The field is pristine.

That was often the one constant about the Oakland Coliseum. Players and fans could say what they wanted about the antiquated facility: sewage leaks, feral cats, possums, the eyesore that is Mount Davis, and John Fisher’s ownership faults, but the field was one of the best-kept in Major League Baseball.

It remains in top shape thanks to former Oakland A’s groundskeeper Clay Wood, who keeps working his magic at the Coliseum, temporary home of the Oakland Roots soccer club, which had its latest match Sunday, and host of Major League Cricket for one month starting this week.

The facility opened in 1966 for the Oakland Raiders, and the A’s arrived two years later and occupied it for 57 years, until Fisher pulled them out of town after the 2024 season.

To an extent, it remains open for business. But for how long?

Well, with Oakland’s final major pro team gone — the Sacramento (Las Vegas) A’s are back in the Bay Area to play the Giants at Oracle Park in a three-game series beginning Tuesday — it appears the Coliseum’s days are numbered.

“The stadium is likely to cease operating at the end of the year because of the cost,” Henry Gardner, executive director of the property’s joint powers authority, told The Standard. “We were obligated to keep it operating until February. We had already obligated ourselves to events beyond February. We have since obligated ourselves to events through December of this year. We have made no commitments beyond December.”

The city of Oakland and Alameda County, which jointly run the 112 acres at the Coliseum site, could opt to keep it open in 2027; they probably would need to decide by September for booking purposes.

Either way, the Coliseum is destined to be torn down so the land can be developed. That’s the anticipation, anyway, but as East Bay fans fully understand, nothing is easy when it comes to decision-making at 7000 Coliseum Way.

“You could save it. It’s a matter of whether the will is there. There is a chance until it’s demolished that they could program some legendary events there as long as everyone is on the same page,” said Casey Pratt, a former sports journalist and now VP of communications and fan entertainment for the Oakland Ballers. He suggests revitalizing the old “Day on the Green” concerts, with several bands performing on one day, as a revenue source.

Cricket brought an average of nearly 5,000 fans per match last year, and Pratt said a baseball game between the Savannah Bananas and independent Oakland Ballers could bring much more to the stadium. Pratt noted it would entail significant prep work, because the Coliseum no longer has foul poles or protective netting.

Last week, the venue was aligned for a United Soccer League match between the Roots and Birmingham Legion, a 1-1 draw in which Oakland’s Peter Wilson scored just before the final whistle, in the 93rd minute, before an announced crowd of 4,601 that included 1,600 screaming kids invited from Bay Area summer camps.

“We had the opportunity to bring the Coliseum, you might say, back to life last year,” said Steven Aldrich, chairman of the board for the Roots, who are in their second season at the venue. “And it gave us the opportunity to bring fans back and show that we are still a sports town.”

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While the future of the Coliseum seems dire, business at the adjacent Oakland Arena is booming, despite the Warriors’ 2019 exit, because it has become a popular destination for concerts.

So popular, in fact, that multiple entities are offering to buy the arena, separate from the rest of the property, for around $100 million — a shocking development for all sides that further complicates the site’s future.

Oak View Group and Legends Global are each proposing to purchase the arena from the city and county. Oak View is led by Irving Azoff, a major player in the music industry; Legends Global (formerly ASM Global) manages the 120-acre complex, including events at both facilities.

It’s uncertain how their interest in the arena could affect the intended sale of the entire property to Oakland Acquisition Co. (formerly African American Sports Entertainment Group). Founding partners Alan Dones, Ray Bobbitt, and Bill Duffy are well into negotiations for the property.

The city and county each have 50% interest, and OAC has been seeking to purchase those shares for $125 million and $115 million, respectively.

Complicating matters is the A’s involvement. They bought the county’s 50% stake in 2019 for $85 million with the understanding that it would be a fallback option if their Howard Terminal ballpark plan collapsed, according to Dave Kaval, the team’s president at the time. That turned out to be a charade, because Fisher never intended to rebuild at the Coliseum.

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The A’s in turn moved to sell back the 50% stake to OAC for $125 million. The sale was supposed to be complete in February, when the debt service at the arena was paid off, dating to its renovation in the 1990s. (The debt at the Coliseum was paid in February 2025, stemming from a reconstruction in the 1990s that lured the Raiders back to Oakland, à la Mount Davis.)

But just to make the story more convoluted, an Aug. 4 lawsuit is scheduled in Alameda that has held up the sale. Filed by Communities for a Better Environment, the suit seeks to invalidate the sale to the A’s, alleging it violates California’s Surplus Lands Act, which pushes for affordable housing.

Meanwhile, the county is holding the $85 million in escrow, Gardner said. Another source suggested that if the lawsuit denies the A’s $85 million purchase from the county, the county could in turn sell its half to the OAC for the $125 million — the price the A’s were selling to OAC.

The quicker it’s all resolved, the quicker ground is broken on a development to replace the Coliseum — the better for the community. It’s premier real estate, centrally located and alongside freeways, public transportation, and the Oakland airport, but progress is at a standstill.

The reconstruction in the 1990s — when Al Davis brought the Raiders back to Oakland and added Mount Davis, which erased the ambiance on the baseball side — cost taxpayers dearly for decades, and Gardner said it has been a drag on the city’s and county’s general funds that are earmarked for essential public services.

The profits from the arena aren’t enough to subsidize Coliseum costs, he said. It’s another reason the joint powers authority isn’t accepting stadium requests beyond December. 

As a result, if the city and county don’t OK the Coliseum’s future use, it would need to be shut down by January while assuring the electricity, gas, and water remain operational for safety reasons.

“The Coliseum was built for two major national teams, and they’re both gone,” Gardner said. “It is a huge facility, because it needed to be for that use. With no national team coming in of any sport that would bring in patrons that you need to sustain it, the future for the stadium is not bright, unfortunately. We hope the property will be developed for its best and highest use.”

For now, Gardner added, “it shows some of its age, but it is quite usable.”

Until further notice, the Coliseum is open for business, along with its pristine field, thanks to the Roots and pro cricket.

“I’ve seen so many cases of kids from Oakland getting to see the Coliseum for the first time,” said Roots beat writer Daniel Poulter of Poulters Talk Sports. “There could be positives or a rebirth out of the death of the Oakland A’s, and whether it’s the Roots or another East Bay entity to pick up the mantle, I think there’s people who want something to root for, something positive.”