A’s sell Coliseum, severing ties with Oakland, making way for development

The Oakland Athletics affiliate Coliseum Way Partners announced Monday that it has agreed to sell its stake in the Coliseum for a $50 million profit.

The deal, which still needs to be approved by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, would provide the African American Sports and Entertainment Group with complete ownership of the storied sports complex in East Oakland. 

Should the supervisors approve, the A’s will receive $125 million for a stake in the Coliseum that they bought from Alameda County for $85 million in 2019. That is money they will take with them to their temporary home in Sacramento next year, becoming Oakland’s third and final major league sports team to leave the city.

The deal removes the most significant roadblock to the sale, after AASEG recently signed a term agreement with Oakland to buy the city’s interest in the Coliseum for $105 million.

AASEG plans to redevelop the site in a way that will revitalize the surrounding neighborhood without displacing those who live there.

“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,” said AASEG managing member Ray Bobbitt.

 “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.”

Mayor Sheng Thao said in a news release Monday that having one party control the whole site will fast track the development. AASEG plans to invest billions of dollars into the site to build housing, entertainment venues, restaurants, a convention center and green space.

“I applaud the A’s for doing the right thing and coming to their own terms with AASEG for the County’s half of the land,” Thao said. 

The city had hoped to keep the A’s in Oakland with a proposed new stadium at Howard Terminal. But, after years of back and forth, the deal fell through in 2023 when the team announced its intention to move to Las Vegas, which Major League Baseball then approved. Once their new stadium is built on the Las Vegas Strip, the A’s will join the former Oakland Raiders in the desert.

The Coliseum’s sale ends an era but not the stadium’s legacy, which is inextricably tied to Oakland. 

New era of baseball in Oakland — move over A’s, here come the B’s