Why is Alameda County holding up the sale of the Oakland Coliseum?

OAKLAND — A high-profile real estate deal in Oakland again appears to be hitting a snag because of stalled deliberations between Alameda County supervisors.
For the second time in a week, the county Board of Supervisors convened in private Tuesday to discuss whether to approve the African American Sports and Entertainment Group’s purchase of the Oakland Coliseum complex, a 112-acre parcel that includes the ballpark, arena and surrounding parking lots.
Officials for AASEG had described the county’s sign-off as merely a formality in the multi-layered deal to acquire separate ownership shares — each worth $125 million — from the city of Oakland and the departing A’s baseball franchise.
But the supervisors took no action after lengthy closed-door talks last week, and another session Tuesday afternoon wrapped without resolution. Because the county’s sale to the A’s is still pending, it can’t be transferred to AASEG without the supervisors’ approval.
The uncertainty has already led to consequences: AASEG’s financial backers, the large Chicago-based investment firm Loop Capital, held off placing a required $10 million payment to the city into escrow last week while the county’s sign-off remains in limbo.
City leaders appear to be holding off on notifying AASEG of a default on the payment — a show of patience amid a financial crisis in Oakland, which likely needs $110 million from the Coliseum sale by next summer to avoid a doomsday scenario.
AASEG, meanwhile, declined to terminate the purchase itself by a Nov. 6 deadline for avoiding liability, which co-founder Ray Bobbitt says was never a consideration.
The group has already paid a nonrefundable $5 million to the city, and Loop Capital has signaled its commitment to buying the Coliseum, but the fight to recall Mayor Sheng Thao in the Nov. 5 election has often landed Bobbitt in Oakland’s toxic political crosshairs.
“We are urging the Board of Supervisors to help move forward the negotiation process so we can complete the transaction,” Bobbitt said Tuesday at the county board meeting, where he urged the supervisors to set a date for completing discussions.
The stakes are sky-high for Oakland, which for the third time in a year is seeing a property deal stalled because of awkward, often tense co-ownership arrangements between the city and Alameda County.
A long-planned sale of the old Raiders training facility in Alameda still has not been completed despite a buyer stepping forward in February, leading city officials to attempt to buy out the county’s ownership of the compound.
As with the Coliseum sale, the city is counting on important revenue — in this case, $12 million — to help resolve its critical budget woes.
The facility would continue to be leased to Oakland Roots SC, a popular local soccer franchise which has separately secured an agreement to play home games next year at the Coliseum — another deal that appears to have been held up by the county.
“It did not come without great struggle,” said Supervisor David Haubert, who sits on a joint body that manages the Coliseum on behalf of the city and county, at a news conference earlier this year announcing the Roots lease.
AASEG’s efforts to buy the Coliseum have become messier because of a lawsuit by an advocacy group, Communities for a Better Environment, against the county’s $85 million sale of its ownership share to the A’s in 2019.
The nonprofit alleges that the county agreed to sell to the A’s without moving the Coliseum site through the state Surplus Lands Act, which would require the property to first be considered for housing before any other development plans.
AASEG has promised to build an unspecified number of both market-rate and affordable housing units at the Coliseum, leading Communities for a Better Environment to agree to delay a late September trial date to Dec. 5 so the A’s could complete their land transfer.
“All the involved parties agreed to stay the lawsuit,” Vanessa Riles, a local advocate with the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, said in an interview. “But the county was the party dragging its feet.”
Riles’ nonprofit and other groups have planned a public rally Saturday to call on AASEG to promise a list of community benefits — such as housing and local jobs — in the eventual Coliseum redevelopment.
Despite skepticism toward Bobbitt and AASEG in some Oakland circles — including the Thao recall campaign and the city’s police officers union — Bobbitt and the group appear to be trusted around town.
Nate Miley, who chairs the county Board of Supervisors, said in an interview earlier this year that the group’s purchase of the Coliseum could heal some of the “ill will” left behind by the A’s, who plan to leave Oakland next year and begin playing in West Sacramento before eventually moving to Las Vegas.
But with crucial deadlines and the land deal itself hanging in the balance, the county’s apparent lack of movement was a source of frustration at Tuesday’s supervisors meeting.
“There’s too much defamation that happens in closed session,” Alan Dones, another AASEG co-founder, said cryptically during the meeting’s public comment.