McAfee Coliseum

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McAfee Coliseum is a stadium located in Oakland, California, United States that is used for baseball and football games. Commonly referred to as The Oakland Coliseum, or simply The Coliseum. It was formerly known as Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and Network Associates Coliseum.

Stadium history

1960s

In 1966, the city of Oakland constructed Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (or Oakland-Alameda Coliseum or Oakland Coliseum for short) for two reasons: as a new stadium for the Oakland Raiders football team and also in an effort to lure MLB baseball to Oakland. The Raiders played their first game there on September 18, 1966. In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics became the Oakland Athletics and began play at the new stadium. The Athletics' first game was played on April 17, 1968. The stadium complex cost $25.5 million to build and rests on 120 acres (0.5 km²) of land. The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex at one time consisted of the outdoor stadium and the indoor arena. The outdoor stadium was commonly called "the Coliseum", while the arena was called "The Coliseum arena." More recently, only the stadium is called the Coliseum. The arena is now called Oracle Arena, and is home to the Golden State Warriors basketball team of the NBA. The outdoor stadium features a unique underground design where the playing surface is actually below ground level. Consequently fans entering the stadium find themselves walking on to the main concourse of the stadium at the top of the first level of seats. This, combined with the hill that was built around the stadium to create the upper concourse, means that only the third deck is visible from outside the park. This gives the Coliseum the illusion of being a short stadium from the outside.

In its baseball configuration, the Coliseum has far and away the largest foul territory of any major league ballpark. This is especially the case along the foul lines. Thus, many balls that would reach the seats in other ballparks are caught for outs at the Coliseum. The distance to the backstop was initially 90 feet, but was reduced to 60 feet in 1969.

1970s

In 1972, the Athletics won their first of three straight World Series championships, and their first since their years in Philadelphia.

In 1977, Led Zeppelin played what turned out to be their final North American show with twin shows from their North America 1977 tour. The final six shows were cancelled following the passing of Robert Plant's five year old son.

1980s

In 1982, the Oakland Raiders moved to Los Angeles, leaving the A's as the only remaining tenants of Oakland Coliseum. The 1987 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held at the Coliseum. From 1988-1990 the venue saw three more World Series. In 1989, the Oakland A's won their fourth Series since moving to Oakland, as "Bash Brothers" José Canseco and Mark McGwire of the A's defeated the San Francisco Giants in the earthquake-interrupted "Battle of the Bay" Series or "BART" Series.

1990s

In July 1995, the Los Angeles Raiders agreed to return to Oakland provided that Oakland Coliseum underwent renovations. In November 1995, those renovations commenced and continued through the next summer until the beginning of the 1996 football season (more info below). The new layout also had the somewhat peculiar effect of creating an inward jog in the outfield fence, in left-center and right-center. There are now three distance markers instead of one, at various points of the power alleys, as indicated in the dimensions grid. The Raiders return also heralded the creation of the Black Hole, a highly recognizable group of fans who occupy one end zone seating during football games.

Along with the since-demolished Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the Coliseum features the unusual configuration of laying the football field on a line from first to third base rather than laying it from home plate to center field, or parallel to one of the foul lines, as with most multi-purpose facilities. Thus, a seat behind home plate for baseball is behind the 50-yard line for football. The Coliseum has the distinction of being the last multipurpose venue in the United States that hosts both Major League baseball and an NFL team. (Note: Although the Metrodome and Dolphin Stadium host both, these facilities were designed as football stadiums that can adjust to host baseball.)

2000s

On April 2, 2006, the broadcast booth was renamed in honor of the late Bill King, a legendary Bay Area sportscaster who was the play-by-play voice of the A's, Raiders and Warriors for 44 years.

In November 2007 the San Jose Earthquakes of the MLS announced they would be playing their "big draw" games such as those featuring David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy and/or Cuauhtemoc Blanco and the Chicago Fire at the Coliseum. Regular draw games are also being played at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara.

Naming rights

In September 1997, UMAX Technologies agreed to acquire the naming rights to the stadium. However, following a dispute, a court decision reinstated the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum name. In 1998, Network Associates agreed to pay $5.8 million over five years for the naming rights and the stadium became known as Network Associates Coliseum, or, alternately in marketing and media usage as, "the Net."

In 2003, Network Associates renewed the contract for an additional five years at a cost of $6 million. In mid-2004, Network Associates was renamed McAfee, restoring its name from before its 1997 merger with Network General, and the stadium was renamed McAfee Coliseum accordingly. Despite the different name changes, locals generally refer to the stadium as "The Coliseum." This fits the trend of older stadium renamings being rejected by the general public. This is especially true in the San Francisco Bay Area where changes to the name of nearby Candlestick Park have been wholly rejected by voters, and changes to the names of both Pacific Bell Park and the San Jose Arena were received with much negative criticism and widely ignored by fans and media alike.

Cisco Field

On August 12, , the A's new owner Lewis Wolff made the A's first official proposal for a new ballpark in Oakland to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority. The new stadium would have been located across 66th Avenue from the Coliseum in what is currently an industrial area north of the Coliseum. The park would hold 35,000 fans, making it the smallest park in the major leagues. Plans for the Oakland location fell through in early 2006 when several of the owners of the land proposed for the new ballpark made known their wish to not sell.

Throughout 2006 the Athletics continued to search for a ballpark site within their designated territory of Alameda County. Late in 2006 rumors began to circulate regarding a parcel of land in Fremont, California being the new site. These rumors were confirmed by the Fremont city council on November 8 of that year. Wolff met with the council that day to present his plan to move the A's to Fremont into a soon to be built ballpark named Cisco Field. Wolff and Cisco Systems conducted a Press Conference at the San Jose-based headquarters of Cisco Systems on November 14, 2006 to confirm the deal, and showcase some details of the future plan.

Under any such replacement proposals, the Oakland Raiders would continue to play football in the Coliseum.

Mount Davis

One feature of the 1996 expansion was the addition of over 10,000 seats in the upper deck that now span the outfield in the baseball configuration (and face the setting sun late in the day during NFL games). The effect of these new stands, comprising sections 335-355, was to completely enclose the stadium, eliminating the spectacular view of the Berkeley Hills that had been the stadium's backdrop for 30 years.

The stands are very narrow and steeply pitched, bringing the back row of its upper-most tier to a height rarely seen in modern stadiums. Due to the stands' height and the loss of the Berkeley Hills view, A's fans have derisively nicknamed the structure Mount Davis or the AL-ps, in (dis)honor of Raiders owner Al Davis.

It has been criticized as an area which has made the McAfee Coliseum look ever more like a football stadium, and not at all one for baseball. From 1997 through 2004, the A's left the section open, but it was rarely filled except for fireworks nights and the postseason. The A's did not count the area in the listed capacity for baseball; hence, even though the "official" baseball capacity was 43,662 (48,219 with standing room), the "actual" capacity was around 60,000.

Since the 2006 season, the Athletics have covered it and the rest of the third deck with a tarp, reducing capacity to 34,077--the smallest capacity in the majors. The A's will not sell any seats in that area, except presumably for the World Series. Current prices for "Mount Davis" during Raiders games range between $26-$46.

References

External links

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Last updated on Friday February 29, 2008 at 16:25:46 PST (GMT -0800)
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