McAfee Coliseum
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| McAfee Coliseum | |
|---|---|
| The Coliseum, Oakland Coliseum | |
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| Location | 7000 Coliseum Way Oakland, California 94621 |
| Broke ground | 1962 |
| Opened | September 18, 1966 |
| Owner | Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority (City of Oakland and Alameda County) |
| Operator | Coliseum, Inc. |
| Surface | Bluegrass |
| Construction cost | $25.5 million USD $200 million USD (1996 renovations) |
| Architect | Skidmore, Owings and Merrill; HTNB |
| Former names | Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (1966-1998) Network Associates Coliseum (1998-2004) |
| Tenants | Oakland Athletics (MLB) (1968-present) Oakland Raiders (NFL) (1966-1981, 1995-present) Oakland Stompers (NASL) (1978) Oakland Invaders (USFL) (1983-1985) Oakland Clippers (USA/NASL) (1967-1968) San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) (2008- )[1] |
| Capacity | Baseball: 34,077 Football: 63,026 Soccer: 34,077 |
| Field dimensions | Left Field - 330 ft Left-Center Power Alleys - 367 ft, 362 ft, 388 ft Center Field - 400 ft Right-Center Power Alleys - 367 ft, 362 ft, 388 ft Right Field - 330 ft Backstop - 60 ft |
McAfee Coliseum is a stadium located in Oakland, California, United States that is used for baseball, football, and soccer games. Commonly referred to as The Oakland Coliseum, or simply The Coliseum. It was formerly known as Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and Network Associates Coliseum.
The Coliseum is currently home to the Oakland Athletics of the MLB and the Oakland Raiders of the NFL. The San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer also use the Coliseum for several larger attendance games.
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[edit] Stadium history
[edit] 1960s
Business and political leaders in Oakland had long been in competition with neighboring San Francisco, as well as other cities in the West, and were also trying for Oakland and its suburbs (the greater East Bay) to be seen nationally as a viable metropolitan area with an identity distinct from 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 '60s.
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 Nahas headed this group (which included other prominent East Bay business leaders such as 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. [2]
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 [3]. The Port of Oakland played a key role in the East Oakland site selection; The Port swapped 157 acres at the head of San Leandro Bay to the East Bay Regional Park District, in exchange for 105 acres 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. [4]
The Oakland Raiders of the American Football League began play in Frank Youell Field, a makeshift stadium near downtown Oakland, in 1960, 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, AL president Joe Cronin suggested that Coliseum officials model some aspects of the new ballpark after then-brand-new Dodger Stadium, which he was strongly impressed by. [5], though these expansion plans seemed to fade by the middle of the decade.
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 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. [6]
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 [7], eventually got permission after several unsuccessful attempts, and amid considerable controversy, to relocate his American League franchise to the Coliseum 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).
The Raiders played their first game in the Coliseum on September 18, 1966. In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics became the Oakland Athletics and began play at the new 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 (0.5 km²) of land.
The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex consists of the outdoor stadium and the indoor arena. For many years the outdoor stadium was commonly called "the Coliseum", while the arena was called "The Coliseum arena." More recently, only the stadium is called the Coliseum. The arena, which was extensively renovated in 1996-97, is now called Oracle Arena, and since the early 1970s has been home to the Golden State Warriors basketball team of the NBA. Both facilities remain under common city-county ownership (a joint powers authority replaced the original Coliseum board in recent years).
The outdoor stadium features a unique underground design where the playing surface is actually below ground level (21 feet 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.
In its baseball configuration, the Coliseum has far and away the largest foul territory of any major league ballpark. This is especially the case along the foul lines. 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, but was reduced to 60 feet in 1969.
[edit] 1970s
In 1972, the Athletics won their first of three straight World Series championships, and their first since their years in Philadelphia.
Commencing in 1973, the Coliseum hosted an annual Days on the Green concert series, presented by Bill Graham and his company Bill Graham Presents, which continued on into the early 1990s.
In 1974, Marvin Gaye held a concert at the Coliseum, his first live performance in four years. It was released on the album Marvin Gaye Live!.
In 1977, Led Zeppelin played what turned out to be their final North American concerts with twin shows as part of their North America 1977 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 badly beaten during the performance.
[edit] 1980s
In 1982, the Oakland Raiders moved to Los Angeles, leaving the A's as the only remaining tenants of Oakland Coliseum. The 1987 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held at the Coliseum. From 1988-1990 the venue saw three more World Series. In 1989, the Oakland A's won their fourth Series since moving to Oakland, as "Bash Brothers" José Canseco and Mark McGwire of the A's defeated the San Francisco Giants in the earthquake-interrupted "Battle of the Bay" Series or "BART" Series.
[edit] 1990s
In the 1990s several major concerts were held at the Coliseum, namely Madonna, U2, Pink Floyd, and the Rolling Stones, but these were not "Days On The Green" by definition because they occurred at night.
In July 1995, the Los Angeles 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 Coliseum 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 multi-purpose facilities. Thus, a seat behind home plate for baseball is behind the 50-yard line for football. The Coliseum has the distinction of being the last multipurpose venue in the United States that hosts both Major League baseball and an NFL team. (Note: Although the Metrodome and Dolphin Stadium host both, these facilities were designed as football stadiums that can adjust to host baseball.)
[edit] 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.
In November 2007 the San Jose Earthquakes of the MLS announced they would be playing their "big draw" games such as those featuring David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy and/or Cuauhtemoc Blanco and the Chicago Fire at the Coliseum. Regular draw games are being played at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara.[8]
[edit] Naming rights
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 five 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.
Despite the different name changes, locals generally refer to the stadium as "The Coliseum." This fits the trend of older stadium renamings being rejected by the general public. This is especially true in the San Francisco Bay Area where changes to the name of nearby Candlestick Park have been wholly rejected by voters, and changes to the names of both Pacific Bell Park and the San Jose Arena were received with much negative criticism and widely ignored by fans and media alike.
[edit] Cisco Field
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 hold 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 to not 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 (0.58 km²) 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.
Under any such replacement proposals, the Oakland Raiders would continue to play football in the Coliseum.
[edit] Mount Davis
One feature of the 1996 expansion was the addition of over 10,000 seats in the upper deck that now span the outfield in the baseball configuration (and face the setting sun late in the day during NFL games). The effect of these new stands, comprising sections 335-355, was to completely enclose the stadium, eliminating the spectacular view of the 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 upper-most 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 or the AL-ps, in (dis)honor of Raiders owner Al Davis.
It has been criticized as an area which has made the McAfee Coliseum look ever more like a football stadium, and not at all one for baseball.[9] 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 around 60,000.
Since the 2006 season, the Athletics have covered it and the rest of the third deck with a tarp, reducing capacity to 34,077--the smallest capacity in the majors. The A's will not sell any seats in that area, except presumably for the World Series. Current prices for "Mount Davis" during Raiders games range between $26-$46.
[edit] References
- ^ Official statements concerning the cancellation of grand prix arizona. Retrieved on 2007-09-15.
- ^ Oakland Tribune, November 3, 1960, front page
- ^ Oakland Tribune, November 3, 1960, front page
- ^ http://www.waterfrontaction.org/learn/league/ch2.htm
- ^ Oakland Tribune, January 27, 1963, pg. 39E
- ^ Oakland Tribune, April 3, 1964, page E49
- ^ Robert Nahas obituary, San Francisco Chronicle, February 26, 2002. Retrieved 4-13-2008.
- ^ San Jose Earthquakes: Home: FAQ
- ^ Inside the Press Box: Oakland: Less seats, more filling !. Retrieved on 2007-09-15.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Municipal Stadium |
Home of the Oakland Athletics 1968 – present |
Succeeded by current (Cisco Field in 2011-2012) |
| 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 All-Star Game 1987 |
Succeeded by Riverfront Stadium |
| Preceded by Spartan Stadium |
Home of the San Jose Earthquakes 2008 – present |
Succeeded by current (New Earthquakes Stadium in 2011) |
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