San Francisco, CA
San Francisco's Aquarium of the Bay to get new leadership after scandal
San Francisco’s aquarium CEO resigns amid scandal
The Aquarium of the Bay, a fixture on San Francisco’s Pier 39 for almost three decades, finds itself in a financial mess due to a scandal embroiling its now-departed CEO who served for almost a decade.
SAN FRANCISCO – The Aquarium of the Bay, a fixture on San Francisco’s Pier 39 for almost three decades, finds itself in a financial mess due to a scandal embroiling its now-departed CEO who served for almost a decade.
Last month, then-CEO George Jacob told KTVU about a massive transformation of the facility where everything but the aquatic tunnels would be removed and replaced by a much bigger building at warp speed.
“We’re excited about its amazing future where we would transform the aquarium into a climate and ocean conservation living museum. The exhibit area would quadruple. We plan to execute, from the date of permits, in 24 months. That level of transition has never happened before and this is going to be something to behold,” said Jacob.
But at the insistence of the Board Chairman Jon Fisher, Jacob resigned over issues of unpaid bills, financial improprieties, excessive spending on travel, dining, personal spending, and holding overseas events to the tune of almost $750,000, as well as a transition the aquarium could not afford.
“There will be no proliferating, there will be no events of any kind until the organization is in much better shape,” said Fisher.
Not only are these the longest aquarium tunnels in the United States, they are unique because they are concentrated on Bay life, and you can rarely see Bay life in the murky waters of San Francisco Bay.
The top priority for Fisher: the health and safety of aquatic life.
“The sharks and the fish…they deserve our very best and this was not it. This is a charitable organization for the public good and, unfortunately, I don’t think the previous plans served the public good, served the animals,” said Fisher.
Another priority: empowering employees through a whistleblower policy. The aquarium survived the recession and COVID-19. Will it survive this?
“I absolutely think it has a life going forward and I absolutely think our best days are ahead of us,” said Fisher.
In the short term, a busy summer season will bolster its finances, but new leadership and major operational changes are coming.
The San Francisco Giants have been one of the biggest disappointments in baseball this season, prompting the front office to explore operating as sellers this summer. Amid a flurry of MLB trade rumors this week about a potential firesale, there is now more buzz regarding the future of Matt Chapman with the team.
MLB insider Robert Murray spoke to executives around the league who said that Chapman is “the most appealing” trade target of the group that also includes Rafael Devers and Willy Adames.
Matt Chapman Trade Landing Spots
- Matt Chapman contract (Spotrac): $25.166 million AAV (2026-2030)
It’s no surprise that Chapman is the most coveted player among the highly-paid trio. He is a Gold Glove Award winner at third base who can still provide well above-average fielding at the hot corner as a 33-year-old. On top of that, he is also outproduced Adames by a wide margin this season and offers far greater positional value than Devers.
However, there is a complicating factor. Chapman has played 10 seasons in the majors and has a full no-trade clause. He also made it clear to reporters this week that he prefers to remain in San Francisco, especially since he is a California native.
Rafael Devers Trade Landing Spots
- Matt Chapman stats (2026): .252/.337/.400, .737 OPS, 7 home runs, 41 RBI in 309 plate appearances
As a result, per Murray, San Francisco is not expected to move him this offseason. That makes it even more likely that the club’s highest-paid players remain with the team for the remainder of the season, with president of baseball operations Buster Posey expected to pursue alternative options.
More than likely, the Giants will instead be trading the likes of Robbie Ray, Tyler Mahle, and Luis Arraez. All three veterans are on expiring contracts, so San Francisco will attempt to get whatever it can for them on the trade market next month.
Willy Adames Trade Landing Spots
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco hotels see steady World Cup business, but fall short of Super Bowl surge
Bay Area bars and restaurants are packed for World Cup watch parties this week, but San Francisco hotels are not seeing the same sell-out crowds experienced during the Super Bowl earlier this year.
While the Super Bowl brought a concentrated week of events that sent hotel prices soaring into the thousands, the World Cup spans more than a month. The extended timeline has resulted in a slower, steadier trickle of out-of-town soccer fans booking rooms.
The Bay Area has several exciting matches on the schedule at Levi’s Stadium, but none feature top-seeded teams or the mega-star power seen when “Messi mania” previously swept the region.
“We knew we weren’t going to get any of the first-place teams. We weren’t going to get Brazil, or Germany, or any of the teams carrying big fan bases — Messi, Ronaldo,” said Alex Bastian, CEO of the Hotel Council of San Francisco. “But that being said, this is still such a great thing, because people are coming here from around the world.”
Bastian noted that the city’s hospitality industry is still in a strong position for the summer.
“We have a great convention calendar for the month of June, and because we were prepared, we’re doing much better compared to our colleagues across the country,” he said.
A significant surge in hotel bookings could still happen if Levi’s Stadium secures a match featuring Team USA. That possibility grew stronger following the U.S. team’s 2-0 win over Australia on Friday.
“I’m really excited about Team USA. I’m USA all the way,” Bastian added. “I’m hopeful that when that game is played here, the world will come check out San Francisco as well.”
The San Francisco Giants are headed even farther south today as they begin a weekend road series against the Miami Marlins.
Taking the mound for the Giants will be noted bigot Landen Roupp. Roupp enters today’s game with a 4.24 ERA, 2.96 FIP, with 82 strikeouts to 32 walks in 74.1 innings pitched. His last start was in Friday night’s 5-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs, in which Roupp clearly cared more about proselytizing than he did about winning, allowing four runs on four hits with five strikeouts and two walks in four and two thirds innings.
As of the time this is being written on Thursday, the Marlins have not announced a starting pitcher for today’s game and I am off today (Happy Juneteenth!). But you can head on down to the comments for the most up to date information.
Who: San Francisco Giants vs. Miami Marlins
Where: loanDepot park, Miami, Florida
Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area
Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM
-
Detroit, MI4 minutes agoTigers top Chicago White Sox 4-1; Detroit pitcher Troy Melton allows 1 hit in 6 innings
-
San Francisco, CA16 minutes agoMLB Rumors: Latest Intel on Potential Matt Chapman Trade for San Francisco Giants
-
Dallas, TX17 minutes agoDallas’ Fair Park to Get $2.5M Boost From McKesson – Dallas Weekly
-
Miami, FL24 minutes agoAir quality alert in effect in Miami-Dade and Broward counties: National Weather Service
-
Boston, MA31 minutes agoBoston Signs Big Blueliner Rylind MacKinnon To One-Year Extension
-
Denver, CO34 minutes agoFire destroys home under construction in northwest Denver
-
Seattle, WA39 minutes agoWe can stop pretending that a suburban stadium would be better for soccer in Seattle
-
San Diego, CA46 minutes agoNASCAR Cup San Diego starting lineup: Shane van Gisbergen rockets to pole
