With A's officially leaving after this season, what is next for the Coliseum land? The answer is a little complicated.
"Hopefully with major league baseball and the NFL to reach out to see if there's an opportunity to reestablish a professional team here in Oakland once again," said Oakland City Councilmember Noel Gallo.
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That is the hope, but time will tell what can be done at that site. The city owns half the land and John Fisher owns the other. He is buying the half previously owned by Alameda County. The city owns the controlling half, which means they decide what can be developed there. However, Fisher has already blocked the Oakland Ballers from playing at the Coliseum. City officials now want Fisher out of the way entirely.
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"Oakland offered a deal that was fair to the A's and was fiscally responsible for our city," Mayor Sheng Thao said in a statement. "We wish the A's the best and will continue our conversations with them on facilitating the sale of their share of the Coliseum site."
A potential buyer of Fisher's half is the African American Sports and Entertainment Group.
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"We see it as the most developable site in the country," said Ray Bobbitt, one of the partners with AASEG. "Our plan is to continue to negotiate until we can come to terms and complete an acquisition."
AASEG has a deal with the city to develop the site into new housing, new sports stadiums, new restaurants and more. The next step is negotiating with Fisher to possibly obtain his portion of the land. Bobbitt says the land can be used to transform East Oakland into a thriving center for the city.
"We are excited about a new beginning for Oakland," he said. "Oakland is a resilient city and it always bounces back, so we are very blessed to be in the middle of that."