Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum -

Address: 7000 Coliseum Way
              Oakland, California 94621

Home of: Oakland Raiders (NFL)
              Oakland Athletics (MLB)
              San Jose Earthquakes (MLS)

Date opened: September 18, 1966

Capacity: Baseball: 35,067
               Football: 63,026
               Soccer: 47,416

Cost: $25.5 million USD
         $200 million USD (1996 renovations)

Oakland Coliseum, located at 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, CA 94621, is the home of the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League and the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball. The stadium can hold more than 63,000 people and the games are played on a natural grass surface. Officials of the city began proposing the idea of a new stadium in the 1940s, but it wasn’t until 1960 that a plan was designed, and in 1992, the groundbreaking procedures took place on what was to become the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. It is commonly referred to as The Oakland Coliseum or simply The Coliseum. It was formerly known as Networks Associates Coliseum (1998-2004) and McAfee Coliseum (2004-2008) before its original name was restored in 2008. The Coliseum is part of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum complex, which consists of the stadium and neighboring Oracle Arena.

The stadium, which was a definite upgrade from the previous stadium Frank Youell Field, was completed in four years. Frank Youell Field had a capacity around 20,000, so the new Oakland Coliseum would allow more fans into the park and would increase revenues for the team. The idea in the construction was to build the stadium well into the ground so fans would enter the stadium from the upper levels.

The Raiders were the only team to occupy Oakland Coliseum for the first two seasons, but before the 1968 season, the Oakland Athletics made the move from Kansas City. Things went relatively smoothly for the next few years, but after the 1981 season, the team moved to Los Angeles and the Oakland Athletics were the only team to play in Oakland Coliseum for more than 10 years. When the Raiders moved back to town in July 1995 provided that the Oakland County commence renovations. In November 1995, Oakland County underwent a large renovation project to add more than 10,000 seats and continued through the next summer until the beginning of the 1996 football season. All of the outfield bleachers were removed and replaced with a four tier grandstand, which included 125 luxury suites. The total cost of the renovation project was in the vicinity of $200 million. The stadium was originally more of a baseball stadium than a football stadium, but over the years and through the renovations, football has slowly become the biggest investment for Oakland Coliseum.