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Alameda County wants out of its share of the Oakland Coliseum.
With three sports teams potentially leaving the site in the next few years, Oakland and the county are in talks for the city to buy out the county’s stake, the San Francisco Business Times reports. Full control of the site would make it easier for Oakland to redevelop the site.
The city and county still have bonds worth $200M to pay off that were used to finance the expansion of the stadium for the Oakland Raiders and renovate Oracle Arena. Those bonds could complicate negotiations. The county could pay off its portion of the debt, but there is no indication as to how the debt is structured and whether it can be paid off early.
The Oakland Raiders are planning to move to Las Vegas as early as 2020, while the Golden State Warriors will move across the Bay into Chase Center in San Francisco by 2019.
The Oakland A’s, which hold a lease at the Coliseum through 2024, have been looking for new sites within Oakland to build a privately funded ballpark. The team's recent selection, Laney College, was batted down by faculty and students. This could bring the Coliseum site back into play even though it is not the club's preference. With the Coliseum site under full city control, Oakland could better negotiate a deal with the A’s that could be more appealing.
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