{"id":3718,"date":"2026-07-04T11:38:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3718"},"modified":"2026-07-04T11:38:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:38:39","slug":"key-questions-about-a-still-unfinished-sale-of-the-oakland-coliseum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3718","title":{"rendered":"Key questions about a still-unfinished sale of the Oakland Coliseum"},"content":{"rendered":"
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OAKLAND \u2014 What happened to the sale of the publicly owned Oakland Coliseum complex? The buyers were expected to close escrow this week, but they appear to have missed a June 30 deadline to complete the purchase.<\/p>\n

Read more AT&T wins early approval to end landline service for 184,000 California households<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, officials in charge of selling the 112-acre site \u2014 one of the East Bay\u2019s most notable pieces of real estate \u2014 say they had stopped treating the deadline as any serious checkpoint several months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really means nothing at this point,\u201d said Oakland City Council President Kevin Jenkins, who sits on a board that oversees the Coliseum property, which is jointly owned by the city and Alameda County. The site includes the stadium, arena, and space in between.<\/p>\n

Questions concerning the various complexities surrounding the combined $240 million deal remain, including a lawsuit that won\u2019t go away and a newly devised plan to sell off the arena to a third party.<\/p>\n

Why did the June 30 deadline exist in the first place? And why haven\u2019t the buyers come up with the money?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Part of it comes down to former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao\u2019s ambitious plan in 2024 to sell the city\u2019s 50% interest in the Coliseum property in order to plug a budget deficit that year.<\/p>\n

The plan, roundly criticized by financial experts as a short-sighted move, enlisted key deadlines by which the buyers \u2014 a development coalition officially known as the Oakland Acquisition Company \u2014 would put up the money.<\/p>\n

Oakland Acquisition Company has agreed to buy the city\u2019s 50% interest in the Coliseum for $125 million and the county\u2019s 50% share for $115 million.<\/p>\n

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Loop Capital, the investment firm backing the deal, forked up an initial $5 million but held off on any further payments when the city refused to grant incremental ownership to the buyers with each money transfer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose deadlines were, in a way, forced on us at that time,\u201d said Ray Bobbitt, an Oakland resident and cofounder of the Oakland Acquisition Company who serves as the project\u2019s local representative.<\/p>\n

In addition to Loop Capital, the development coalition that comprises Oakland Acquisition Company includes sports agent Bill Duffy and real-estate developer Alan Dones.<\/p>\n

Following Thao\u2019s ouster in 2024, city officials dismantled any ties between the sale and Oakland\u2019s operating budget, naming June 30, 2026, as the official close of escrow and the deadline for Oakland Acquisition Company paying the entire remaining balance of the purchase.<\/p>\n

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Soon afterward, however, both city and county officials acknowledged that the date no longer carried much urgency.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo us, it was always a target date and nothing more,\u201d said Henry Gardner, the executive director of the joint agency that handles the Coliseum property\u2019s affairs.<\/p>\n

Are there any consequences to the sale not closing by June 30?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Technically, officials said, blowing past the deadline means Alameda County is no longer in exclusive negotiations with the Oakland Acquisition Company.<\/p>\n

But that does not mean the deal is dead. Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert said Thursday he still sees a finish line.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that we\u2019re not as far apart on terms, but on logistics,\u201d said Haubert, who also sits on that board overseeing the Coliseum, adding that \u201cthere\u2019s no reason to feel our current discussions won\u2019t come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Dowd: Is fairness still an inherently American trait?<\/a><\/p>\n

Those logistics include a lawsuit by Communities for a Better Environment to halt the county\u2019s original sale of its own half-interest in the site to the Athletics baseball franchise for $85 million in 2019.<\/p>\n

The nonprofit, which alleged the county violated the Surplus Lands Act by not first exploring affordable-housing development at the site, still has not dismissed its lawsuit. Its resolution appears to hinge on legally bound commitments to build homes there.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Oakland Acquisition Company is seeking to ease the costs of buying and redeveloping the site by selling off the arena \u2014 which remains a profitable concert venue \u2014 to a private entertainment company for at least $100 million.<\/p>\n

Half the money would go to the county, helping it pay $115 million to the A\u2019s in exchange for undoing the 2019 deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlipping the arena right away would give us $50 million upfront,\u201d said Haubert, who noted that long-term returns from the Oakland Acquisition Company are more nebulous.<\/p>\n

So the arena is being sold separately? Who exactly is buying it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The arena buyers, known as the Oak View Group and led by music-industry giant Irving Azoff, stepped into the frame via private negotiations with the Oakland Acquisition Company, which privately planned to sell the arena for at least a year.<\/p>\n

Still, the deal caught some by surprise, including Legends Global, the company that manages the arena\u2019s operations. The company earlier this month submitted its own proposal to buy the arena and upgrade the building for an estimated $102 million.<\/p>\n

Josh Kritzler, an executive at Legends, has spent the past month lobbying city and county officials to open up the arena sale to a competitive bidding process, instead of letting Oak View Group buy it at a privately established price.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to slow this (deal) down,\u201d said Kritzler, who serves as the company\u2019s president of North American venues and content. \u201cI want to open this up.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, officials around the sale appear committed to sticking with Azoff\u2019s group.<\/p>\n

Jenkins, the Oakland City Council president, said earlier this month that the existing deal is already too complex to introduce another player. Kritzler, meanwhile, said his own offer to buy the arena was met with silence from the Oakland Acquisition Company.<\/p>\n

Mayor Barbara Lee, for her part, has said little about the Coliseum deal at all, noting upon taking office last year that she was \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d about a positive outcome.<\/p>\n

Is there a timeline for the deal being complete? And do the buyers have a precise vision for the redevelopment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No and no. While officials on all sides seem intent on reaching a conclusion, it could be any number of months before they reach a milestone, and years before shovels hit the ground.<\/p>\n

Bobbitt has said the Oakland Acquisition Company remains focused primarily on the sale\u2019s logistics, with specific redevelopment plans up in the air.<\/p>\n

The firm\u2019s officials promise that, in its finished form, the site would resemble a full-fledged entertainment complex with retail, a hotel, commercial businesses, housing, and live sports, giving the site new life following the departure of Oakland\u2019s major sports teams.<\/p>\n

Read more Opinion: 19th century reformers made this country more equal, inclusive and strong<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Questions remain around the various complexities surrounding the combined $240 million deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\nKey questions about a still-unfinished sale of the Oakland Coliseum - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3718\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Key questions about a still-unfinished sale of the Oakland Coliseum - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Questions remain around the various complexities surrounding the combined $240 million deal.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3718\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-04T11:38:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3718#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3718\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Key questions about a still-unfinished sale of the Oakland Coliseum\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-04T11:38:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3718\"},\"wordCount\":1100,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3718#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f73b8c22d8c4dce4a8e067ccc62c2b0e.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3718#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3718\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3718\",\"name\":\"Key questions about a still-unfinished sale of the Oakland Coliseum - 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