OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — For the last time ever, chants of, “Let’s Go Oakland!” filled the Oakland Coliseum at Thursday’s final home game.
The Oakland A’s franchise is moving to Las Vegas. So, what comes next?
“Oakland will get major league sports again. There is no question in my mind. The market is too large. It’s too wide open. The media market is too big,” said Ray Bobbitt, co-founder of the African American Sports and Entertainment Group, which now owns the Coliseum site.
Bobbitt said the trend is toward sports and entertainment tourism — venues surrounded by retail, arts, culture and housing — and there are hopes of revitalizing East Oakland with jobs.
“We know that in District 6 and 7, there are only about 2,000 full-time jobs. Most of which are the airport and Coliseum site. If we could create up to 20,000 jobs at that site, you are talking about life-changing scenario for that entire area,” explains Bobbitt.
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Bobbit said this will be a 10-year-long project. The Oakland Arena will stay.
“Bad Bunny shows in the stadium, I think they broke the record for attendance. Zach Bryan, the country had to move outdoor to the stadium because he became too big for the arena,” Bobbitt said. “The arena has always been the highest driver of the public to the site, beyond the A’s, the Warriors and the Raiders, just because it is 365 days.”
Planning for the rest of the site will take another year and a half and three to five years before they break ground on early stages of the project. A Coliseum Specific Plan is already in place, which means there won’t be delays due to environmental reviews and the like.
“We plan on having this development move very quickly, because the region needs it,” he said.
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The Oakland Roots soccer team will play at the Coliseum in 2025. Bobbitt said AASEG is already generating interest from all major leagues sports and points to the NFL and L.A. as examples of what can happen in Oakland.
“I didn’t think I’d’ ever see 20 years with Los Angeles without a team. But I did. Now they have two. You look at all the expansion franchises that occurred or relocations that occurred, they always went back to cities they were already in,” Bobbitt said.
Matthew Atencio is co-director of the Center for Sports and Social Justice at Cal State University East Bay. He said Oakland is a strong sports market. But he points to tough competition from cities like Seattle for an expansion team. And adds, though the Coliseum is available, it’s in need of massive upgrades.
“How can you bring in more revenue? Stadiums are often the centerpiece of these relocations. A lot of questions for the local group in terms of how would you attract a new team here,” Atencio said.
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But Atencio believes this could be an opportunity to build something from the ground up, instead of another billionaire parachuting a team into Oakland.
“A team that is more community-based, bit more entrenched in the voice of the people here,” Atencio said. “In many ways, that may be the future of pro sports.”
Alameda County still has to assign the very important a disposition agreement, which outlines the terms and conditions for the sale, lease, exchange, or disposal of real property, to the AASEG, which Bobbitt believes will happen before the end of the year in.
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