{"id":339335,"date":"2026-05-30T18:17:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T18:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/339335\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T18:17:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T18:17:23","slug":"alameda-county-approves-non-binding-agreement-for-oakland-coliseum-sale-east-bay-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/339335\/","title":{"rendered":"Alameda County approves non-binding agreement for Oakland Coliseum sale \u2013 East Bay Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

OAKLAND \u2013 Thursday marked the beginning of the end of a complex negotiation with a private equity firm to take over the Oakland Coliseum as part of a plan to revitalize the Hegenberger Corridor following the departure of three major sports franchises over the past decade.<\/p>\n

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a non-binding agreement<\/a> to dispose of the county\u2019s portion of the complex for $115 million in a deal with African American Sports and Entertainment Group, with a closing date set for June 30.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are seeing that this is on the precipice of actually occurring,\u201d said Ray Bobbitt, founder of the African American Sports and Entertainment Group and an East Oakland native. \u201cPeople feel that this needs to happen for Oakland, for East Oakland in particular.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agreement will seek to consolidate ownership of the 112-acre Coliseum complex property \u2013 Alameda County and the city of Oakland each owned a 50% stake \u2013 and sell it to Oakland Acquisition Company, the real estate arm of the African American and Sports Entertainment Group.<\/p>\n

The approval marks a significant milestone for the sale of the property, even as questions over environmental liability remain.<\/p>\n

According to the non-binding agreement, the county will pay $115 million to Coliseum Way Partners, the corporate entity of the Oakland Athletics that previously bought the county\u2019s half of the property for $85 million. The African American Sports and Entertainment Group will then be obligated to pay $115 million to the county in three annual payments, with 5% annual interest paid on any outstanding balance, according to the term sheet.<\/p>\n

The group successfully negotiated a purchase of the city\u2019s half of the property for $125 million in 2025<\/a>, dependent on the forthcoming sale of the county\u2019s half.<\/p>\n

After previous road blocks in negotiations, Supervisor Nate Miley said he was not \u201cbreaking out the champagne\u201d until the sale was final.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not perfect, but it is good,\u201d said Miley. \u201cIt\u2019s good because we get rid of that lawsuit. It\u2019s good because the county ends up with more money. It\u2019s good because an African-American team takes ownership of the property, and they\u2019ve got a lot of potential in terms of what they want to do with the property.\u201d<\/p>\n

A point of contention remains between Alameda County and the African American Sports and Entertainment Group before the June 30 deadline.<\/p>\n

The group sought a \u201ccarve-out\u201d for environmental concerns tied to Oakland Arena so that the organization would not face liability for the release of groundwater into San Francisco Bay without a permit. The process to obtain a permit could be costly<\/a> when factoring in the need for consultants, studies, and an oversight process by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.<\/p>\n

The Board of Supervisors voted to unanimously support the non-binding agreement without the carve-out \u2014 even as Bobbitt warned that delaying or excluding the carve-out creates timing risks for the overall project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe motion is to accept the terms as presented, excluding the carve-out,\u201d Board President David Haubert said. \u201cNoting that it\u2019s a non-binding term sheet and terms can always be discussed going forward. It\u2019s been pointed out that that could affect the deal, timing, which we\u2019ve been at this for nine years, but what\u2019s a little more time?\u201d<\/p>\n

The deal also outlines the sale of the Oakland Arena to an unidentified third-party buyer for no less than $100 million, which Babbitt described as one of most important aspects of the site\u2019s future redevelopment.<\/p>\n

The arena continues to be used for concerts and other events, serving as a mechanism to generate immediate public interest and compete against rival regional venues like the Chase Center in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe arena represents an anchor of the site,\u201d said Babbitt. \u201cThis arena \u2026 has become a pop culture mecca, and the opportunity to enhance that and expand that is critical to the overall process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Babbitt, despite his remaining disagreements about the deal, was grateful that the non-binding agreement was finally available to the public. After the meeting, Babbitt relished in the adoration of supporters who had waited nearly a decade to come to this point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community support has been overwhelming,\u201d Babbitt said. \u201cWe\u2019ve used a lot of P-words: patience, perseverance, persistence. And we\u2019ve just had to do it, and we understand how complex this has been.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND \u2013 Thursday marked the beginning of the end of a complex negotiation with a private equity firm…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[389,184,387,7,8,3010,332,405,181,23,205,1334,100,143,14827,12300,145,144,182,13,388,127],"class_list":["post-339335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-alameda-county","tag-bay-area","tag-business","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-commercial-real-estate","tag-east-bay","tag-government","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-local-politics","tag-mlb","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-athletics","tag-oakland-coliseum","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-pm-report","tag-politics","tag-real-estate","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}