A’s Raiders Reach Stadium Lease Renewal

A’s fans can now breathe a temporary sigh of relief after it was announced Monday that the A’s and Raiders had reached a stadium renewal agreement with the Coliseum. The deal, which runs through the end of next season for the Raiders (i.e. February 2015) and December 2015 for the A’s, still has to get approval from Oakland and Alameda Counties to be official. Both Oakland and Alameda Counties run the Coliseum together. The lease is expected to be approved by both counties in the coming days/weeks. A couple of things can be taken out of this.

May 27, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Fans stand for God Bless America during the seventh inning between the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

For one, this means the A’s will not be playing their home games across the bay in San Francisco at AT&T Park, the home of the rival Giants. This idea was always a long shot for the A’s, but I think in the back of all A’s fans minds the thought of playing home games at AT&T Park was always there. The public backlash of that would’ve been overwhelming not just for the fans, but for all parties involved on the A’s side of things. It would have turn into a story for the history books in the unfortunate department.

The second was the news that the Coliseum and the teams were still working on extending to a longer lease. It is interesting to hear that considering the A’s received exactly what they were looking for; a short-term lease that would allow them to continue to wait on the findings of the stadium committee appointed by Commissioner Bud Selig. However, it sound as it both parties involved are interested in signing for longer than the two season negotiated and approved on.

Lastly and most importantly to long time A’s fans, the team is not leaving just yet.

This stadium lease, though not official, will help A’s fans relax for another two seasons as it stands right now. Green and Gold mixing with Orange and Black is now a thing of the past. It might even be possible the A’s stay a bit longer than expected in the old Coliseum. For some fans the Coliseum is home. Their fanhood has started there and continued there. For some the Coliseum is an apartment while they work towards finding a true home. Whichever side you fall on the thing that stays true on both sides is the wait for a final decision. How long will the wait be though? No one knows that, but a group of people on a committee that has lasted nearly a decade. For the next two seasons however, one thing is for certain. Oakland still has the A’s.