Oakland Ballers seek to purchase Coliseum bleacher seats for future Raimondi Park expansion
The Oakland Ballers baseball team hopes to incorporate more of the city's pro sports history in the future as it prepares for its inaugural season at historic Raimondi Park.
The team has asked for the right to buy some 5,000 Oakland Coliseum bleacher seats formerly used by the Oakland Raiders during football games. The moveable seats have been unused since the Raiders moved to Las Vegas in 2020 and have sat dormant in the Coliseum parking lot since then.
In a letter to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority (JPA) Tuesday, the Ballers said the team hopes to use the seats for the second season at Raimondi Park and to honor Oakland's sports history. Raimondi Park, originally opened in 1910 and once the home of the former Oakland Oaks minor league baseball club, is undergoing a $1.6 million renovation for the Ballers' first season.
The B's current plan for the inaugural season is for a capacity of 2,500 spectators at Raimondi Park.
The Ballers said after researching the market value of the seats, many of which have deteriorated from long-term exposure to the elements, the team is offering the JPA $45 per functional seat.
"We recognize the emotional and cultural significance these bleacher seats hold for the Oakland community," said Ballers co-founder and CEO Paul Freedman in a prepared statement. "By incorporating them into our new ballpark, we aim to honor the memories of the past while giving Oakland fans a new experience with a team committed to never leaving the Town. We hope the JPA will approve our request and allow us to provide a new home for these unused seats."
The Ballers also noted that the City of Oakland is still paying off the cost of these bleacher seats which were part of a $100 million effort to expand the Coliseum and add 15,000 new seats to entice the Raiders back to Oakland in 1995 after the team had moved to Los Angeles.
In a statement to KPIX, Coliseum JPA executive director Henry Gardner said the stadium authority was considering the offer, but will perform its own analysis of the seats' market value before proceeding.
"We never completed our analysis on when and how and whether we would dispose of the bleachers," said Gardner. "We have no use for the seats, now that they've been removed from the stadium, they've been sitting in elements for a while in the parking lot, so their condition will have to be determined."
The B's first game at Raimondi Park will be held on June 4.
The Oakland Ballers have partnered with KPIX/CBS Bay Area to televise home games during the team's inaugural season. Starting June 7, all nine Ballers Friday night home games at Raimondi Park will be televised live on KPIX+ 44 Cable 12, KPIX's sister station in San Francisco. The Ballers' complete 2024 schedule can be found at oaklandballers.com.
