The African American Sports & Entertainment Group will soon become the full owner of the Oakland Coliseum, as they bought the City of Oakland’s ownership share of the Coliseum earlier this year, and they just bought the other half from the departing Oakland A’s.
Since the Oakland A’s are moving the franchise to Las Vegas, and they’re going to play in Sacramento for (at least) the next three seasons after this season wraps up, it’s odd that the team owned 50% of the Oakland Coliseum. The Coliseum had been traditionally owned half by the City of Oakland, and the other half owned by Alameda County. But the A’s bought out Alameda County’s half-ownership stake of the dilapidated Coliseum in 2019, claiming at the time it would (haha) help them keep the A’s in Oakland. With the A’s departure now a certainty, the City of Oakland sold their half-ownership share of the Coliseum to the somewhat new African American Sports & Entertainment Group in a deal that closed last week.
But soon, the African American Sports & Entertainment Group will own the Oakland Coliseum space in its entirety. The San Francisco Business Times reports the A’s have sold their 50% stake in the Oakland Coliseum to that same African American Sports & Entertainment Group (AASEG). The sale price is a reported $125 million, which is an improvement over the $85 million the A’s paid for that half-ownership stake in 2019.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the African American Sports & Entertainment Group regarding our portion of the Coliseum site,” A’s President Dave Kaval said in a press release. “AASEG has a community-oriented vision for the long-term development of the site and will be strong stewards of the property. Their leadership and development provide substantial opportunities and benefits for East Oakland and the broader Oakland community.”
According to their website, AASEG aspires to build “a thriving sports, entertainment, educational and business district in East Oakland at the Coliseum Site.” They also have aspirations to host a WNBA team, which seems unlikely now that San Francisco is getting a WNBA franchise. AASEG also claims they hope to found “first majority Black owned NFL franchise here in Oakland,” and that too seems a little optimistic. But the smaller Oakland soccer teams the Oakland Roots and Oakland Soul are both slated to start playing their home games at the Oakland Coliseum next year.
“This is another incredibly exciting day,” Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said in her own statement. “When we agreed on our terms with AASEG for the City’s half of the Coliseum site, we knew this was right around the corner. Having one entity control the entire Coliseum site will fast track much-needed and deeply deserved development in East Oakland.”
The deal includes the Oakland Coliseum, as well as Oakland Arena, and the land in between the two facilities.
Related: City of Oakland Sells Off Its Stake in Oakland Coliseum for a Reported $105 Million [SFist]
Image via The Oakland Arena