On the same day the Warriors staged an elaborate ribbon-cutting ceremony for Chase Center, complete with daytime fireworks and appearances by Gov. Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Mayor London Breed, A’s President Dave Kaval hosted a media tour of his imagination.

The scene was Howard Terminal, just off the heart of Oakland’s Jack London Square. The team is hosting a series of mini-tours for the Bay Area media, and The Chronicle joined a half-dozen other outlets for Tuesday’s look at the waterfront location that someday might house the A’s ballpark.

There isn’t much new to report, although we did learn something about cranes.

At the water’s edge, on the southwest corner of where the park could stand, there are two sets of enormous white cranes, a relic from some other time in the shipping industry and long discarded by the Port of Oakland. The A’s were asked if they might dispose of the structures, but Kaval and his staff had a different thought: Why not make them part of the ballpark landscape?

“The idea is provide a sort of distinctive signature,” Kaval said. “If you’re anywhere on our 55-acre site, or watching on TV, you’ll see the cranes and you’ll know you’re in Oakland. Just like Camden Yards and the B&O Warehouse: You know you’re in Baltimore. That’s a cool thing.”

The cranes aren’t at all unsightly, at least from a distance. Up close, it’s apparent they could use some refreshment, starting with a paint job. “That’s the plan,” said Kaval. “They’re on rails, and we’re going to move them, probably adjacent to the ferry terminal, so they become pieces of public art. We want to light them up in different colors. Green and gold, of course.”

Kaval is a relentlessly upbeat sort, an invaluable trait for someone often engaging skeptical politicians, outraged environmentalists, representatives of the maritime industry, various agencies wielding the hammer of approval, and an A’s owner (John Fisher) who has never been willing to spend excessively on the team.

If there’s a looming obstacle that truly concerns Kaval, it’s the Environmental Impact Report due to be published late this year. “That’s like hundreds of pages, and it daylights any issues,” he said. “Lots of public agencies respond to that. Anyone who might have a concern about the the project, we’ll have to work through all their permits to come up with a plan that everyone’s comfortable with.

“That’s due to come out in November. The Oakland City Council has to say it looks good. They’ll review it for 3-4 months, and then they vote on it. If they vote yes, at that point, we can break ground.”

For a study in contrasts, it doesn’t get more glaring than Tuesday’s presentations by the Warriors and A’s. People have a right to dream, though, and that was the mood at Howard Terminal as we gazed upon the mysterious world of maybe.

Bruce Jenkins is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: bjenkins@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Bruce_Jenkins1