Alameda County leaders approved a nonbinding agreement Thursday with a group of developers, laying out the next steps toward selling the Coliseum complex, the 112-acre plot of land plus sports stadium and arena in East Oakland. But serious issues still need to be ironed out behind closed doors before anyone will pop champagne corks.

The county Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a term sheet with a company affiliated with the African American Sports and Entertainment Group and Coliseum Way Partners, an affiliate of the A’s that still owns a stake in the Coliseum.

The terms outline a complicated transaction including the following: 

• The county would buy back its half of the Coliseum complex from the A’s, then sell it to AASEG for $115 million. This would get the A’s out of the property.
• AASEG would pay the $115 million in three installments over a period of several years, and it will include 5% interest compounding annually on the unpaid balance.

The draft deal also would put to bed a lawsuit that’s been hanging over the Coliseum for several years. Communities for a Better Environment, a nonprofit environmental watchdog group, would agree to dismiss the lawsuit it filed against the county, alleging it violated the state Surplus Land Act when it sold its half interest to the A’s in 2019. The Surplus Land Act requires that public land put up for redevelopment be prioritized for affordable housing. 

The term sheet also notes that an unnamed party has expressed interest in buying the Oakland Arena, the former home of the Golden State Warriors which sits on 8 acres of land next to the Coliseum. In recent years, the 19,200-seat arena has been a popular draw, hosting numerous concerts and special events. Per the term sheet, the unnamed buyer would pay at least $100 million for the arena in a deal to be negotiated between the buyer, the AASEG, the county, and the city of Oakland. According to the terms, the county would receive at least $50 million from this transaction.

The term sheet didn’t disclose the name of the prospective buyer, but other outlets have reported it is the Oak View Group, which was co-founded by Irving Azoff, a music industry executive who previously ran Ticketmaster and the ticketing company LiveNation. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Azoff has worked on other stadium projects, including leading a group that renovated the Forum in Inglewood, Los Angeles.  

If the arena sale goes through, the county and city would still be responsible for operating the property through at least the end of 2026.

In 2019, county officials agreed to a deal with the owners of the A’s to sell its 50% interest in the property. The A’s have made all their required payments and are on track to take ownership of the county’s half interest this year.

In July 2025, the county approved a new agreement to let the A’s reassign their right to buy the Coliseum to the AASEG. That transaction is supposed to finalize on June 30. This aligned with Oakland, which has been in talks to sell its own stake in the Coliseum to the AASEG since 2021.

In 2024, city officials approved the sale. But the transaction was delayed, leaving Oakland in a deep financial hole. A promised joint city-county meeting to discuss the status of the sale hasn’t materialized yet. 

Thorny environmental issues still need to be resolved

At Thursday’s meeting, the supervisors said that while the term sheet is a positive development, there is still much to be done.

One big sticking point is whether Alameda County will be stuck with legal responsibility for environmental issues on the Coliseum site. Per the terms approved on Thursday, AASEG would take on much of this burden. But Supervisor David Haubert shared that the developers have told the board they now want a carveout for the arena property.

Ray Bobbitt, a co-founder and spokesperson for the AASEG, told the board that it could be a problem if the board doesn’t ultimately agree to a carveout on the environmental issues, emphasizing that this “would absolutely impact our situation, tremendously.”  

Roughly two dozen speakers, including labor union representatives, business owners, and community advocates, urged the board to approve the terms. Many stressed how the development — which would potentially see billions of dollars invested in the creation of housing, businesses, and other projects — represents a generational opportunity for East Oakland.

“This project is so important to East Oakland and for the Hegenberger Corridor, it’s unimaginable,” said Councilmember Ken Houston. “My District 7 has been underserved for generations, and this will bring vitality.”

Bobbitt vented his frustration at the delay of a project that he believes will give much-needed support to East Oakland, a region of the Bay Area with high poverty rates, high crime, and a large share of the city’s homeless population.

“We have people that I was in middle school with that are living in tents and feces with no running water, with no electricity,” Bobbitt said.

Supervisor Nate Miley responded that he and his colleagues have a fiduciary duty to the county, not to the developers. He also gave an overview of previous unsuccessful efforts to keep sports teams in Oakland, and heaped blame on previous Oakland leaders for failing to follow through on various efforts to consolidate and simplify the ownership of the Coliseum.  

Ultimately, Miley said, the terms sheet isn’t perfect, but it has many good things going for it. One of those being that it “gets the county out of the damn sports business so we can concentrate on safety net services,” Miley said.

“This has been very complicated, and I want to see this happen,” he added. “But it’s got to happen the right way.”