Oakland A's reach $125M deal with local group to sell its portion of Coliseum

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The future of the Oakland Coliseum site could look different in the years to come. The African American Sports and Entertainment Group agreed to purchase the Oakland A's share of the land for $125 million. The deal is still pending approval from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

"This really gives us a chance to get into the details of exactly how this development will work," said Ray Bobbitt, the founder and manager of AASEG. "This unlocks the opportunity to move development forward sooner."

AASEG recently purchased the City of Oakland's half for $105 million. That money will be used to help Oakland balance a tight budget, but AASEG says full control of the land allows them to proceed with a master plan of changing the entire region.

"We think this is the most developable sight in the country," Bobbitt said. "It has access to all mass transit. Obviously, this sight has had an undivided interest in so long and hasn't been owned by one entity since its existence."

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Bobbitt says the first plan is to keep the arena and build around it. He envisions the area looking like Crypto.com Arena, formerly known as the Staples Center, in Los Angeles.

"You might start with the arena and say the arena could be a centerpiece to what they call sports and entertainment tourism like you have in L.A. live," Bobbitt said. "The Staples Center is the center point and you have the restaurants around it."

He also mentioned the area could develop new housing and other entertainment centers. Since the deal is still pending county approval, Bobbitt did not share a time table for when a project could start.

Not everyone is thrilled with this transaction. The Oakland Police Officers Association is concerned over how the A's got more money than the city.

"I don't recall ever seeing the city come out and say what the value of the property is," said Huy Nguyen, with Oakland POA. "That is another concern to me that the A's were able to sell for $125 million and the city sold it for $105 million."

RELATED: Oakland hopes sale of portion of Coliseum will be catalyst for more investments

Bobbitt says the reason for the difference is because they had to account for what the A's already invested into the sight.

"The reason why it was different was not because of a fundamental difference between each side better than the other," Bobbitt said. "It was just having to take into consideration what the A's had already put in."

Nguyen hopes the city doesn't make a habit of selling off important assets to balance a budget.

"We have to stop selling our assets to fix temporary problems," he said. "We have to see how to fix this for the long term, not this year or next year but five years from now."

AASEG is a Black-owned group consisting of mostly Oakland natives. Bobbitt is thrilled for what he can do for the city.

"It is very hard to be anything but excited about this from a regional perspective and a cultural and historical perspective," he said.