Oakland Alameda Coliseum

"Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum" redirects here. For the arena formerly known as Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena, see Oracle Arena.

Oakland Alameda Coliseum

Overstock.com Coliseum during a baseball game
Former names	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum (1966–1998, 2008–2011, 2016–present) Network Associates Coliseum (1998–2004) McAfee Coliseum (2004–2008) Overstock.com Coliseum (May 2011) O.co Coliseum (2011–2016)
Location	7000 Coliseum Way Oakland, California 94621
Coordinates
Public transit	Oakland Coliseum Station
Owner	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority (City of Oakland and Alameda County)
Operator	AEG
Capacity	Baseball: 35,067 (expandable to 55,945) Football: 56,063 Soccer: 47,416 or 63,132 (depending on configuration)
Field size	Left Field – 330 feet (101 m) Left-Center – 388 feet (118 m) Center Field – 400 feet (122 m) Right-Center – 388 feet (118 m) Right Field – 330 feet (101 m) Backstop – 60 feet (18 m)
Surface	Tifway II Bermuda Grass
Construction
Broke ground	April 15, 1964
Opened	September 18, 1966
Renovated	1995–1996
Construction cost	$25.5 million ($186 million in 2024 dollars) $200 million (1995–1996 renovation) ($302 million in 2024 dollars)
Architect	Skidmore, Owings & Merrill HNTB (1995–1996 renovation)
Structural engineer	Ammann & Whitney
Services engineer	Syska & Hennessy, Inc.
General contractor	WIllie Robinson
Tenants
Oakland Athletics (MLB) (1968–present) Oakland Raiders (AFL/NFL) (1966–1981, 1995–present) Oakland Invaders (USFL) (1983–1985) Oakland Clippers (NPSL/NASL) (1967–1968) Oakland Stompers (NASL) (1978) San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) (2008–2009)

Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, typically known as the Oakland Coliseum for short, is a multi-purpose stadium in Oakland, California, United States, which is home to both the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). It opened in 1966 and is the only remaining stadium that is shared by professional football and baseball teams. The Coliseum was also home to some games of the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer in 2008–2009 and hosted games at the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The Coliseum has 6,300 club seats, 2,700 of which are available for Athletics games, 143 luxury suites, 125 of which are available for Athletics games, and a variable seating capacity of 35,067 for baseball, 56,057 for football and 63,132 for soccer. In seating capacity, Oakland Coliseum is the smallest NFL stadium, and the 2nd smallest MLB stadium.

The Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum complex consists of the stadium and the neighboring Oracle Arena.

Design

The Coliseum features an underground design where the playing surface is actually below ground level (21 feet/6 meters below sea level). Consequently, fans entering the stadium find themselves walking on to the main concourse of the stadium at the top of the first level of seats. This, combined with the hill that was built around the stadium to create the upper concourse, means that only the third deck is visible from outside the park. This gives the Coliseum the illusion of being a short stadium from the outside.

Configurations

In its baseball configuration, the Coliseum has the most foul territory of any major league ballpark in Major League Baseball. Thus, many balls that would reach the seats in other ballparks are caught for outs at the Coliseum. The distance to the backstop was initially 90 feet (27 m), but was reduced to 60 feet (18 m) in 1969.

From 1968 through 1981 and in 1995, two football configurations were used at the stadium. During Raider preseason games and all regular season games played while the baseball season was still going on, the field was set up from home plate to center field (east/west). Seats that were down the foul lines for baseball games became the sideline seats for football games, which started up to 120 feet away from the field (most football-only stadiums have sideline seats that start around 60 feet away). Once the A's season ended, the orientation was switched to north/south: i.e. the football field ran from the left field line to the right field line; seats were moved from behind first and third base to create corners for the end zone to fit into (these seats were then placed to fill in the space that was normally behind home plate and near the foul poles for baseball games). Temporary football bleachers were then added in front of the baseball bleachers to form the sideline on the east (visitors') side, and the baseball bleachers were not sold. Raiders season ticket holders would thus have two season ticket locations in different parts of the stadium that roughly corresponded to the same location in relation to the field. Since stadium expansion in 1996, the field has run north/south throughout the season.

Seating capacity

Baseball

Years	Capacity
1968–1976	50,000
1977–1980	49,649
1981–1982	50,255
1983–1984	50,219
1985	50,255
1986	50,219
1987	49,219
1988	50,219

Baseball

Years	Capacity
1989	49,219
1990	48,219
1991	47,450
1992–1995	47,313
1996–1997	39,875
1998–2005	43,662
2006–2007	34,077
2008–present	35,067

Football

Years	Capacity
1966–1976	54,587
1977–1988	54,615
1989–1995	54,444
1996–1998	63,026
1999–2012	63,132
2013–present	56,057

Stadium history

1960s

Planning and construction

Business and political leaders in Oakland had long been in competition with neighbor, San Francisco, as well as other cities in the West, and worked for Oakland and its suburbs (the greater East Bay) to be recognized nationally as a viable metropolitan area with its own identity and reputation, distinct and separate from that of San Francisco. Professional sports was seen as a primary way for the East Bay to gain such recognition. As a result, the desire for a major-league caliber stadium in the city of Oakland intensified during the 1950s and 1960s.

By 1960, a non-profit corporation was formed to oversee the financing and development of the facility (rather than city or county government issuing taxpayer-backed bonds for construction). Local real estate developer Robert T. Nahas headed this group (which included other prominent East Bay business leaders such as former US Senator William Knowland and Edgar F. Kaiser), which later became the governing board of the Coliseum upon completion. It was Nahas' idea that the Coliseum be privately financed with ownership transferring to the city and county upon retirement of the construction financing.

Robert T. Nahas served 20 years as President of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Board. On the death of Nahas, the San Francisco Chronicle's Rick DelVecchio quoted Jack Maltester, a former San Leandro mayor and Coliseum board member, "If not for Bob Nahas, there would be no Coliseum, it's really that simple." Nahas had to be a diplomat dealing with the egos of Raiders owner Al Davis, Athletics owner Charles O. Finley, and Warriors owner Franklin Mieuli.

Preliminary architectural plans were unveiled in November 1960, and the following month a site was chosen west of the Elmhurst district of East Oakland alongside the then-recently completed Nimitz Freeway. A downtown site adjacent to Lake Merritt and the Oakland Auditorium (which itself, many years later, would be renamed the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center) was also originally considered. The Port of Oakland played a key role in the East Oakland site selection; The Port swapped 157 acres (64 ha) at the head of San Leandro Bay to the East Bay Regional Park District, in exchange for 105 acres (42 ha) of park land across the freeway, which the Port in turn donated to the City of Oakland as the site for the Coliseum sports complex.

The Oakland Raiders of the American Football League moved to Frank Youell Field, a makeshift stadium near downtown Oakland, in 1962, and the Coliseum was already being heralded in the local media as the Raiders' future permanent home. Baseball was also a major factor in the planning of the Coliseum. As early as 1961, the American League publicly indicated that it wished to include Oakland in its West Coast expansion plans. In 1963, American League president Joe Cronin suggested that Coliseum officials model some aspects of the new ballpark after then-new Dodger Stadium, which impressed him, though these expansion plans seemed to fade by the middle of the decade.

The Coliseum as seen in its original open grandstand configuration before being enclosed.

After approval from the city of Oakland as well as Alameda County by 1962, $25 million in financing was arranged. Plans were drawn for a stadium, an indoor arena, and an exhibition hall in between them. The architect of record was the San Francisco office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (with Myron Goldsmith the principal design architect) and the general contractor was Guy F. Atkinson Company. Preliminary site preparation began in the summer of 1961. Construction began in the spring of 1962. The construction schedule was delayed for two years due to various legal issues and cost overruns; the original design of the Coliseum had to be modified slightly in order to stay on budget. (For details on the indoor arena, now known as Oracle Arena, refer to that facility's article.)

In 1965, it was rumored that the Cleveland Indians might leave Cleveland for a West Coast city (such as Oakland), but the Indians ended up remaining in Cleveland. Charlie Finley, owner of the Kansas City A's, unhappy in Kansas City, impressed by Oakland's new stadium and personally convinced to consider Oakland by Nahas, eventually got permission after several unsuccessful attempts and amid considerable controversy, to relocate his American League franchise to the stadium for the 1968 season (for details on the controversy, see the separate articles for the A's and the Kansas City Royals, the expansion franchise created to replace the A's in Kansas City).

Raiders and A's move in

The Raiders played their first game at the stadium on September 18, 1966. In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics moved to Oakland and began play at the stadium. The Athletics' first game was played on April 17, 1968. The stadium complex cost $25.5 million to build and rests on 120 acres (49 ha) of land. On April 17, 1968, Boog Powell hit the first major league home run in the history of the Coliseum. On May 8 of that year, Catfish Hunter pitched the ninth perfect game in Major League history at the Coliseum. The Coliseum hosted the 1967 and 1969 AFL championship games.

1970s

The Black Hole (sections 104, 105, 106, and 107) during a Raiders home game against the Atlanta Falcons on November 2, 2008

From 1970 to 1972 the stadium hosted 3 college football benefit games featuring Bay Area schools versus historically black colleges.

The Coliseum hosted the 1971 East–West Shrine Game on January 2, 1971.

In 1972, the Athletics won their first of 3 straight World Series championships and their first since their years in Philadelphia.

Commencing in 1973, the stadium hosted an annual Day on the Green concert series, presented by Bill Graham and his company Bill Graham Presents, which continued on into the early 1990s.

Marvin Gaye made his official return to live performing and touring at the Coliseum on January 4, 1974 and the Coliseum was the basis for his 1 million-selling live album, Marvin Gaye Live! At the time, music industry executives cited the tour as a "heralded event" as Gaye made a comeback to live touring nearly 4 years after the death of his late singing partner Tammi Terrell.

Led Zeppelin played what turned out to be their final North American concerts with twin shows during their 1977 North American Tour. After their first show on July 23, members of Led Zeppelin's entourage were arrested after a member of promoter Bill Graham's staff was physically assaulted during the performance.

Parliament-Funkadelic recorded half the album Live: P-Funk Earth Tour at the Oakland Coliseum in January 1977. The album was released in April of that year.

The awkwardness of the baseball-football conversion, as well as the low seating capacity (around 54,000 for football) and that the prime seating on the east side consisted of temporary bleachers led the Raiders to explore other stadium options. One such option was Memorial Stadium on the UC Berkeley campus. Several preseason games were played there in the early 1970s along with one regular season game in 1973 (a 12-7 victory over the Miami Dolphins during September while the A's regular season was going on). However, in response to traffic and parking issues associated with these games (while Cal games drew a large number of students who live on or near campus and walk to the games, Raiders games attracted fans from a larger geographic area who were used to tailgating at the Coliseum and were more likely to drive to games), the City of Berkeley passed a Professional Sports Events License Tax in which the city collected 10% of all gate receipts, making the staging of professional games inside the city cost-prohibitive. The Raiders were granted an injunction from the city collecting the tax, arguing that the tax was a regulatory measure rather than a revenue measure, and was therefore an improper regulation on land held in trust by the Regents of the University of California. However, the grant of the injunction was reversed by the California Court of Appeals, who found it to be a revenue measure, despite the fact that the city had made the measure immediately effective "due to danger to the public peace, health, and safety of the City of Berkeley as a result of the holding of professional sports events there".

The stadium was not well maintained for most of the late 1970s. Its condition was most noticeable during baseball season, when crowds for A's games twice numbered fewer than 1,000. On April 17, 1979, only 653 fans attended the game versus the Seattle Mariners. During this time, it was popularly known as the "Oakland Mausoleum".

1980s

An A's game at the Coliseum in 1985

In 1980, the Raiders won Super Bowl XV. Two years later, the Raiders moved to Los Angeles, leaving the A's as the only remaining tenants of Oakland Coliseum. Only days later, Finley agreed to sell the A's to Marvin Davis, who planned to move the A's to Denver. However, city and county officials were not about to lose Oakland's status as a major-league city in its own right, and refused to let the A's out of their lease. Finley was forced to sell the team to the owners of San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co.. After the 1986 Major League Baseball season, the original scoreboards were replaced. A new American Sign and Indicator scoreboard and message center was installed behind the left-field bleachers, while the original right-field scoreboard was replaced with a manually operated out-of-town scoreboard. Between the centerfield flagpoles, a new Diamond Vision videoscreen was installed.

The 1987 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held at the stadium. From 1988 to 1990, the venue saw 3 more World Series. In 1989, the Athletics won their 4th Series since moving to Oakland, sweeping the San Francisco Giants in the earthquake-interrupted "Battle of the Bay" Series.

The stadium played host to Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! Benefit Concert on September 23, 1988. The show was headlined by Sting and Peter Gabriel and also featured Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N'Dour, Roy Orbison and Joan Baez.

1990s

In the 1990s, several major concerts were held, but these were not "Days on the Green", by definition, because they occurred at night.

Richard Marx shot the video for "Take This Heart" on the baseball field of the Coliseum.

Metallica and Guns N' Roses brought the Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour to the coliseum on September 24, 1992, with Body Count as their opening act.

The stadium was the location for the 1994 Disney movie Angels in the Outfield. Although Angel Stadium of Anaheim (known as Anaheim Stadium at the time) was where the Angels actually played, it was damaged in the 1994 Southern California earthquake. Anaheim Stadium was used for views from the outside and aerial views, while the Coliseum was used for interior shots.

In July 1995, the Raiders agreed to return to Oakland provided that Oakland Coliseum underwent renovations. In November 1995, those renovations commenced and continued through the next summer until the beginning of the 1996 football season (more info below). The new layout also had the somewhat peculiar effect of creating an inward jog in the outfield fence, in left-center and right-center. There are now three distance markers instead of one, at various points of the power alleys, as indicated in the dimensions grid. The Raiders return also heralded the creation of the "Black Hole", a highly recognizable group of fans who occupy one end zone seating during football games.

Along with the since-demolished Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the stadium features the unusual configuration of laying the football field on a line from first to third base rather than laying it from home plate to center field, or parallel to one of the foul lines, as with most multipurpose facilities. Thus, a seat behind home plate for baseball is behind the 50-yard line for football. With the Miami Marlins opening their own ballpark in 2012, the stadium became the last remaining venue in the United States that hosts both a Major League Baseball and a National Football League team.

2000s

On April 2, 2006, the broadcast booth was renamed in honor of the late Bill King, a legendary Bay Area sportscaster who was the play-by-play voice of the A's, Raiders and Warriors for 44 years.

On September 8, 2006, the stadium played host to The Gigantour, featuring performances by Megadeth, Lamb of God, Opeth, Arch Enemy, Overkill, Into Eternity, Sanctity and The SmashUp.

In November 2007, the San Jose Earthquakes, of Major League Soccer, announced they would be playing their "big draw" games, such as those featuring David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy, at the stadium instead of their then-home Buck Shaw Stadium (capacity roughly over 10,000) in Santa Clara. Since then the Quakes moved to their new home of Avaya Stadium and play their bigger games in nearby Stanford Stadium.

Midway through the decade, the stadium established a "no re-entry" policy. Each ticket can only be used once, after which a second ticket must be purchased in order to re-enter the Coliseum.

2010s

On May 9, 2010, almost 42 years to the day of Catfish Hunter's perfect game, Dallas Braden pitched the 19th perfect game in Major League history at the Coliseum. A commemorative graphic was placed on the baseball outfield wall next to Rickey Henderson's retired number on May 17, their next home game.

U2 performed during their 360° Tour on June 7, 2011, with Lenny Kravitz and Moonalice as their opening acts. The show was originally scheduled to take place on June 16, 2010, but was postponed, due to Bono's emergency back surgery.

The stadium has hosted an AMA Supercross Championship round since 2011.

As part of a new 10-year lease signed by the Athletics with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority in 2014, the Oakland Coliseum had a new $10 million scoreboard system (two large outfield scoreboards and two ribbon scoreboards) installed for the start of the 2015 MLB season. Also part of the new lease, the Coliseum Authority agreed to pay $1 million a year, with 5% annual increases, into a fund to maintain the stadium.

Stadium name changes

Logo (2004–2008)

Logo (2008–2011)

Logo (April–June 2011)

180px

Logo (2011-2016)

For more than its first three decades (1966–1998) the stadium was known as Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum.

In September 1997, UMAX Technologies agreed to acquire the naming rights to the stadium. However, following a dispute, a court decision reinstated the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum name. In 1998, Network Associates agreed to pay $5.8 million over 5 years for the naming rights and the stadium became known as Network Associates Coliseum, or, alternately in marketing and media usage as, "the Net".

In 2003, Network Associates renewed the contract for an additional five years at a cost of $6 million. In mid-2004, Network Associates was renamed McAfee, restoring its name from before its 1997 merger with Network General, and the stadium was renamed McAfee Coliseum accordingly.

In 2008, McAfee was offered a renewal of the naming contract, but it was declined. On September 19, 2008, the name reverted to the pre-1997 name of Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. The stadium retained its original name until April 27, 2011, when it was renamed Overstock.com Coliseum via a 6-year, $7.2 million naming rights deal with online retailer Overstock.com.

On June 6, 2011, the Coliseum was renamed O.co Coliseum, after Overstock.com's marketing name. However, due to a contract dispute with the Athletics regarding the Overstock/O.co naming rights deal, the A's referred to the stadium as the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum in all official team communications and on team websites. The A's now refer to the stadium as O.co Coliseum on their website.

On April 2, 2016, Overstock.com opted out of the final year on their naming rights deal, and the stadium was re-branded from O.co Coliseum to Oakland Alameda Coliseum.

Possible replacements

See also: Cisco Field and Carson Stadium

On August 12, 2005, the A's new owner Lewis Wolff made the A's first official proposal for a new ballpark in Oakland to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority. The new stadium would have been located across 66th Avenue from the Coliseum in what is currently an industrial area north of the Coliseum. The park would have held 35,000 fans, making it the smallest park in the major leagues. Plans for the Oakland location fell through in early 2006 when several of the owners of the land proposed for the new ballpark made known their wish not to sell.

Throughout 2006, the Athletics continued to search for a ballpark site within their designated territory of Alameda County. Late in 2006, rumors began to circulate regarding a 143-acre (58 ha) parcel of land in Fremont, California being the new site. These rumors were confirmed by the Fremont city council on November 8 of that year. Wolff met with the council that day to present his plan to move the A's to Fremont into a soon to be built ballpark named Cisco Field. Wolff and Cisco Systems conducted a press conference at the San Jose-based headquarters of Cisco Systems on November 14, 2006 to confirm the deal, and showcase some details of the future plan. However, on February 24, 2009, after delays and increased public opposition, the Athletics officially ended their search for a stadium site in Fremont. Speculation was raised as to whether or not the Athletics franchise would remain in Northern California in the long term as a result of the termination of the Cisco Field plan.

The Coliseum in 1981 before construction of the Mount Davis structure (top) and Mt. Davis during baseball season in 2006, with tarp-covered upper deck (middle); the structure during football season. (bottom)

In 2010, two building sites have become leading candidates for a new Athletics' home: a site in downtown San Jose located near SAP Center (home of the NHL's San Jose Sharks) and a proposed stadium near Jack London Square in Oakland at a site referred to as Victory Court.

Under any such replacement proposals, the Oakland Raiders would presumably continue to play football in the Coliseum, although there have been recent proposals for the Raiders to play at Levi's Stadium, the home of the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara as well as rumors regarding the Raiders' possible return to Los Angeles.

In 2013, the Oakland Raiders have proposed a 50,000-seat stadium in the same spot of their current stadium. It would cost $800 million, with $300 million coming from the Raiders, $200 million coming from the NFL's stadium loan program, and the final $300 million coming from the city.

On July 22, 2014, the Athletics signed a 10-year lease to stay in Oakland and at the Coliseum. The deal requires that the team looks into a new stadium, but only in the city limits, making it more difficult for the Raiders taking the stadium down.

On July 29, 2014, Raiders owner Mark Davis met with officials with the city of San Antonio to discuss moving the Raiders to the city in time for the 2015 season; they would temporarily play home games at the Alamodome until a new permanent stadium is built.

On August 6, 2014, the A's have begun talks with an architect to build a baseball-only stadium at the Coliseum site, according to Wolff.

On September 3, 2014, the city of Oakland claimed it had reached a tentative deal to build a new football stadium in Oakland, which would result in the Coliseum being demolished. The claim was met with silence from the Raiders, who continued to explore San Antonio, and opposition from Alameda County.

On February 19, 2015, the Raiders and the San Diego Chargers announced plans for a privately financed $1.7 billion stadium that the two teams would build in Carson, California if they were to move to the Los Angeles market. Both teams stated that they would continue to attempt to get stadiums built in their respective cities.

On April 22, 2015, the Carson City Council bypassed the option to put the stadium to public vote and approved the plan 3–0. The council voted without having clarified several issues, including who would finance the stadium, how the required three-way land swap would be performed, and how it would raise enough revenue if only one team moved in as tenant.

On October 5, 2015, the United States Supreme Court rejected San Jose's bid on the Athletics.

In January 2016, Mark Davis met with Las Vegas Sands owner Sheldon Adelson about building a domed stadium on the UNLV campus for the Raiders and the UNLV Rebels.

Criticism

Baseball

In recent years, the Coliseum has been criticized as being one of the "worst stadiums in baseball". Problems cited include the large amount of foul territory and the addition of Mount Davis. The former allows for more foul-outs while the latter has been criticized for "ruining" the ambience of the original configuration.

Another criticism of the baseball configuration is the pitcher's mound, which many pitchers claim makes them feel much taller than their teammates on the field. The field is 21 feet below sea level.

Mount Davis

One feature of the 1996 expansion was the addition of over 10,000 seats in the upper deck that now spans the outfield in the baseball configuration. The effect of these new stands, comprising sections 335–355, was to completely enclose the stadium, eliminating the view of the bucolic Oakland hills that had been the stadium's backdrop for 30 years. The stands are very narrow and steeply pitched, bringing the back row of its uppermost tier to a height rarely seen in modern stadiums. Due to the stands' height and the loss of the Oakland hills view, A's fans have derisively nicknamed the structure "Mount Davis", after late Raiders owner Al Davis.

It has been criticized as an area which has made the Oakland Coliseum look ever more like a football stadium, and not at all one for baseball. From 1997 through 2004, the A's left the section open, but it was rarely filled except for fireworks nights and the postseason. The A's did not count the area in the listed capacity for baseball; hence, even though the "official" baseball capacity was 43,662 (48,219 with standing room), the "actual" capacity was 55,945 (approximately 60,000 with standing room).

The tarp

The Bill King Broadcast Booth, with the tarp on the third deck

In 2006, the Athletics covered the entire third deck with a tarp, reducing capacity to 34,077—the smallest capacity in the majors. For the 2008 season, Sections 316–318 of the 3rd deck behind home plate were re-opened as the A's introduced their own all-you-can-eat seating area, similar to the right-field bleachers at Dodger Stadium. This has increased the Coliseum's capacity for baseball to 35,067. For the 2009 season, seats were $35 and only sold on a single game basis; all-you-can-eat seating was offered for every game in 2008, but for 2009 the section was only open for weekend games (Friday-Sunday) and all games against the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and San Francisco Giants. For 2010, the A's discontinued all-you-can-eat, instead rebranding the area as the "Value Deck". Prices for these seats have decreased to a starting price of $12 and are sold for every game (individual game prices vary due to the implementation of Dynamic Pricing as of 2012). To help compensate for the loss of all-you-can-eat, the A's have introduced Jumbo-Tickets that have stored stadium credit for food & merchandise ($10 on Plaza Club tickets & $6 for Value Deck tickets).

Even if the game is otherwise sold out, the A's will not sell any seats in the area that remains covered except if they make the World Series. The A's say that closing off the upper deck will create a "more intimate environment" for baseball. This has drawn criticism from fans, the Oakland City Council, and sports marketing analysts baffled at owner Lew Wolff's decision, with some stating that this is cover for a possible move to San Jose (see Cisco Field). There are 20,878 seats covered up by the tarp which would otherwise be usable for baseball. However, in the 2013 ALDS, the tarp was removed from the original third deck, though Mount Davis remained covered. The attendance for the first game of the ALDS was 48,401, the highest since 2004.

On February 2013, the Oakland Raiders announced that they would cover 11,000 seats in the Mount Davis section with a tarp to avoid blackouts. This reduces capacity to 53,250, by far the smallest in the NFL (no other stadium seats fewer than 61,000) and only 3,250 seats above the NFL's minimum capacity. Under NFL rules, the tarps have to stay in place throughout the season, even if the Raiders make the playoffs. However, if the Raiders ever host the AFC Championship Game, the Coliseum can easily be expanded to full capacity; the Arizona Cardinals were allowed to expand University of Phoenix Stadium to 72,000 seats when they hosted the 2008-09 NFC Championship Game.

Sewage

On June 16, 2013 following the game against the Seattle Mariners, the Coliseum experienced a severe sewage backup. This led to pipes leaking out puddles of sewage into the showers, offices, visitor training room and storage areas on the clubhouse level of the stadium, all of which are 3 feet (1 m) below sea level. After the game, the A's and Mariners were forced to share the Oakland Raiders locker room, located on the stadium's second floor. According to Coliseum officials, the stadium's aging plumbing system was overtaxed after a six-game homestand that drew close to baseball capacity crowds totaling 171,756 fans.

According to numerous reports, sewage problems are very common at the stadium. For instance, on one occasion the Angels complained about E. coli in the visiting team's training room after a backup. Backups occur even when no events are taking place there. For instance, Wolff wanted to go to dinner on June 12, 2013 (while the A's were on the road) at one of the Coliseum's restaurants, only to find out that food service had been halted due to a sewage leak in the kitchen. At least one incident was the result of deliberate action - towels stuffed down a toilet in an area that was only accessible to Athletics' personnel. However, the likely cause of most of the problems is the low elevation of the stadium. The playing surface is 23 ft. below sea level.

The Coliseum during A's game in September 2008

See also

• Baseball portal
• National Football League portal
• San Francisco Bay Area portal
• Oracle Arena

External links

• Official Oakland Coliseum website
• County Coliseum_coliseum.htm Visit to Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum
• History of Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum
• Oaklandathletics.com: Coliseum website
• FootballGeography.com: College football at the Oakland Coliseum
• Msrmaps.com: USGS aerial of Coliseum–Arena complex
• Youtube.com: Time-lapse video of the conversion between seating arrangement

Events and tenants
Preceded by Municipal Stadium	Home of the Oakland Athletics 1968–present	Succeeded by current
Preceded by Frank Youell Field	Home of the Oakland Raiders 1966–1981	Succeeded by Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Preceded by Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	Home of the Oakland Raiders 1995–present	Succeeded by current
Preceded by Astrodome	Host of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game 1987	Succeeded by Riverfront Stadium
Preceded by Spartan Stadium	Home of the San Jose Earthquakes (with Buck Shaw Stadium) 2008–2009	Succeeded by Buck Shaw Stadium
Preceded by Miami Orange Bowl Three Rivers Stadium Alltel Stadium Heinz Field	Host of AFC Championship Game 1975 1977 2001 2003	Succeeded by Three Rivers Stadium Mile High Stadium Heinz Field Gillette Stadium