Alameda County board posts May 28 special meeting to weigh nonbinding term sheet for Coliseum sale

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to post a special meeting for 10 a.m. Thursday, May 28, to consider a nonbinding term sheet related to the disposition of the county's 50% interest in the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex.

Interim county counsel Andrea Weddle gave an oral status report to the board, tracing the deal's history to a 2019 disposition agreement with Coliseum Way Partners (CWP) that required a payment of $85,000,000 and annual subsidy payments for the county's share of operational obligations. Weddle told the board that CWP “has paid the purchase price” and “continued to pay the annual subsidy,” but that the sale remains constrained by ongoing litigation. “There is a provision in the disposition agreement that prohibits us from transferring or closing on the sale if there is existing litigation challenging this deal the deal itself,” she said, and she noted a summary-judgment hearing is scheduled for Aug. 4 in Alameda Superior Court on claims that the transaction may not comply with the Surplus Lands Act.

Weddle said the draft the board will consider on Thursday is a nonbinding term sheet that would record negotiated, general terms; if the board approves it, staff would continue negotiating definitive documents and return for formal action. The board's direction to post the special meeting was read into the record and seconded; the roll call vote recorded Supervisor Marquez, Supervisor Miley and Supervisor Fortunato Bass as voting aye and Supervisor Tam as excused.

The meeting included extensive public comment from city officials, neighborhood leaders, labor and community organizations and students who urged the county to move the transaction forward and to unify title under the Oakland Acquisition Company (OAC) and its development partners. Oakland Councilmember Ken Houston told supervisors: “We have the opportunity to bring back vitality to that corridor,” and City Council President Jenkins said the city would work with county staff to provide direction quickly so both jurisdictions are aligned.

Community speakers framed the transaction as an economic and civic priority for East Oakland. Lily Jacobson, a teacher who has taken students to the Coliseum, said Ray Bobbitt and his partners “treat them as stakeholders and the future of their own neighborhood,” and representatives from labor and community groups described the project as a potential source of jobs, apprenticeships and youth programming.

Supervisors emphasized both the opportunity and the county's fiduciary responsibility for proceeds from the 2019 sale, telling the public that the proposed Thursday item is a step in a longer process rather than a final transfer. Supervisor Miley noted the board will publish the term sheet with the special-meeting agenda so the public can review it before Thursday's consideration.

County counsel also reminded the board that certain transfers are contingent on satisfaction of bond obligations; Weddle said the final bond debt for the stadium was paid off in 2025 and the final bond debt for the arena in February 2026. She said the county and CWP are currently defending the litigation under a joint defense agreement and that the outcome of the pending summary-judgment motions could affect the ability to close.

After the roll-call vote to post the special meeting, Weddle reported that there was no reportable action taken in the earlier closed-session deliberations. The board adjourned.

What happens next: The nonbinding term sheet and meeting agenda will be posted Thursday morning; if the board approves the term sheet, staff will continue negotiating final documents and return to the board for any required formal approvals. Pending litigation and the outcome of the Aug. 4 summary-judgment hearing remain material constraints on whether a transfer can close.