{"id":397359,"date":"2026-07-14T01:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T01:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/397359\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T01:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T01:39:16","slug":"oakland-mayor-ripped-over-60m-sweetheart-stadium-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/397359\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland mayor ripped over $60M sweetheart stadium deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oakland lawmakers<\/a> on Monday advanced a controversial deal to unload the city\u2019s stake in the decaying Coliseum \u2014 despite the buyer previously missing a key payment deadline and documents newly obtained by The Post revealing a competing bid from the Oakland Arena\u2019s longtime operator.<\/p>\n

The revised agreement, which heads to a final City Council vote next week, would keep alive a transaction first brokered under ex-Mayor Sheng Thao, who was criminally indicted<\/a> on bribery and corruption charges. <\/p>\n

It comes as the once-proud sports complex, which includes the Arena, has been hollowed out by the departures of the Warriors, Raiders and Athletics \u2014 and now even the Oakland Roots soccer club is preparing to ditch the aging stadium after its second Coliseum season.<\/p>\n

The sale of Oracle Arena and the Coliseum has become a controversy. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee was ripped by critics for a lack of transparency in the deal. Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Yet instead of abandoning the deal after the buyer missed its original payment deadline, Oakland is preparing to seller-finance $60 million of the purchase at a 5% interest rate to keep the troubled transaction alive.<\/p>\n

Critics blasted the proposal Monday, accusing Mayor Barbara Lee<\/a> and City Council members of doubling down on a bad deal that has only grown more unusual since it was first unveiled under Thao.<\/p>\n

The Coliseum sale was approved under ex-Mayor Sheng Thao in June 2024 AP<\/p>\n

\u201cThis demonstrates an absolute abdication of leadership by the sitting mayor and members of the City Council,\u201d a former Oakland city official now involved in development projects told The Post.<\/p>\n

The deal centers on Oakland\u2019s 50% ownership interest in the 112-acre Coliseum complex, which it jointly owns with Alameda County. Redevelopment has long been complicated by the split ownership, prompting city officials to pursue a buyer capable of assembling control of the entire property.<\/p>\n

The City Council first authorized exclusive negotiations with developer Ray Bobbitt\u2019s African American Sports and Entertainment Group in 2021, before approving the sale in June 2024 under Thao. Oakland later entered into a purchase agreement with Oakland Acquisition Co., an AASEG affiliate, and subsequently increased the total purchase price to $125 million while restructuring the payment schedule.<\/p>\n

After Oakland Acquisition Co. failed to make a scheduled payment, the city delayed the closing last year to allow the buyer additional time to complete a simultaneous acquisition of both Oakland\u2019s and Alameda County\u2019s ownership interests. A resolution authored last year noted that payments would not be required to keep the deal in place.<\/p>\n

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Instead of terminating the agreement, the latest amendment would preserve the $125 million purchase price while selling the roughly 9-acre Arena parcel for $50 million and seller-financing the remaining 103-acre stadium parcel for $60 million at 5% interest. The city says the revised structure would also relieve it of ongoing ownership costs while creating a new share of future ticket revenue. The first payment on the seller-financed portion could be deferred until 2032.<\/p>\n

Kevin Jenkins, president of the City Council, defended the deal in a phone interview with The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good deal because we get the property in the hands of one owner,\u201d he said. \u201cThe city goes out of the business of losing $6 million a year and we also have a ticket surcharge of 6% on each ticket sold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenkins added, \u201cAt a minimum that will be $3 million cash positive into the city\u2019s general fund every single year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Documents obtained by The Post show Oakland officials turned down a competing proposal from the arena\u2019s longtime operator.<\/p>\n

The Arena bring in revenue from events, but the Coliseum has been a money pit. Getty Images<\/p>\n

On June 16, Legends Global \u2014 which has managed Oakland Arena since 2012 \u2014 submitted a proposal for a transaction valued at $102.5 million to purchase the arena and its roughly 8.5-acre site, consisting of cash plus the assumption of deferred capital repair obligations.<\/p>\n

The proposal also offered the city and county 10% of future exterior digital advertising revenue after installation costs were recovered and said the company could complete due diligence in just 30 days because of its familiarity with the property.<\/p>\n

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As a fallback, Legends proposed extending its management agreement for five years while contributing $5 million toward capital improvements at the Arena and Coliseum.<\/p>\n

Sean Reinhart, managing editor of Oakland Report<\/a>, said the contrast between the two proposals raises questions.<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s office declined comment Monday on the deal moving forward. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city seems unable or unwilling to walk away from the deal, no matter how bad it gets,\u201d Reinhart said. \u201cBased on the public records we have so far and what the city data show, they\u2019re bending over backwards into pretzels to make this deal work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reviewing the Legends proposal, Reinhart said it appeared to offer a credible alternative.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a real estate expert, but I\u2019m looking at Legends\u2019 proposal, and it looks pretty reasonable. It looks like they thought of all the things to think of in a proposal like this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are the arena operator, and they\u2019re offering cash.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former city official questioned why Oakland continued restructuring the Bobbitt deal rather than taking a fresh look at competing proposals.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor all the time that this process has been going on, there have been a lot of press conferences and a lot of talk, but there has been no meat and potatoes, no diligence demonstrated,\u201d the former official said.<\/p>\n

The proposal also offered the city and county 10% of future exterior digital advertising revenue after installation costs were recovered and said the company could complete due diligence in just 30 days because of its familiarity with the property. Facebook\/Noel Gallo<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, to see the structure basically being an installment sale, which is really controlled by municipal financing, that raises some serious questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The official added that the financing package bears little resemblance to how city leaders originally pitched the transaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s highly unusual considering how this was billed as money to solve the city\u2019s budget situation,\u201d the former official said.<\/p>\n

The source also questioned how the competing proposal was handled, saying: \u201cThe city has a well-established history of not being good at record keeping.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Coliseum sale was approved under Thao in June 2024. Less than a month later, FBI agents raided her home as part of a federal corruption investigation. Six days after the raid, the City Council approved the ordinance implementing the sale.<\/p>\n

Thao was later recalled by voters<\/a> and indicted on unrelated federal bribery, conspiracy and honest-services fraud charges. Prosecutors have never alleged wrongdoing in connection with the Coliseum transaction, and Thao has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s office declined to comment, but Sean Maher \u2014 a spokesperson for the City Administrator\u2019s Office \u2014 told The Post in an email that the city had an exclusive negotiations with Oakland Acquisition Co., and all parties expressing interest to the city were referred to that organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Arena sale is a cash deal under which the City will be paid $50 million at closing,\u201d Maher wrote.<\/p>\n

The reworked agreement for the Coliseum, which in recent years has been haunted by feral cats<\/a>, is scheduled to return to the City Council for a final vote on July 21.<\/p>\n

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