Oakland Coliseum Joint Powers Authority commissioners at a meeting last month at Oakland Arena.Vol. VI, No. 1,383
—The long and repeatedly revised sale of the Oakland Coliseum Complex is creating a new headache for the Coliseum JPA.
How long should it continue booking events and maintaining vendor contracts when nobody can say precisely when a new owner will take over?
The JPA has approved events at the Oakland Arena through the end of 2028. But under the board’s direction, it has not approved stadium events beyond Dec. 31.
That distinction could become important if the sale to Oakland Acquisition Company (OAC), an affiliate of the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG) and Loop Capital, slips again.
The Coliseum transaction has been an on-again, off-again affair for several years. Oakland initially agreed in 2024 to sell its 50 percent interest to AASEG for $105 million.
The deal was subsequently reworked to $125 million and its payment schedule repeatedly revised. Meanwhile, AASEG/OAC sought to consolidate ownership by acquiring the other half of the property tied to Alameda County and the former Oakland A’s.
That process took another major step in May when Alameda County supervisors approved a non-binding term sheet with OAC. Oakland followed in July by approving another restructuring of its deal.
The current arrangement anticipates a simultaneous closing, with a target that had been as early as September but a deadline of Jan. 30, 2027.
—For the JPA, however, an uncertain closing date makes winding down operations complicated, JPA Executive Director Henry Gardner will tell the Board of Commissioners at its meeting this morning.
Once the sale closes, the JPA’s role as governing authority ends, along with its existing management and food-and-beverage agreements.
The bigger concern is what happens if the transaction isn’t completed by year’s end and the current management and concession companies depart anyway. The Arena already has events booked in January and well beyond.
The JPA says it needs a backup plan to ensure somebody is there to operate the complex if the sale slips into 2027. “It would be helpful, indeed necessary, for the prospective buyer to present a plan for the transition,” Gardner wrote in a memo.
💍PROGRAMMING NOTE
—I’m getting married and heading off on my honeymoon next week. But don’t worry—the East Bay Insiders Newsletter will still be landing in your inbox, just with a few wrinkles while I’m away.
There’s plenty coming your way. Look for the East Bay Political Planner on Sunday evening, a new podcast, special op-eds, and a profile and Q&A with the next big things in East Bay politics, Fremont’s Aziz Akbari.
The newsletter will not be published Friday, Sept. 25, or Monday, Sept. 28. Then it’s back to our regularly scheduled political mayhem.
We’ll talk again Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 6 a.m. sharp.
Thank you, as always, for reading and for your continued support of East Bay Insiders.
—Steve
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