‘I can’t believe it’s really happening’: Oakland A’s finalize sale of Coliseum share to Black-led development group

OAKLAND — The historic Coliseum is one step closer to changing hands from the departing A’s to the Black-led development group seeking to give the property a new future.

On Thursday, the African American Sports and Entertainment Group inked an “acquisition agreement” with the A’s, finalizing the two parties’ negotiations over a landmark $125 million sale.

Now the only step separating the group, known as AASEG, from fully owning the team’s share of the property is a thumbs-up from Alameda County, which in 2019 sold its share to the baseball franchise for $85 million.

The county still has a say over the property’s future until early 2026, when longstanding public bonds taken out to improve the facilities are fully paid off. With this new acquisition agreement, though, the A’s can no longer back out of a deal with AASEG.

The entire 155-acre complex, which includes the giant ballpark, nearby arena and vast concrete space in between, had until now been split into 50% property shares held separately by the A’s and city of Oakland.

Both entities are now in the process of selling off the property to AASEG — a coalition led by Oakland native Ray Bobbitt, who confirmed the finished acquisition deal, and financially backed by Black-owned hedge fund Loop Capital.

“I really can’t believe it’s happening,” Bobbitt said late Thursday night in an interview.

If the county approves the deal, it would almost fully extricate the A’s from Oakland after a five-decade run at the Coliseum.

The team intends to play its final home game in the ballpark on Sept. 26, with plans to relocate to West Sacramento for the next several seasons before a permanent home is supposed to be built in Las Vegas.

The giant Coliseum stadium will still host professional sports for another year — second-division men’s soccer franchise Oakland Roots SC agreed this month to play home games on the field in 2025.

City officials, meanwhile, are rushing to complete their side of the Coliseum sale to AASEG by some fast-approaching deadlines.

The timing is crucial: All $105 million in revenue from the sale would help plug a historic budget deficit facing Oakland, and without it the city could be forced to implement severe spending cuts akin to those taken during a major financial recession.

That deal is taking longer than expected. In a term-sheet agreement, the two sides had said they “intend” to formalize a purchase-and-sale deal by last Friday, which didn’t work out.

Now the city is on the clock to wrap things up by Sunday — the date when a “contingency budget” with major consequences to staffing and services would take effect, replacing a tentative budget with fewer cuts that the City Council approved last month.

To avoid triggering the contingency, the city would need $15 million ready to spend by Sept. 30 ($5 million of which AASEG has already paid the city), an additional $15 million by Nov. 1, $33 million by Jan. 15, 2025, and another $42 million to fully close the sale.

Asked what would happen if the money isn’t there by Sept. 1, Councilmember Janani Ramachandran suggested a special council meeting may be called to delay the contingency budget until the end of September.

“We’re dangerously close,” she said in an interview this week.

Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495 or email him at smukherjee@bayareanewsgroup.com.