By Sukhmani Batra and Rachel Ocampoo
After almost 50 years, the Oakland A’s are finally planning to build a new stadium. The 500 million dollar venue would be located near Laney College, right next to the Lake Merritt BART station.
The owner of the land the A’s hope to have, currently belongs to Peralta College. Students of the college aren’t very fond of the idea due to the possible increase of housing prices, traffic congestion, and limited parking in the area. Due to the opposition, the college district has, as of now, halted all plans for the new stadium. However, the A’s are confident that these issues will be resolved.
The Coliseum has been the home of the A’s since 1968. It was also named as the fifth oldest stadium with a current MLB team in the country. With all the sewage problems and other maintenance problems the team and fans has experienced, officials finally announced they were moving out.
President of the Oakland A’s, Dave Kapal, states that he wants to give fans and players the best experience at games. By building this stadium, he believes that the stadium will represent Oakland and connect with its culture more. A perk of having the stadium near downtown Oakland is that it lets fans engage in more activities due to restaurants nearby and the scenery of Lake Merritt.
James Logan senior, Adela Villapando, disagrees with the idea of the A’s moving. She states that the team “has been playing at the Coliseum for so long and that they should just renovate the area.”
Although, there are mixed feelings from fans regarding this change. Some believe that it’s a great idea that the Oakland A’s are moving to a new stadium. While there are others who disagree since the Coliseum holds many wonderful memories.