According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oakland A’s baseball team is unveiling plans for a new waterfront stadium that is “bigger than baseball.” The plan would not only provide the A's with a new home, it would also activate the surrounding neighborhood with a tech and housing hub. To make it all happen the team wants control of the 55-acre Howard Terminal waterfront site and 111-acre Coliseum site in East Oakland.
The A’s see a downtown ballpark location as the only viable option to excite fans, and generate new ticket sales and revenue needed to make the deal pencil out.
Still, the A’s say sustaining the team for the long term in Oakland will require more money than the proposed 34,000-seat park (the smallest in Major League Baseball) can generate on its own. “Obtaining the Coliseum makes the odds of Howard Terminal better,” Kaval said.
Developing the Coliseum site would also allow the A’s to honor their commitment that any ballpark deal would include “significant community benefits” for East Oakland residents.
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