Phil Matier: Quan Facing Hurdles To Keeping 3 Pro Teams In Town
OAKLAND (KCBS)— Officials in the East Bay are expressing concerns over plans to build a sports and entertainment center at the site of the Oakland Coliseum.
Alameda County Supervisors held a joint meeting with the Oakland City Council this week to discuss the project, which would raze the stadium to build a new one; along with condos, hotels, shops and sports bars.
With the A's and Warriors already interested in moving to other cities, it has many wondering if the project would be worth it if only the Raiders use the complex.
Phil Matier: Mayor Quan Doesn't Want 3 Teams Leaving On Her Watch
The biggest concern is the staggering amount of money. Sports fan or not, everyone in the East Bay should be paying attention here, because of the widespread impact of the hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors made it clear they do not intend to spend any public money on this project whether it be a mixed-use football and baseball stadium or not.
It's not clear if private investors will be able to foot the bill either. What we have here is Mayor Jean Quan up for re-election and she's facing a real fight. She does not want to see the sports teams leave on her shift. No mayor would want that to happen.
With the potential of the A's going to San Jose, The Raiders going to Los Angeles and the Warriors to San Francisco, it's a three-team loss that's hard to handle at once.
She does have a pot of redevelopment money lying around and the idea is to get some big investor to go in on it. So what you have is the mayor trying to buy time to keep the teams in her town until after the election.
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