Shane Welsh
Professor Crosley
SM 209
18 March 2015
Facility Analysis Paper O.co Coliseum is a multi-purpose outdoor stadium, located in Oakland, California's Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Complex. O.co Coliseum is the only remaining stadium to serve as a home to both a National Football League team (Oakland Raiders) and Major League Baseball team (Oakland Athletics). The Coliseum has a maximum seating capacity of 63,300, along with NFL and MLB games, it also hosts soccer games, motorsports events and many concerts. The Coliseum has had many names over the years, due to changes in corporate and marketing partnerships. It has been known as the Oakland Coliseum, Oakland Alameda County Coliseum, Network Associates Coliseum, McAfee Coliseum, and the current O.co Coliseum. The name O.co (pronounced Oh-Ko) Coliseum comes from the company Overstock.com. In partnership with the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Authority, Overstock.com gained naming rights of the Coliseum after a six-year deal was signed in April of 2011. During the 1950's and early 1960's, the people of Oakland California were becoming tired of being compared to nearby cities on the west coast, such as San Diego. The goal was to transform the "bedroom city" image of Oakland into that of a metropolitan city with it's own reputation. In order for Oakland to seperate from the pack, city officials knew they had to lure a professional sports team into the area. It wasn't long before plans developed to build a stadium to host professional sporting events with expectations of changing the way Oakland was nationally viewed. The city of Oakland was awarded an expansion franchise from the AFL (American Football League) in January of 1960, which led to the formation of the Oakland Raiders. After the stadium was approved by Alameda county and the City of Oakland in 1962, construction began shortly after on a site near the Elmhurst District of East Oakland. The stadium took four years to complete, during that time the Raiders played at nearby stadiums in California. The stadium was known as the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum, it officially opened on September 18, 1966, hosting the Oakland Raiders first official home game. The city of Oakland was quickly gaining the idendity that it's residents wanted, the sports community began to grow and an opportunity to host another professional sports team came knocking on the door. Following their 1967 season, the Kansas City A's decided to move to Oakland California, joining the Raiders in calling the coliseum their home stadium. The stadium provided a good home for the Oakland A's, it was originally designed for a baseball team. The Oakland Raiders moved to Los Angeles following their 1981 season, this happened after the city of Oakland shot down the ideas of team owner Al Davis, who wanted to renovate the stadium by adding luxury seating. In the late 1980's Oakland began to negotiate with the Raiders, who agreed to move the team back if the Coliseum was expanded. In 1995, the Raiders agreed to move back to Oakland after a deal was made to renovate the stadium and add over 22,000 seats and 125 luxury suites. The baseball style outfield seats were replaced with a four tier grandstand, this project costed nearly 200 million dollars, by 1996 the Raiders were moved back into the newly renovated Oakland Alameda County Coliseum. Both the Oakland A's and Oakland Raiders continue to play at the Coliseum until this day. The O.co Coliseum's main strength is that the facility is a tourist attraction, not just because it is a host to many different events, but because it is very unique and different from any other remaining stadium. O.co coliseum is the only remaining stadium to host both an NFL team and MLB team, a unique design and mutiple contstruction changes were required over the years to accomodate to both organizations needs. The stadium was originally designed to allow fans to enter the middle level and walk down to field level
