Oakland Athletics owner Dave Kaval has revealed that the Major League Baseball team is interested in purchasing the Coliseum complex on which its Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum stadium sits.
The complex also houses Oracle Arena, the home of NBA basketball team the Golden State Warriors.
The Coliseum has been home to the A’s and NFL American football team the Oakland Raiders since 1968 but both tenants are seeking a move away. The Raiders are building a new venue in Las Vegas, with the Athletics considering a new ballpark either on the Coliseum site or in a new location on the Howard Terminal in Oakland.
The A’s will soon be the only major league team in Oakland, with the Warriors also relocating from Oracle Arena to Chase Center in San Francisco next year. Although the A’s have pinpointed the Howard Terminal site as their preferred option, the team views buying the Coliseum site as a safety net should it not secure its first choice.
“We think the best way to guarantee our long-term viability and success in Oakland is to own our own home,” Kaval told the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.
The A’s would pay off the city and county’s debt of about $135m (£95m/€109m) on the complex, which Kaval said represented a “very robust offer”.
He added: “There are no guarantees at Howard Terminal. We need an option, and if that means we need to own the Coliseum site, we are willing to do that.”
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