The city landlord has not maintained and sustained the Coliseum. The concrete bowl has not been painted. While new concrete is white, old concrete ages into an old dirty nasty grayish pink. While rain run off the concrete walls become very nasty one wonders whether its mold growing on the concrete. Nor does it appear the sixty years of dust have ever been cleaned...
My father lived a ten minute drive from The Oakland Coliseum. I visited every summer and got to see Canseco, McGwire, Stewart, Eck, Hendu, Welch, Ricky and many more. I sat in the original bleachers and they were great! Mount Davis was an awful downgrade. But the Coliseum had lack of upkeep that allowed the facilities to fall part. Words can't describe my sadness.
Those were really the days. The A's were winning and Mount David didn't exist. I was a huge A's far from around 1987-1989. After that, I started to lose interest. I still remember seeing the A's when Billy Martin was the manager back around 1982. I was 10 years old.
I vividly remember always sitting in the old wooden bleachers before mount Davis. I love the Coliseum warts and all! Lots of great memories there! Lots of great history!
Couple things to add. Nice video though. First of all, when the Raiders came back the Coliseum it didn't have luxury boxes. That was a big reason Al NOT Mark wanted a new stadium in LA. Luxury boxes or "suites" were making a lot of revenue and he didn't have any. That was one of the reasons Mt Davis was added as well as additional seating. So if you remove that now, you remove the suites also. Davis never specifically asked or demanded any of the renovations in the 90s. He made it known what he wanted and the politicians in Oakland-Alameda did the rest and as I understand, taxpayers were so furious at the horrendous deal they approved, all those people were fired or left their jobs shortly after. I believe it cost $500 million for the renovations, that was something else you missed. That couldve funded a brand new stadium in 1995. INCREDIBLY stupid decision compounded by the fact they got maybe 10 years of solid use out of it, if that. Also in 1995 when the Raiders first came, they had an odd field configuration that was really bad and never used again after Mt Davis was completed, didn't mention that either. During that 1995 season they also had an issue against the Colts where there were no speakers for the game somehow... All kinds of wonky stuff to unpack.
100% agree - with the large parking lots at the coliseum, they could have built a football-only stadium beside the coliseum, for the same money. Incredibly short-sighted. They could have played at the coliseum until the new stadium was ready.
The first picture looked beautiful! I see many similarities to Dodger Stadium like you said. Gotta feel bad for A’s fans. Vegas is going from no teams to almost every sport in a matter of years
@@mikevanriel7573who cares sanfran is a 12 minute drive from Oakland, everyone will just become a giants fan the same way raiders fans became niners fans
Imagine if all of the following multipurpose stadiums still existed thst were torn down between the 90s and the 2000s were still being used, but stopped receiving regular maintenance. That’s pretty much the Oakland coliseum.
Funny how a seat next to the dugout in Fenway is like a seven lane interstate highway thru a big city. A seat next to the dugout in Oakland is like a dirt road in Wyoming. A foul ball near an Oakland dugout is 30 rows back in Fenway.
Part of the problem is that by the end of the 90s, the coliseum was already seriously showing it's age. It was a blue-collar facility, but that was okay because Oakland was still fairly blue-collar. After the tech bubble and all the silicon valley money that poured into the bay area, the population and fans changed. They no longer were okay with a rough but scrappy ballpark. They wanted it to be clean and family friendly. SF saw this coming and it's why they abandoned Candlestick, which if you're old enough, you know was also a blue collar park. At the Coliseum in the early 2000s, fights, drunkenness', people puffing blunts, etc were huge problems (my father worked there at the time). They fired their inept security and started using OPD. It became pretty safe again, but the problem of it looking like a dumpster was never addressed and the family dollar started leaving for SF. Even my dad, who worked there both in the early '80s and 2000s, won't go there because it's just such a dump. I don't even mean the infrastructure, either, it's just grimy and nasty. They just got lazy and half-assed about cleaning the place. The last time I was there was around 2019 and it was shocking how rundown and dirty it was. Still, the As managed some decent and even amazing seasons, so the fans put up with it. As soon as the A's stopped winning, and winning big, the fans left in droves. This is like if you're dating a hot chick and you put up with her terrible personality, always being late, always complaining, expensive tastes, but hey, she's hot. Then one day she tells you she only wants to have sex once a month. There's nothing to fall back on. You were putting up with the negatives for that one big positive. The A's one big positive was winning. Soon as that stopped, the fans started wondering why they were paying $20 for a beer to sit in a filthy, stinking ball park in the worst part of town. Even today, they're still charging $50 for halfway decent seats and I wonder who would ever pay that much for such a terrible experience and losing team. But the ballpark is, if anything, just a reflection of Oakland city leadership's ineptness and wanting their palms to be greased before any decision. This is why all this "there's still a chance" talk will never amount to anything unless LV reverses and the A's have no other choices. "What the f*** happened to you Oakland? Your ass used to be beautiful."
The Coliseum was a great place to go to, especially if anyone remembers Malibu just in the south parking lot area. Being a kid it was fun in the 80's and early 90's: Go to an A's game on a Saturday or Sunday Afternoon. Then head on over to watch Mullin, Weber hoop it up at the Oakland Arena, and then walk on over adjacent to the parking lot, ah yes, that big castle entry way...........walking inside, arcade games galore, and beyond that, go kart racing and batting cages. Those were the times!
In hindsight, they should have added Mount Davis on the other side of the stadium. That way, instead of blocking the scenic view of the Oakland Hills, it would've given more fans that experience
I went to A’s games as a kid before Mt Davis was put in. It was beautiful. If Mt Davis was never put in and the stadium was maintained it would still be a nice place. It’s sad that it’s been mismanaged so bad.
The Oakland Coliseum debacle with Mt. Davis, is eerily similar to what the Rams did to Anaheim stadium; putting up that massive enclosure, that blocked the beautiful view past center field. When the Angels pulled alot of it down, after the Rams skipped to St. Louis, the reconfiguration was better, but the view beyond center field remained obstructed. NFL team owners killed a number of stadiums, by destroying the ambiance, over greed.
As an aside, the Oakland Coliseum Arena did undergo a renovation. They raised the roof and added box seats in between the loge and balcony levels. I think this happened around the late 1990s or early 2000s. Unfortunately, it doesn't get used much anymore. The Warriors left a couple of years ago, and there are very few concerts or other events there nowadays. Most of the big shows now go to San Francisco or San Jose. It's a shame because the Arena is still a nice venue. I saw Paul McCartney there in May of 2022. Alas, that might end up being the last event I ever attended at the Coliseum (either the stadium or the arena).
As a Giants fan I wish the A’s would stay in Oakland. Wish they would sell and the new ownership just builds at Howard terminal, then again the recent work put into wrigelys foundation and structural support I feel the owners would maybe tear down Mt. Davis and renovate the structural supports of the coliseum. Having modern outfield seating and restaurants and scoreboards to replace mount Davis would be nice. They can rebuild bullpen in the outfield as well. Dodger stadium added seats overtime to take away less foul territory also. It has just required proper ownership. Mr Inheritance of the GAP is so sleezy, won’t even show his face to ether the Oakland or Vegas people. Won’t talk to MLB network. Would rather embarrass his self, a two cites and pay for lawyers than own a sports team. He’s gross.
This has to be the last Oakland Coliseum video right? I live in the bay and love the stadium but this is overkill lol. I wanna learn about some other stadiums!
If Fisher doesn't land a new stadium he won't sell the team. He will look for other relocation cities that will build a new stadium... And there are some cities available willing to step up to major league status...
The A's are the last MLB team to still be playing in a multi-purpose stadium. I'm honestly surprised the team not only hasn't gotten a new stadium in the last decade, but that the team hasn't left Oakland yet.
0:48: "promise"? Don't you mean threat? 2:09: I'm pretty sure that in the early 90s it was his father Al Davis who was calling the shots and that's who Mt Davis is named after not Mark(not to be confused with the former MLB relief pitcher).
I guess at the time when it was designed making it football compatible they thought a left to right or right to left design made sense, however that decision caused the foul territory on both sides to be ridiculously large. I have only seen the football field layed out on the Coliseum home plate to center field once and that was during that preseason game in 88' against the Oilers and it actually looked pretty good. Those huge foul areas could be narrowed down and they could have built a decent sized block of luxury suites at center field. The city of Oakland and the county have plenty of blame to shoulder also.
Funny how era's have architectural quirks or iconic give a-ways. During the period the Coliseum was built, bare concrete was in vogue as a deliberate design. Hundreds of public buildings built in this time frame had walls, floors almost the whole infrastructure finished in bare, and sometimes unfinished, concrete.
The A's would make more $ if they gave away the tickets for free, for most games. Fans would have more $ for food and beer. They would keep their fanbase somewhat happy.
When he says it wasn't upgraded the man is speaking facts. It had trough urinals. I hadn't seen one since middle school. And no one used that one back then!!
Sadly it’s a dump. Every time I leave my seat to get food, I end up waiting on line for at least 3 innings. Awful food and the service (usually staffed by felons who look like they want to stab you) is terrible
I feel like mount davis would of been better if they didn't have the upper deck seating above the suites. Where the suites end is more in like with the upper deck seats that were already in place which would look more evened out.
I may be wrong but if I remember right Al Davis benefited from the blackouts because if game was blacked out he would keep the tv revenue ( it was only locally blackout) but had to share revenue if televised locally. You also didn’t mention all the PSL that fans got suckered into buying, those were a big factor into the blackout because you couldn’t buy individual games tickets only season tickets which you also had to pay a PSL . Later on they started selling tickets without the PSL and it pissed off a lot of fans because they were paying a premium to keep their seat while others skated . It caused an even bigger issues with parking because people came into parking lot just to tailgate and make problems while never going into the game , it changed later when you had to show tickets to enter lot. The county doesn’t want a team there because it can generate more tax revenue if it has condos, town homes and retail there in the site. Only issue now is brick and mortar retail is disappearing so all they can really put on the site is housing but it will still generate more taxes for the county and city. The politicians really screwed the pooch and basically ran the teams out of town, but I really can’t give them all the blame because the NFL, MLB and NBA have billions to help teams with accommodations it shouldn’t be on the taxpayers.
You didn't mention the city and county own the stadium. It is to be called the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum. The A's tried to buy the stadium and were turned down.
Target Field opened in 2012 and this is the 3rd time they have upgraded the screen size in left field. They’ve added a 100 foot interactive tower, a brand new Minnie & Paul sign. They had tees, players didn’t like the batters eye, so they tried new ones. Still didn’t like them. So out they go… I hope our ballpark lasts 100+ years. Twins brass obviously cares about it, so there’s hope.
@@SylveonMujigae I knew that. The Casilla 163 walk off was 09 and the last year at HHH. So idk why I was thinking 2012. Weird brain fart for me. Anyways, I was mostly trying to point out how a stadium should have been maintained compared to leaving it to die.
All the outfield improvements were made after Walter Haas took ownership of the A's. Al Davis was the owner of the Raiders, and all didn't really even want those 400-level seats. Davis wanted suites and about 60,000 seats. The reason they weren't selling out for Raiders games was the cost of PSL, and there no guarantee that the PSL would be lifetime. Also, there was a maintenance fee of $75 on each PSL seat that would increase 10% each year for the first 15 years of the life of that PSL. PSL to the renovated Oakland Coliseum ran between $100 - $15,000 with most seats in the PSL at $3,500. Then the tickets ran between $75 - $200 and the maintenance fee. This was 1996, and no loyal Oakland Raider fan thought ticket prices to see their team would run an average of $150 to $175. This is why they never sold out in their first 6 years in the renovated Oakland Coliseum
Iv'e ALWAYS considered the Coliseum a great place to see a game. Especially a baseball game. I have many memories that will live on in my mind of a packed stadium full of enthusiastic fans. It hasn't always been a dump. Not by a long shot.
Wouldn't it have made more sense to just enclose the outfield and make it totally round? It seems they would have gotten close to, if not the same seating capacity if they had done that rather than Mt. Davis.
Can someone please help me with this, as I’m not from the area, nor have I ever seen a game at the Coliseum. But when it comes to Mt Davis, I thought I heard that was something that was forced on Al by the city of Oakland before they could return back from LA. He didn’t necessarily have a choice as it’s owned by the city and not the Raiders and As. Maybe someone who lives in the area can help me out with this, and if I’m wrong about it I apologize.
Al Davis made an agreement with the city of Oakland in 1995 to bring the Raiders back if the city increased the seating capacity of the Coliseum. Alameda County and the city of Oakland shared the cost, so I doubt Al Davis had much say in how the upgrade would be done.
Yeah your kinda right, the video is just plane wrong and obviously not researched at all. Raiders fan who was alive and 15 at the time it all went down. The city and county jointly own the stadium and it runs by a board of representatives from each. The city made an agreement to Al to increase seating and sky box capacity in the stadium for him to move the team back to Oakland, they also promised to build the Raiders a new football only stadium by 2011. Al had nothing to do with planning or building Mt. Davis and its rumored he considered it an eyesore as well. Mark sure as hell had nothing to with it and from what I read was working in the teams equipment room at the time it happened since Al didn't let his son have anything to do with anything remotely involved with a leadership position within the organization. So yes the City and County are ultimately responsible for Mt Davis.
I wish all those outside of the bay area who insisted that the A's never drew well would watch this video. 1988-1992 the A's averaged 30,000 to 35,000 a game and had major league baseball's highest payroll. Yes they struggled with attendance during the championship years of the 70's, but if you looked around mlb during that time there were multiple stadiums with thousands of empty seats including yankee stadiums. This teams attendance got really bad after john fisher purchased the team.
Lol growing up in the eighties I would cry when Dallas would lose but they use to black out Cowboys games a lot in the mid to late 80s until Jerry bought them and Kroger would buy tickets to stop the blackout! I stopped watching in 2016 I can't watch a team that can't win the big games call me fairweather but I've given plenty of tears over the years and now I'm done until Jerry stops being the GM.
Never mentioned anything about the terrible infrastructure inside especially the sewer. Swear there's a least 1 major sewage accident a year there starting at least 2012.
During the postseason the coliseum is absolutely unreal and electric. It absolutely sucks terrible ownership ruined an organization that holds 9 World Series titles, 2nd most in the AL next to the Yankees. Only an incompetent owner can do such a thing to make people not care.
Wow you are so wrong about so much in this video, Mark Davis was neither the owner of the Raiders or the stadium when Mt. Davis was built, his Dad Al Davis whom Mt Davis is named after owned the Raiders at the time and he did not build it either, since he did not own the stadium. The stadium authority which is a board made up of representatives of both the city and county built Mt. Davis in order to get him to move back to Oakland and take out a lease with the city and county to play in the stadium. There is no one to blame for Mt. Davis other than the local county and city government.
Sad to see the A's leave because of the history, but the city of Oakland isn't making any money with the A's playing there, nor were they making much money as a city with the Raiders over the years. Sport's Team owners want city's to foot most of the bill for stadiums, but cities should not have to do that. Instead, Oakland can, and likely will build housing and an entertainment center on the Coliseum and Oracle arena sites and make more money than they ever could with the Raiders and A's staying there.
What a sad end to Oakland coliseum. Years ago, this was such a nice place. Now, they're gonna move to las Vegas and leave behind a rotting stadium with constant problems.
It’s a shame that the City of Oakland and Alameda County officials did not renovate, let alone properly maintain, the Coliseum. We took in a game at Dodger Stadium a few years ago. What a gem! Of course, Dodger owners spent hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations. Dodger Stadium retained the 1960’s vibe, but has all the modern amenities and it’s clean! Too bad Oakland officials totally neglected the Coliseum.
I still say the A's should ask the city and state for funds to not only destroy the stadium, but rebuild it with modern features thereby keeping the team in Oakland. The ballpark will remain in its own footprint but if they also tore down the warrior's former arena, the team could build an entertainment district around the new ballpark. Granted it's not gonna be as popular as Basketball or Football, but just a thought
@@ronclark9724 ...or just tear down the two oakland professional venues, build a new oakland coliseum with modern features and apartments similar to so-fi and the team should be set for at least 20 or so years
And they are still paying for the Raiders Mount Davis. A's were decent for a while before the Raider moved back in. Then they got sold and been down hill ever since.
Unfortunately, even at the minor league level, cities will build new stadiums to land or keep a team, but alas won't spend a penny to maintain and sustain them as there are other demands on their budget. A good landlord will spruce up their property when a tenant's lease is about to expire, in a desire to get the tenant to sign a new lease, but cities aren't good landlords. If the landlords maintained their properties their properties could be sustained for a much longer time. However they don't and are extorted by their tenants to build a new state of the art very expensive stadium or they leave... Its what most of us do when our lease expires, extort the landlord...
Look, im from Oakland and ill say we never really cared abt how nice a stadium has to be. We just wanted a good team. We don't need stadiums w pools and wifi, we just wanna hear "OAAAAKLAND" echo thru our concrete walls. If yall wanted a big nice stadium to forget abt the game, then go to Vegas
Besides saying, it's old, or it sucks...can anyone put into descriptive words, why the coliseum "sucks" so much. When I go to a baseball game, 97% of my attention a is on the field, on the plays, on the game! I've sat in every area of the coliseum for decades and never had an issue seeing the game. Now players, in the dugout (which we are not) in the clubhouse, locker room says it "floods", smell when pipes get backed up and so on. But that's beyond our experiences as fans. The johns are always clean. Don't know anyone that really go to games for the "food"...except Dodger stadium and the Cha cha bowl in S.F. ballpark. Wrigley Field is older no one complains, even travel thousands of mile just to visit the park (I did). Same with Fenway! Go to SF Giants stadium all the time, and can say, one has a better view of the field from the 2nd and 3rd deck of the Coliseum, then you do from the Giant's NEW Stadium. Seems closer to the field/players at Coliseum than at SF Oracle park. People will constantly make one-liners statements of, Coliseum sucks! Coliseum is a disgrace! But never says why? Like they just parrot what someone else just said to ride the bandwagon. So using words and complete sentences, please explain what's FAULTS for watching baseball was the the Coliseum so terrible! Most ppl peck on the phones, taking selfies to even watch the game!
The Arena has been refurbished so it should not be destroyed. In the absence of a franchise willing to sign a contract on the promise of a future new stadium the Oakland Coliseum will have to be demolished. Keeping the bowl for AAA baseball only and smaller events with a park surrounding would be attractive. The original coliseum was attractive and the view of the hills was a feature. Mt Davis is, was, and always will be hideous and is now a boondoggle that should never have been built. The new stadiums that the Giants have in San Francisco and the 49ers in the South Bay are enviable. The Raiders should have waited for a new stadium when the time was right instead of jerking everyone around twice, so consequently I will never have anything to do with them.
Not just the stadium, but Oakland is a total diseaster and unsafe, even in areas that used to be ok, unless you lived in the Oakland Hills. Went to a few games back in rhe 80s, and it was sketchy even then, but won't go anywhere near the inner Bay Area now.
I fully agree with the Athletics moving to Vegas to get their Stadium. But with that said I feel absolutely horrible for Baseball fans in and around Oakland. They deserve better and their City / County Representatives cat turning down every proposal for some public money I see a lot of stuff on here about Fisher the owner of the Athletics being cheap being this while that may be true this is the game that every franchise owner and baseball and football and now even a basketball and hockey pull to get an upgrade Stadium. It's not just the Athletics
The city of Oakland ALREADY SAID, they're going to keep the arena for future concerts, truck shows, conventions, and a possible future WNBA expansion team.
It’s shocking that the stadium wasn’t bad at all before they added the massive center field upper deck
The city landlord has not maintained and sustained the Coliseum. The concrete bowl has not been painted. While new concrete is white, old concrete ages into an old dirty nasty grayish pink. While rain run off the concrete walls become very nasty one wonders whether its mold growing on the concrete. Nor does it appear the sixty years of dust have ever been cleaned...
The owners of the coliseum refuse to update the place
Just like Spanos didn't improve the now demolished Qualcomm stadium. Just very upsetting
they added that 28 years ago! the A;s had to start the season playing in Las Vegas in 1996 because of the greedy Davis family!
Mt Davis
I’m no architect but the natural scenery or skyline is better than looking at a bunch of drunks
My father lived a ten minute drive from The Oakland Coliseum. I visited every summer and got to see Canseco, McGwire, Stewart, Eck, Hendu, Welch, Ricky and many more.
I sat in the original bleachers and they were great!
Mount Davis was an awful downgrade. But the Coliseum had lack of upkeep that allowed the facilities to fall part.
Words can't describe my sadness.
I recall the A's playing at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City.... Don't feel like the Lone Ranger...
Agee’s! The original bleacher seats were a great. There were always a die hard group of fans in the bleachers.
What a feeling! to see drug-using STEROID USING DOPE HEADS! You must be proud!
Those were really the days. The A's were winning and Mount David didn't exist. I was a huge A's far from around 1987-1989. After that, I started to lose interest.
I still remember seeing the A's when Billy Martin was the manager back around 1982. I was 10 years old.
I believe they were called bleacher creatures.
I remember seeing Mount Davis being constructed and thinking, "I don't like the look of this."
The coliseum was beautiful before Mt. Davis was added. I would prefer it over 75% of MLB ballparks
It absolutely looks like a “coliseum”. I love this stadium and would tear down mt Davis and reincorporate it’s original look ….
I vividly remember always sitting in the old wooden bleachers before mount Davis. I love the Coliseum warts and all! Lots of great memories there! Lots of great history!
I couldn't agree with you more!!! Your comment is similar to mine. 👍
Couple things to add. Nice video though. First of all, when the Raiders came back the Coliseum it didn't have luxury boxes. That was a big reason Al NOT Mark wanted a new stadium in LA. Luxury boxes or "suites" were making a lot of revenue and he didn't have any. That was one of the reasons Mt Davis was added as well as additional seating. So if you remove that now, you remove the suites also. Davis never specifically asked or demanded any of the renovations in the 90s. He made it known what he wanted and the politicians in Oakland-Alameda did the rest and as I understand, taxpayers were so furious at the horrendous deal they approved, all those people were fired or left their jobs shortly after. I believe it cost $500 million for the renovations, that was something else you missed. That couldve funded a brand new stadium in 1995. INCREDIBLY stupid decision compounded by the fact they got maybe 10 years of solid use out of it, if that. Also in 1995 when the Raiders first came, they had an odd field configuration that was really bad and never used again after Mt Davis was completed, didn't mention that either. During that 1995 season they also had an issue against the Colts where there were no speakers for the game somehow... All kinds of wonky stuff to unpack.
100% agree - with the large parking lots at the coliseum, they could have built a football-only stadium beside the coliseum, for the same money. Incredibly short-sighted. They could have played at the coliseum until the new stadium was ready.
The Coliseum was an absolute cathedral in its day, likely the most beautiful of all the multipurpose stadiums.
The first picture looked beautiful! I see many similarities to Dodger Stadium like you said. Gotta feel bad for A’s fans. Vegas is going from no teams to almost every sport in a matter of years
The light stantions
And opposite for the city of Oakland.
that shit aint happening
@@mikevanriel7573who cares sanfran is a 12 minute drive from Oakland, everyone will just become a giants fan the same way raiders fans became niners fans
Imagine if all of the following multipurpose stadiums still existed thst were torn down between the 90s and the 2000s were still being used, but stopped receiving regular maintenance. That’s pretty much the Oakland coliseum.
Funny how a seat next to the dugout in Fenway is like a seven lane interstate highway thru a big city. A seat next to the dugout in Oakland is like a dirt road in Wyoming. A foul ball near an Oakland dugout is 30 rows back in Fenway.
Part of the problem is that by the end of the 90s, the coliseum was already seriously showing it's age. It was a blue-collar facility, but that was okay because Oakland was still fairly blue-collar. After the tech bubble and all the silicon valley money that poured into the bay area, the population and fans changed. They no longer were okay with a rough but scrappy ballpark. They wanted it to be clean and family friendly. SF saw this coming and it's why they abandoned Candlestick, which if you're old enough, you know was also a blue collar park. At the Coliseum in the early 2000s, fights, drunkenness', people puffing blunts, etc were huge problems (my father worked there at the time). They fired their inept security and started using OPD. It became pretty safe again, but the problem of it looking like a dumpster was never addressed and the family dollar started leaving for SF. Even my dad, who worked there both in the early '80s and 2000s, won't go there because it's just such a dump. I don't even mean the infrastructure, either, it's just grimy and nasty. They just got lazy and half-assed about cleaning the place. The last time I was there was around 2019 and it was shocking how rundown and dirty it was. Still, the As managed some decent and even amazing seasons, so the fans put up with it.
As soon as the A's stopped winning, and winning big, the fans left in droves. This is like if you're dating a hot chick and you put up with her terrible personality, always being late, always complaining, expensive tastes, but hey, she's hot. Then one day she tells you she only wants to have sex once a month. There's nothing to fall back on. You were putting up with the negatives for that one big positive. The A's one big positive was winning. Soon as that stopped, the fans started wondering why they were paying $20 for a beer to sit in a filthy, stinking ball park in the worst part of town.
Even today, they're still charging $50 for halfway decent seats and I wonder who would ever pay that much for such a terrible experience and losing team. But the ballpark is, if anything, just a reflection of Oakland city leadership's ineptness and wanting their palms to be greased before any decision. This is why all this "there's still a chance" talk will never amount to anything unless LV reverses and the A's have no other choices.
"What the f*** happened to you Oakland? Your ass used to be beautiful."
Ordel Robbie couldn’t have said it better unless he was f cking with Jackie Brown!
The Coliseum was a great place to go to, especially if anyone remembers Malibu just in the south parking lot area. Being a kid it was fun in the 80's and early 90's: Go to an A's game on a Saturday or Sunday Afternoon. Then head on over to watch Mullin, Weber hoop it up at the Oakland Arena, and then walk on over adjacent to the parking lot, ah yes, that big castle entry way...........walking inside, arcade games galore, and beyond that, go kart racing and batting cages. Those were the times!
In hindsight, they should have added Mount Davis on the other side of the stadium. That way, instead of blocking the scenic view of the Oakland Hills, it would've given more fans that experience
I didn’t even know they added the upper deck later on. It looks beautiful with the hillside in the background
I went to A’s games as a kid before Mt Davis was put in. It was beautiful. If Mt Davis was never put in and the stadium was maintained it would still be a nice place. It’s sad that it’s been mismanaged so bad.
Compare the Coliseum to Dodger Stadium that has been maintained. The difference is like night and day...
@@ronclark9724Dodger stadium is nice live going there
The Oakland Coliseum debacle with Mt. Davis, is eerily similar to what the Rams did to Anaheim stadium; putting up that massive enclosure, that blocked the beautiful view past center field. When the Angels pulled alot of it down, after the Rams skipped to St. Louis, the reconfiguration was better, but the view beyond center field remained obstructed. NFL team owners killed a number of stadiums, by destroying the ambiance, over greed.
Original image at 0:04 was actually a nice looking stadium 🏟️
As an aside, the Oakland Coliseum Arena did undergo a renovation. They raised the roof and added box seats in between the loge and balcony levels. I think this happened around the late 1990s or early 2000s. Unfortunately, it doesn't get used much anymore. The Warriors left a couple of years ago, and there are very few concerts or other events there nowadays. Most of the big shows now go to San Francisco or San Jose. It's a shame because the Arena is still a nice venue. I saw Paul McCartney there in May of 2022. Alas, that might end up being the last event I ever attended at the Coliseum (either the stadium or the arena).
The slow painful death of watching this video.
Back in the 70's , late 80's and early 90's the A's were dominant and it was one of the nicer AL parks. Al Davis ruined it.
Al Davis constructed Mount Davis, not Mark. Mark just inherited the team
As a Giants fan I wish the A’s would stay in Oakland. Wish they would sell and the new ownership just builds at Howard terminal, then again the recent work put into wrigelys foundation and structural support I feel the owners would maybe tear down Mt. Davis and renovate the structural supports of the coliseum. Having modern outfield seating and restaurants and scoreboards to replace mount Davis would be nice. They can rebuild bullpen in the outfield as well. Dodger stadium added seats overtime to take away less foul territory also. It has just required proper ownership. Mr Inheritance of the GAP is so sleezy, won’t even show his face to ether the Oakland or Vegas people. Won’t talk to MLB network. Would rather embarrass his self, a two cites and pay for lawyers than own a sports team. He’s gross.
Wow that stadium looked beautiful before MT Davis
Only pure center field upper deck?
Thoughts on Coors field center field seats? I think I consider those upper deck
This has to be the last Oakland Coliseum video right? I live in the bay and love the stadium but this is overkill lol. I wanna learn about some other stadiums!
Even before Mount Davis, the stadium had huge foul territory, so that was never good.
Best case scenario, Vegas says F that to all the free money Fisher wants, the team stays in Oakland and that weasel sells the team.
Our the A’s move back home to Philadelphia. They never should have left
Rickey don't like them options because Rickey was the greatest ever.
@@volodymyrzablotsky5372 that was probably even before your time so stop it.
If Fisher doesn't land a new stadium he won't sell the team. He will look for other relocation cities that will build a new stadium... And there are some cities available willing to step up to major league status...
*Al Davis the owner, not Marc
The A's are the last MLB team to still be playing in a multi-purpose stadium. I'm honestly surprised the team not only hasn't gotten a new stadium in the last decade, but that the team hasn't left Oakland yet.
0:48: "promise"? Don't you mean threat? 2:09: I'm pretty sure that in the early 90s it was his father Al Davis who was calling the shots and that's who Mt Davis is named after not Mark(not to be confused with the former MLB relief pitcher).
The slow painful depression of a ginger
I guess at the time when it was designed making it football compatible they thought a left to right or right to left design made sense, however that decision caused the foul territory on both sides to be ridiculously large. I have only seen the football field layed out on the Coliseum home plate to center field once and that was during that preseason game in 88' against the Oilers and it actually looked pretty good. Those huge foul areas could be narrowed down and they could have built a decent sized block of luxury suites at center field. The city of Oakland and the county have plenty of blame to shoulder also.
Coliseum will become a soccer stadium for the USL Oakland Roots
Was such a a beautiful stadium. My first stadium I ever went to
Funny how era's have architectural quirks or iconic give a-ways.
During the period the Coliseum was built, bare concrete was in vogue as a deliberate design. Hundreds of public buildings built in this time frame had walls, floors almost the whole infrastructure finished in bare, and sometimes unfinished, concrete.
As a baseball ⚾️ stadium enthusiast…. I missed up never got to see the A’S play in Oakland…..
The A's would make more $ if they gave away the tickets for free, for most games. Fans would have more $ for food and beer. They would keep their fanbase somewhat happy.
the bottom line here is GREED
Rumor has it there is a Mt Davis located there.
When he says it wasn't upgraded the man is speaking facts. It had trough urinals. I hadn't seen one since middle school. And no one used that one back then!!
Yet another attack on the coliseum!
Sadly it’s a dump. Every time I leave my seat to get food, I end up waiting on line for at least 3 innings. Awful food and the service (usually staffed by felons who look like they want to stab you) is terrible
🤔⚾️ hey D.G what do you think is gonna happen tomorrow when they vote. Will Oakland win or Las Vegas?
I feel like mount davis would of been better if they didn't have the upper deck seating above the suites. Where the suites end is more in like with the upper deck seats that were already in place which would look more evened out.
I may be wrong but if I remember right Al Davis benefited from the blackouts because if game was blacked out he would keep the tv revenue ( it was only locally blackout) but had to share revenue if televised locally. You also didn’t mention all the PSL that fans got suckered into buying, those were a big factor into the blackout because you couldn’t buy individual games tickets only season tickets which you also had to pay a PSL . Later on they started selling tickets without the PSL and it pissed off a lot of fans because they were paying a premium to keep their seat while others skated . It caused an even bigger issues with parking because people came into parking lot just to tailgate and make problems while never going into the game , it changed later when you had to show tickets to enter lot. The county doesn’t want a team there because it can generate more tax revenue if it has condos, town homes and retail there in the site. Only issue now is brick and mortar retail is disappearing so all they can really put on the site is housing but it will still generate more taxes for the county and city. The politicians really screwed the pooch and basically ran the teams out of town, but I really can’t give them all the blame because the NFL, MLB and NBA have billions to help teams with accommodations it shouldn’t be on the taxpayers.
You didn't mention the city and county own the stadium. It is to be called the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum. The A's tried to buy the stadium and were turned down.
70’s we had great baseball and very inexpensive tickets, half price night and a meal was under $10…
Target Field opened in 2012 and this is the 3rd time they have upgraded the screen size in left field. They’ve added a 100 foot interactive tower, a brand new Minnie & Paul sign. They had tees, players didn’t like the batters eye, so they tried new ones. Still didn’t like them. So out they go… I hope our ballpark lasts 100+ years. Twins brass obviously cares about it, so there’s hope.
Target Field opened in 2010, not 2012.
@@SylveonMujigae I knew that. The Casilla 163 walk off was 09 and the last year at HHH. So idk why I was thinking 2012. Weird brain fart for me.
Anyways, I was mostly trying to point out how a stadium should have been maintained compared to leaving it to die.
I enjoy games even today there. It still a good place to watch a game.
All the outfield improvements were made after Walter Haas took ownership of the A's.
Al Davis was the owner of the Raiders, and all didn't really even want those 400-level seats. Davis wanted suites and about 60,000 seats. The reason they weren't selling out for Raiders games was the cost of PSL, and there no guarantee that the PSL would be lifetime. Also, there was a maintenance fee of $75 on each PSL seat that would increase 10% each year for the first 15 years of the life of that PSL. PSL to the renovated Oakland Coliseum ran between $100 - $15,000 with most seats in the PSL at $3,500. Then the tickets ran between $75 - $200 and the maintenance fee. This was 1996, and no loyal Oakland Raider fan thought ticket prices to see their team would run an average of $150 to $175. This is why they never sold out in their first 6 years in the renovated Oakland Coliseum
Iv'e ALWAYS considered the Coliseum a great place to see a game. Especially a baseball game. I have many memories that will live on in my mind of a packed stadium full of enthusiastic fans. It hasn't always been a dump. Not by a long shot.
They weren't selling out the regular stadium stadium for Raider games let alone mount Davis.🤣
2:04 Mark Davis? What was he like 17 at the time of the upgrades?
Interesting, I always believed it did look a bit like Dodger Stadium back in the 80s
I saw a video recently that the Oakland colosseum is actually profitable now, where they were not with the Warriors.
Wouldn't it have made more sense to just enclose the outfield and make it totally round? It seems they would have gotten close to, if not the same seating capacity if they had done that rather than Mt. Davis.
Can someone please help me with this, as I’m not from the area, nor have I ever seen a game at the Coliseum. But when it comes to Mt Davis, I thought I heard that was something that was forced on Al by the city of Oakland before they could return back from LA. He didn’t necessarily have a choice as it’s owned by the city and not the Raiders and As. Maybe someone who lives in the area can help me out with this, and if I’m wrong about it I apologize.
Al Davis made an agreement with the city of Oakland in 1995 to bring the Raiders back if the city increased the seating capacity of the Coliseum. Alameda County and the city of Oakland shared the cost, so I doubt Al Davis had much say in how the upgrade would be done.
@Rod Johnson. Ok. Thank you for this information sir.
Yeah your kinda right, the video is just plane wrong and obviously not researched at all. Raiders fan who was alive and 15 at the time it all went down. The city and county jointly own the stadium and it runs by a board of representatives from each. The city made an agreement to Al to increase seating and sky box capacity in the stadium for him to move the team back to Oakland, they also promised to build the Raiders a new football only stadium by 2011. Al had nothing to do with planning or building Mt. Davis and its rumored he considered it an eyesore as well. Mark sure as hell had nothing to with it and from what I read was working in the teams equipment room at the time it happened since Al didn't let his son have anything to do with anything remotely involved with a leadership position within the organization. So yes the City and County are ultimately responsible for Mt Davis.
I went to a game at the Colesium in 2013. It felt I was transformed into. 1978.
I wish all those outside of the bay area who insisted that the A's never drew well would watch this video. 1988-1992 the A's averaged 30,000 to 35,000 a game and had major league baseball's highest payroll. Yes they struggled with attendance during the championship years of the 70's, but if you looked around mlb during that time there were multiple stadiums with thousands of empty seats including yankee stadiums. This teams attendance got really bad after john fisher purchased the team.
This stadium needs a retractable roof
They could easily take down Mt. Davis and renovate the stadium. Sure there’s excess foul territory, but it’s a unique feature.
The last dive bar!
It’s just on life support at this point.
Quoting The Urinating Tree: "The Oakland Alameda County Collesium will be spending its final days in hospice care."
I was there the year after the Tom Brady Snowbowl. Mt. Davis was packed! Toilet's never worked and always flooded but hey, it had...charm!😂
At the time it was built, the NFL seasons were 14 games, 7 home games. Even less justification for an only football stadium.
Lol growing up in the eighties I would cry when Dallas would lose but they use to black out Cowboys games a lot in the mid to late 80s until Jerry bought them and Kroger would buy tickets to stop the blackout! I stopped watching in 2016 I can't watch a team that can't win the big games call me fairweather but I've given plenty of tears over the years and now I'm done until Jerry stops being the GM.
Never mentioned anything about the terrible infrastructure inside especially the sewer. Swear there's a least 1 major sewage accident a year there starting at least 2012.
During the postseason the coliseum is absolutely unreal and electric. It absolutely sucks terrible ownership ruined an organization that holds 9 World Series titles, 2nd most in the AL next to the Yankees. Only an incompetent owner can do such a thing to make people not care.
Wow you are so wrong about so much in this video, Mark Davis was neither the owner of the Raiders or the stadium when Mt. Davis was built, his Dad Al Davis whom Mt Davis is named after owned the Raiders at the time and he did not build it either, since he did not own the stadium. The stadium authority which is a board made up of representatives of both the city and county built Mt. Davis in order to get him to move back to Oakland and take out a lease with the city and county to play in the stadium. There is no one to blame for Mt. Davis other than the local county and city government.
Who are my coliseum OGs who drunk pissed in the troughs on the upper deck?
Sad to see the A's leave because of the history, but the city of Oakland isn't making any money with the A's playing there, nor were they making much money as a city with the Raiders over the years. Sport's Team owners want city's to foot most of the bill for stadiums, but cities should not have to do that. Instead, Oakland can, and likely will build housing and an entertainment center on the Coliseum and Oracle arena sites and make more money than they ever could with the Raiders and A's staying there.
What a sad end to Oakland coliseum. Years ago, this was such a nice place. Now, they're gonna move to las Vegas and leave behind a rotting stadium with constant problems.
It’s a shame that the City of Oakland and Alameda County officials did not renovate, let alone properly maintain, the Coliseum. We took in a game at Dodger Stadium a few years ago. What a gem! Of course, Dodger owners spent hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations. Dodger Stadium retained the 1960’s vibe, but has all the modern amenities and it’s clean! Too bad Oakland officials totally neglected the Coliseum.
You’re obsessed with the Oakland Coliseum for some reason lol
might have some playoff games this year
Day on the (frikkin) Green. RIP
Come October 2.027, the Athletics will play Philadelphia to say adiós to Oakland.
Mt. Davis is the worst eye sore in the entire East Bay
I still say the A's should ask the city and state for funds to not only destroy the stadium, but rebuild it with modern features thereby keeping the team in Oakland. The ballpark will remain in its own footprint but if they also tore down the warrior's former arena, the team could build an entertainment district around the new ballpark. Granted it's not gonna be as popular as Basketball or Football, but just a thought
Appears there is plenty of real estate to build low income housing there...
@@ronclark9724 ...or just tear down the two oakland professional venues, build a new oakland coliseum with modern features and apartments similar to so-fi and the team should be set for at least 20 or so years
And they are still paying for the Raiders Mount Davis. A's were decent for a while before the Raider moved back in. Then they got sold and been down hill ever since.
Trough urinals from 1966
If you made it a soccer stadium I bet you could fill it every week.Multi Culti has its price.
Al Davis ruin that ballpark
Unfortunately, even at the minor league level, cities will build new stadiums to land or keep a team, but alas won't spend a penny to maintain and sustain them as there are other demands on their budget. A good landlord will spruce up their property when a tenant's lease is about to expire, in a desire to get the tenant to sign a new lease, but cities aren't good landlords. If the landlords maintained their properties their properties could be sustained for a much longer time. However they don't and are extorted by their tenants to build a new state of the art very expensive stadium or they leave... Its what most of us do when our lease expires, extort the landlord...
Look, im from Oakland and ill say we never really cared abt how nice a stadium has to be. We just wanted a good team. We don't need stadiums w pools and wifi, we just wanna hear "OAAAAKLAND" echo thru our concrete walls. If yall wanted a big nice stadium to forget abt the game, then go to Vegas
Besides saying, it's old, or it sucks...can anyone put into descriptive words, why the coliseum "sucks" so much.
When I go to a baseball game, 97% of my attention a is on the field, on the plays, on the game! I've sat in every
area of the coliseum for decades and never had an issue seeing the game. Now players, in the dugout
(which we are not) in the clubhouse, locker room says it "floods", smell when pipes get backed up and so on.
But that's beyond our experiences as fans. The johns are always clean. Don't know anyone that really go to
games for the "food"...except Dodger stadium and the Cha cha bowl in S.F. ballpark. Wrigley Field is older
no one complains, even travel thousands of mile just to visit the park (I did). Same with Fenway! Go to
SF Giants stadium all the time, and can say, one has a better view of the field from the 2nd and 3rd deck of
the Coliseum, then you do from the Giant's NEW Stadium. Seems closer to the field/players at Coliseum than
at SF Oracle park. People will constantly make one-liners statements of, Coliseum sucks! Coliseum is a
disgrace! But never says why? Like they just parrot what someone else just said to ride the bandwagon.
So using words and complete sentences, please explain what's FAULTS for watching baseball was the
the Coliseum so terrible! Most ppl peck on the phones, taking selfies to even watch the game!
The Arena has been refurbished so it should not be destroyed. In the absence of a franchise willing to sign a contract on the promise of a future new stadium the Oakland Coliseum will have to be demolished. Keeping the bowl for AAA baseball only and smaller events with a park surrounding would be attractive.
The original coliseum was attractive and the view of the hills was a feature. Mt Davis is, was, and always will be hideous and is now a boondoggle that should never have been built. The new stadiums that the Giants have in San Francisco and the 49ers in the South Bay are enviable.
The Raiders should have waited for a new stadium when the time was right instead of jerking everyone around twice, so consequently I will never have anything to do with them.
Not just the stadium, but Oakland is a total diseaster and unsafe, even in areas that used to be ok, unless you lived in the Oakland Hills. Went to a few games back in rhe 80s, and it was sketchy even then, but won't go anywhere near the inner Bay Area now.
Mount Davis was the dagger
At least Joe Robbie got a better renovation
I fully agree with the Athletics moving to Vegas to get their Stadium. But with that said I feel absolutely horrible for Baseball fans in and around Oakland. They deserve better and their City / County Representatives cat turning down every proposal for some public money I see a lot of stuff on here about Fisher the owner of the Athletics being cheap being this while that may be true this is the game that every franchise owner and baseball and football and now even a basketball and hockey pull to get an upgrade Stadium. It's not just the Athletics
Al Davis owned the raiders in the 90’s. Calling him by his doofus sons name is blasphemy.
Mark Davis highlights the I in idiocy and incompetence.
Not really. Al turned into a buffoon, too, to say the least.
@@LouieKaboom he just got old, Marc can’t use that excuse just yet 💁🏻
@@LouieKaboom Al in the white jumpsuit and the disco booties will always be classic. Marc cutting his hair with a butter knife not so much.
His son abandoned the city and bay area. That's blasphemy. I'm well aware of what AL did when he was alive.
Mount Davis is badass. I love Mount Davis!!!!
Why were the seats red lol
I remember when they had those red seats. I honestly liked the red seats better. Same deal in Kauffman Stadium
@@jonstefanik9400 ahh okay I just kind of find it weird bc I don’t think the team had any affiliate with red did they? Just odd to me 😂
Exactly. Seats with team colors are boring sometimes.
Everyone bombing on Al Davis doesn't know the story and this guy talking doesn't either
Jesus why do you talk like that I couldn't finish the video because your voice grates
they are going to vegas no doubt
Then there’s the city itself, next homeless shelter
The city of Oakland ALREADY SAID, they're going to keep the arena for future concerts, truck shows, conventions, and a possible future WNBA expansion team.