A's to Sell Their Half of Oakland Coliseum Site

Jason Burke | Aug 6, 2024

May 26, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; A general view of signage at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum before the game between the Oakland Athletics and the Houston Astros. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports / Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports

Coliseum Way Partners (CWP), an Oakland A's affiliate, and the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG) made a joint announcement on Monday that they have a tentative agreement for AASEG to buy the half of the Coliseum that the A's own for $125 million.

This is a huge deal for the future of Oakland, with AASEG now working towards the purchase of both the A's and Oakland's shares of the Coliseum site. Having that land under unified control could mean great things are ahead.

“The AASEG is grateful to have reached this historic agreement with the Oakland Athletics to purchase their interests in the Oakland Coliseum complex,” said AASEG Managing Member Ray Bobbitt. “As Oakland natives who grew up merely blocks away from the Coliseum, and as longtime Oakland business owners, we are filled with gratitude for this opportunity to assume stewardship of the Coliseum site. We recognize that while this is a tremendous opportunity, it is above all a profound responsibility. We graciously accept this responsibility and look forward to working with the community on this generationally transformational endeavor. We also want to thank the city and county for their unwavering support.”

“I appreciate the collaboration between the A’s and AASEG and am excited for the future of the Coliseum site,” said Alameda County Supervisor Dave Haubert. “The Coliseum site is a regional asset for all of Alameda County and the entire East Bay Region. I’m excited for AASEG to be leading the effort for its revival.”

The sale of the A’s interest in the Coliseum site by CWP to AASEG is subject to approval by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. 

AASEG has previously said that they have development plans that include multiple sports teams at the Coliseum site, and also plans that include one or no teams. The idea is to provide a sports, entertainment, and education district, which will also include affordable housing.

Regardless of which plan they move forward with, it will take time for Oakland to start seeing some of the planned transformation of this area. Not only will it take some time to build, but there may be opportunities for expansion, presumably in MLB in the next few years, and potentially in the NFL, that the group would like to pursue that aren't readily available at this time.

There will be hurdles to jump, hoops to jump through, and difficult decisions to be made in this process, but if AASEG pulls this off, it could be a huge for The Town.