Black-Led Firm Buys Other Half of Oakland Coliseum for $125M

The African American Sports & Entertainment Group will complete its purchase of the Oakland Coliseum by buying the Oakland A’s share for $125 million.

The Sacramento-based developer has cut a deal to buy the baseball team’s 50 percent share of the 155-acre coliseum site at 7000 South Coliseum Way, in East Oakland, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing the buyer.

The deal comes days after the Black-led group bought the city’s half of the 58-year-old coliseum complex for $105 million, following a deal cut with the city in May.

The Oakland Coliseum complex includes the 63,000-seat baseball-and-football stadium — the Raiders played there before decamping to Las Vegas four years ago, while the A’s also plan a move to Las Vegas — and a 19,200-seat basketball arena.

The AASEG executive team is Oakland-born and -based. Ray Bobbitt, managing partner of the firm, called the deal “historic.”

AASEG has proposed a $5 billion redevelopment of the Oakland Coliseum, with housing, hotels, a new convention center, a youth amphitheater, restaurants and museums. A city term sheet says 25 percent of homes built at the site must be affordable.

The term sheet requires AASEG to sign a cooperation agreement with the A’s before any deal could be made. With the A’s agreeing to sell their share, AASEG can move forward with its development.

A construction timeline, which Bobbitt had said could take up to 15 years, was not disclosed.

The A’s bought Alameda County’s half of the Coliseum in 2019 for $85 million. The team continued to make payments on the property even as it planned the move to Las Vegas.

As of December, the A’s had paid $40 million to the county and still owed $45 million to complete the sale, according to the Chronicle.

The higher price AASEG will pay the A’s than what it agreed to with Oakland covers operating costs that the team had been covering for the county, officials said.

AASEG is covering the cost of the purchases through Chicago-based Loop Capital, which has not released the firm’s funding plan. Representatives from the company previously told the Chronicle that they are working to raise the money to buy the land and build the project.

Oakland Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan and Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley have directed staff to look into creating an enhanced infrastructure financing district covering the project site, according to the newspaper.

— Dana Bartholomew