Athletics agree to sell their share of coliseum land

The African American Sports & Entertainment Group (AASEG) announced on Monday that it has agreed to a deal to acquire 50 percent of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum site from Coliseum Way Partners, the Athletics affiliate, for $125M. AASEG already has a deal in place for the other 50 percent so this will give it full ownership of the land once everything is complete. It still needs to be approved by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. The press release was sent out on X and on MLB.com.

In 2019, CWP acquired an interest in Alameda County’s half of the Coliseum site for $85M. Of course, much has changed since then. Negotiations over a new stadium to be built in Oakland eventually broke down with reporting from April of 2023 revealing that the A’s had bought land in Las Vegas and were pivoting to a relocation plan. Just a few months later, MLB owners approved the move to Nevada in November of 2023.

There was still a chance that the A’s would stay in Oakland for a while as their Vegas stadium isn’t scheduled to be ready until 2028. Their lease at the Coliseum runs through 2024 and they had some talks with the city of Oakland about staying through 2027. During those discussions, the city attempted to get the club’s share of the land and also have the A’s pay to convert the facility to a soccer pitch for United Soccer League’s Oakland Roots SC franchise. But the A’s then announced in April that they would relocate to Sacramento for the 2025-27 seasons.

That left the unresolved matter of what the A’s would do with their remaining stake in the stadium site. Back in February, it was reported that the club and AASEG had opened talks about a sale. Per the reporting at that time, AASEG also tried to purchase the land the prior year, but was rebuffed. Last week, AASEG and the city of Oakland signed a term sheet that would see AASEG acquire the city’s 50 percent stake in the land for $105M. Now that AASEG is set to get the other 50 percent from the A’s, it will eventually own the entire property for a total outlay of $230M.

“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 in the press release. 

A’s president Dave Kaval, Alameda County Supervisor Dave Haubert and Alameda County Board of Supervisors President Nate Miley also provide quotes supporting the project in the press release linked above.

Carlos Castaneda of CBS covered Monday’s deal and also provided some more details about what’s next for the Coliseum site. His piece notes that “AASEG is planning a $5 billion redevelopment project to include housing, an amphitheater, restaurants, and a new convention center.” He adds that 25 percent of the housing built on the land must be affordable, per the term sheet of the deal between the city and AASEG.

The A’s will likely use the cash to help with their moving process. Per reporting from back in May, the club had secured $380M in government funding for the project, roughly a third of the $1.1 billion projected price tag. Reporting at that time indicated that the A’s were looking to raise $500M in private funding and may have been willing to offer minority ownership shares of the franchise to incentivize investment. The expected costs have seemingly grown in the past few months, as Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote about the ongoing demolition of the Vegas site last week and listed the projected cost of the stadium at $1.5 billion. Akers added that the A’s are planning to make up some of the difference with $300M in debt refinancing and $850M in equity from the family of team owner John Fisher. Fisher’s parents Don and Doris Fisher founded The Gap, the clothing chain, and Forbes estimated the family’s net worth at $8.9 billion in December of 2020.

Perhaps the $125M will help them balance the books there, but the A’s also may have to make some upgrades to Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park to get it more in line with MLB standards. Currently home to the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the Giants, the venue is slated to host the A’s for the next three major league seasons. Concerns have been expressed by various parties that the facilities are of a lower quality than players have come to expect from other big league ballparks and the club may have to pump some money into renovations there as well. 

Back in April, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic spoke to current MLB players, including Cody Bellinger and Rhys Hoskins, about some of the notable challenges with the environment.