OAKLAND — Not every Alameda County leader was ready Tuesday to pop champagne with the group seeking to establish full ownership of the Oakland Coliseum property.
Two county supervisors said they wouldn’t celebrate until the land sale closes escrow at the end of June 2026. But they acknowledged that a unanimous vote Tuesday to move the complicated Coliseum deal past a crucial hurdle was a victory in itself.
“This is another step in the right direction to get across the finish line,” Supervisor Nate Miley — whose district includes the Coliseum stadium, Oakland Arena and vast parking space in between — said at a meeting Tuesday.
The vote allows Alameda County to transfer an earlier sale of its 50% ownership stake in the Coliseum site to a business entity formed by the African American Sports and Entertainment Group, a coalition looking to transform the property into housing, retail, hotels and live professional sports.
The county had originally sold its stake in 2019 to an affiliate of the A’s for $85 million. The baseball franchise abandoned plans to redevelop the site when it left Oakland last year.
In came the African American Sports and Entertainment Group, or AASEG. Through an entity, the Oakland Acquisition Company, the group will pay $125 million to take that county sale off of the A’s hands — a process that the group’s leaders promised would be simple but ultimately stretched on for months.
AASEG is paying an identical sum to Oakland for the city’s own 50% interest in the 112 acres of Coliseum land. Both deals are expected to close escrow by June 30, 2026.
The finished development is billed as revitalization of not just the sprawling sports complex, parts of which have fallen into disrepair, but also of East Oakland — an area of the town where economic activity has dwindled.
Ray Bobbitt, Founder of the African American Sports and Entertainment Group, is photographed at the BART bridge before the MLB game at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
“When we think of reparations, we’re talking about repairing harm,” said John Jones III, a former incarcerated Oakland community leader who is splitting a small stake in the deal with a group of local organizers. “This process is going to bring healing to the community.”
Jones is part of a flagship local group whose public face, Oakland-born Ray Bobbitt, has big dreams for the Coliseum site that once hosted the A’s, Raiders and Warriors.
But the signatures on the city and county’s sale documents belong to one of the country’s largest Black-owned investment firms, Loop Capital, and its chairman, Jim Reynolds.
Major sports agent Bill Duffy, real-estate developer Alan Dones and former Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb are other names associated with the development deal.
“The patience and persistence of this organization shows firsthand how dedicated they are to the development of this region,” Jason Lindsey, a representative of Ironworkers 378, said at Tuesday’s meeting.
Alameda County Supervisor District 4 Nate Miley speaks to the public during a Veterans event held at Lone Tree Cemetery in Hayward, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. The event was presented by the Ohlone Chapter, National Society – Daughters of the American Revolution. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
The large-scale redevelopment promises union jobs. It also will market at least a quarter of the new housing units built there at affordable prices — a guarantee that helped dismiss a previous lawsuit filed over the A’s purchase of Alameda County’s stake.
AASEG is expected to complete its $125 million payment to the A’s by the end of next January, securing a $40 million profit for the baseball team. The group will also pick up the tab on what’s left of longstanding public improvement bonds at the Coliseum.
Months of closed-door negotiations have also yielded another perk for the county: it will no longer let the Coliseum buyers off the hook for any unexpected costs — hazardous materials, for instance — that may crop up at the property. The city finalized its environmental review of the site a decade ago, back when it seemed either the Raiders or A’s may have stayed longterm in a new stadium.
With the county vote squared away, AASEG will now begin its due diligence at the site.
“They are very committed,” Supervisor Dave Haubert said of the buyers in an interview ahead of Tuesday’s meeting. Those who had “weaker” levels of commitment, he said, “would have dropped off a long time ago.”
Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495 or email him at [email protected].