The Oakland Athletics on Monday reached an agreement to sell their 50 percent ownership stake in the Oakland Coliseum to the African American Sports & Entertainment Group for $125 million.
The AASEG, a private, Black-owned development group, landed a deal to buy the other 50 percent of the stadium site from the city of Oakland in May.
“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,” AASEG founder Ray Bobbitt said in a statement.
The deal with the American League baseball team still needs approval from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. Assuming that comes, the AASEG would have full control over the site of both the Coliseum and the adjacent Oakland Arena, former home of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
The AASEG—founded in 2020 with a stated goal to “create a path for enhanced economic equity for the Black community”—plans to build housing on the site while keeping the Oakland Arena operating.
The Athletics, who have played in Oakland since moving from Kansas City, Mo., in 1968, are due to leave the city after this season. The A’s plan is to play multiple seasons at a minor-league ballpark in Sacramento, Calif., before their new facility in their final destination, Las Vegas, is ready for them.
