Well you have it, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority made a deal with the Utah based online retail giant Overstock.com today to display their name for 6 years at a rate of 7.2 million dollars. It will be dished out in increments starting with 1.2 million the first year and a 3% increase each year after that. However Overstock has the option to leave the contract early if either teams leave Oakland. Which is a high risk possibility. Currently both teams are leased to play in Oakland till 2013, at which point it is unknown because the Oakland A’s have been trying to leave for Fremont or San Jose and the Oakland Raiders have been having problems selling out since they built Mt. Davis back in 1996.
50% of the income generated by the deal will go to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority while the other 50% will go to the Oakland Raiders. The Oakland Athletics were left out of the deal because the team already receives income from the billboards and signage inside of the stadium.
The coliseum has been brandless since 2008 when McAfee did not renew their 10 year advertising contract.
Overstock plans to have signs up within 30 days and can change the name at anytime since the company is currently working on re-branding their image to O.co. In which case they say they don’t mind the nickname “The Big O” for the coliseum. And Oakland is already referred to as “The O” or “The Biggity Biggity O“. Next door you already have the “Oracle Arena” where the Golden State Warriors play.
Facts:
- The Oakland Coliseum was built in 1966 and is currently the 5th oldest MLB stadium.
- It seats 63,000 in full attendance for the Raiders but only 34,000 for the A’s due to the tarp on the upper deck now.
- It houses both the Oakland A’s MLB baseball team and the Oakland Raiders NFL football team.
- The first game was a Raiders game on September 16, 1966.
- The Athletics moved to Oakland from Kansas in 1967 and played their first game on April 17th 1968.
- The Raiders left for Los Angeles in 1981 and returned to Oakland in 1995.
Pictures:
Old Oakland A’s baseball Stadium before the Raiders moved back and installed Mount Davis.
New Oakland Athletics Coliseum after Mt. Davis was built. Oakland Hills view blocked.
Mount Davis during a Raiders game.
Night time. McAfee had a 10 year contract which expired in 2008.
Day Time McAfee sign.
Oakland Scoreboard where the A’s get their advertising money.
Tarp on the upper deck to limit crowd thinning.
Also be sure to check out my Oakland photography.
First I shall say that this post has nothing to do with the actual crime behind the riots. This is not about Oscar Grant or the BART Police officer who shot and or murdered him. People have reason to be outraged, but we have tons more reasons that effect us directly, have been largely ignored and going on for decades. I’m glad at least this got you guys together to speak up.
