Representatives of the ownership group that recently took over the Oakland Coliseum celebrated with city leaders on Tuesday at a press conference in the Coliseum's parking lot, hours ahead of one of the Oakland Athletics' final home games at the site.
The sale of the stadium and surrounding 155-acre complex required separate agreements with the city of Oakland and the A's for each entity to sell its half stake, something that created doubt in the city's budget this fall as it was uncertain if the sale could be finalized in time to avoid deep cuts in several areas, including the police and fire departments.
But the Oakland Police Officers' Association still blasted the $105 million sale to developer African American Sports and Entertainment Group, known as AASEG, and Loop Capital, as a temporary band-aid for the city's ongoing financial struggles.
The union said it was not critical of the buyers, but said it rejected the city's reliance on the sale to bolster its budget this year, rather than making comprehensive changes that would ensure short-term and long-term stabilization to the city's budget.
"The Coliseum deal buys the city a few months reprieve and the one-time revenues will soon dissipate," the police union's president Huy Nguyen said in a statement Tuesday.
"Whoever is in control of city government in the new year will face the daunting task of keeping the city solvent when the bill comes due for the ongoing fiscal mismanagement. The OPOA continues to demand that the city retain experienced fiscal consultants to seriously address the ongoing budget crisis," Nguyen said.
City leaders, including Mayor Sheng Thao and City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, joined AASEG founder and managing member Ray Bobbitt at the Coliseum for Tuesday's press conference and said that the sale and development of the site would bring badly needed investment in the East Oakland community.
"This has been a journey," Bobbitt said. "It's been a team effort."
He said both AASEG and city negotiators had been working around the clock to get the deal finalized.
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Thao said the sale represented a huge investment in East Oakland and represented needed action after a lot of discussion about economic development in the area.
"We demand to see a better, a stronger, a more prosperous Oakland, and these are the seeds that we are planting today," Thao said.
She rejected the idea that the sale was a band-aid for the city's troubles and said the sale proved investors are still interested in the Oakland market.
"Many people thought institutional capital was fleeing Oakland. It's not the case," she said."
Kaplan similarly said the complex was one of the most prime for development in the state because of its proximity to multiple modes of transportation.
"This site is the most developable site in all of California," Kaplan said, pointing out that environmental studies had already cleared the site for further development.
Sacramento-based AASEG and its partners agreed to purchase the city's share of the site using financing from Chicago-based Loop Capital for $105 million in late July and the A's share for $125 million in early August.
The A's plan to move to the Sacramento River Cats' minor league stadium for at least three years starting in 2025 while their plans for a new stadium in Las Vegas are developed. The team's last home game in Oakland is Sept. 26.
