While efforts to finance a stadium for the Marlins continue to putter along quietly, the Oakland A’s unveiled plans Tuesday for a new stadium in Fremont, about 30 miles south of their current home.

In a partnership with Cisco Systems, the A’s, who have long sought a new stadium, have agreed to purchase 143 acres in Fremont for a 32,000- to 35,000-seat ballpark to be named Cisco Field that could open in 2011. It is expected to be mainly privately financed.

Meanwhile, in Queens on Monday, a ground-breaking was held for a new $800 million stadium for the New York Mets to be called CitiField. The new 45,000-seat ballpark to replace Shea Stadium, is expected to open in 2009.

More impressive than the ground-breaking might be the whopping $20 million a year the team is reportedly getting from Citigroup for the naming rights. The agreement is by far the richest for a corporate naming deal on a sports venue and is considered great news in an industry that at various times has been deemed at a standstill or declining. The largest previous deal is said to be the approximately $10 million Reliant Energy pays annually for the rights to name the Houston Texans’ Reliant Stadium.

As for the Marlins, Major League Baseball officials insist helping the team gain a stadium is a priority. They hope the election of Charlie Crist as Florida's governor will help since Crist once served as general counsel to the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, the minor league division of the MLB Commissioner's Office. Miami, Hialeah and Pompano Beach are still under consideration as locales for a new ballpark.