wolff sold his share in the Oakland Athletics to John J. Fisher, and currently serves as the team's Chairman Emeritus. Wolff is credited with the redevelopment and revitalization of downtown San Jose, California where he was the largest developer of offices, hotels, and parking for many years.
Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes five business units: Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, King, Major League Gaming, and Activision Blizzard Studios.
Kenneth Harry Hofmann was an American builder, real estate developer, and philanthropist. He was an owner of the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League from 1988 to 1997, in partnership with Ken Behring, and of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball from 1995 to 2005, in partnership with Stephen Schott.
Robert A. Kotick is an American businessman who served as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Activision Blizzard and previously Activision from 1991 to 2023. He became the CEO of Activision after purchasing a company stake the previous year. Kotick engineered a merger between Activision and Vivendi Games during the late 2000s, which led to the creation of Activision Blizzard in 2008 and him being named the company's inaugural CEO. He has also served on several boards, including The Coca-Cola Company from 2012 to 2022, and Yahoo! from 2003 to 2008. Following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, Kotick retired from the company on December 29, 2023.
The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 seasons and then to the San Francisco Bay in Oakland, California, in 1968. The team endured numerous attendance issues stemming from the aging Oakland Coliseum before the MLB owners approved the team's application to relocate to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2023. With four locations, the A's have had the most homes of any MLB team.
Moneyball is a 2011 American biographical sports drama film that was directed by Bennett Miller with a script by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin from a story by Stan Chervin. The film is based on the 2003 nonfiction book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis. The book is an account of the Oakland Athletics baseball team's 2002 season and their general manager Billy Beane's attempts to assemble a competitive team. In the film, Beane and assistant general manager Peter Brand, faced with the franchise's limited budget for players, build a team of undervalued talent by taking a sophisticated sabermetric approach to scouting and analyzing players. Philip Seymour Hoffman also stars as Art Howe.
The Santa Clara Broncos baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball team that represents Santa Clara University in NCAA Division I college baseball. Santa Clara Baseball competes in the West Coast Conference, of which the Santa Clara Broncos were a charter member. The Broncos play their home games on campus at Stephen Schott Stadium, which opened in 2005. The Broncos and are led by head coach Rusty Filter, currently in his fifth season.
David Lee Forst is an American baseball executive with the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball. He is the general manager of the Athletics.
California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard is a current lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), now the Civil Rights Department (CRD) against video game developer Activision Blizzard in July 2021. The lawsuit asserts that management of Activision Blizzard allowed and at times encouraged sexual misconduct towards female employees, that the company maintained a "frat boy" culture, and that the company's hiring and employment practices were discriminatory against women.