The Bank of Oakland: City to loan $60 million to developer Ray Bobbitt’s company
Committee reviews plans to front the money for purchase of the Oakland Coliseum Complex. The County is also considering giving a loan.
Video clip 1. Developer Ray Bobbitt defends his proposal to avoid environmental liability at the site by stating, “We have people that I was in middle school with that are living in tents and feces with no running water, with no electricity. We drive through East Oakland and we should all be ashamed of ourselves.” Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting, May 28, 2026. (Source: County of Alameda)
A sweetheart deal
Council rules and legislation committee, July 9, 2026, agenda item #3.1
Oakland city council is considering a proposal to sell Oakland’s 50 percent interest in the 112-acre Oakland Coliseum Complex to Oakland Acquisition Company (OAC), the affiliate of developer Ray Bobbitt’s African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG).
The city is considering extending Bobbitt’s company a $60 million loan to buy the property from the city and close the sale.12
Under the as-yet undisclosed terms of the deal, the Coliseum Complex would be split in two: the indoor Oakland Arena parcel for a $50 million lump-sum payment, and the outdoor Oakland Coliseum stadium parcel for $60 million, “with seller financing from the City.”
In plain terms: the city would loan its own buyer more than half the purchase price.
Key findings:
The city would become the lender for $60 million — 55 percent — of the $110 million price. The published agenda does not state the loan’s interest rate, repayment schedule, or collateral.
The buyer has paid only $5 million of the $110 million owed since 2024. The full amount was due “in immediately available funds” by May 30, 2025. Only the initial deposit has been paid. The city has restructures the terms and extended deadlines multiple times to keep the sale to Bobbitt’s company viable.
The city would also pay the buyer to close. At closing, Bobbitt’s company would receive the city’s remaining 2026 share of its Stadium parcel subsidy — an annualized rate of $6 million.
Affordable housing conditions would be lifted from the Arena parcel. Ordinance No. 13801 C.M.S., which conditioned the 2024 sale on on-site affordable housing and other benefits, would be amended so those conditions attach solely to the outdoor Oakland Coliseum parcel, not the indoor Arena parcel.
Ray Bobbitt’s payment record: $5 million paid of $110 million owed
The council approved the original $105 million sale of its 50 percent ownership in June 2024. A September 2024 amendment raised the price to $110 million and required payment in full by May 30, 2025.34
That deadline passed more than a year ago.
As Oakland Report has documented, Bobbitt’s company (AASEG, now OAC) has missed or delayed nearly every major payment owed to the city, and the $5 million non-refundable deposit remains the only money received.
It is reasonable to consider the possibility that the city offering a loan is a response to that record of missed payments: restructuring the debt of a buyer who has not paid, rather than extending credit to one who has demonstrated it can.
Alameda County is considering a loan of its own
Oakland would not be the only government extending credit to Bobbitt’s company.
Under the non-binding term sheet the Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved on May 28, the county would pay $115 million in cash to the Athletics baseball franchise (which holds the county’s former 50 percent stake in the property), then be repaid the same $115 million by OAC over five to seven years at 5 percent compounding interest.56
Combined, the two governments would carry roughly $175 million in new credit risk.
The county’s term sheet also anticipates an unnamed third party paying at least $100 million for the Oakland Arena, with at least $50 million flowing to the county. The San Francisco Chronicle has reported the prospective buyer is the Oak View Group.7
(A second potential Arena buyer, Legends Entertainment, stepped forward shortly afterwards to offer $102 million for the Oakland Arena. Legends Entertainment currently manages events at the Arena. But city officials claimed that the offer would not be considered.)8
It stands to reason that the city’s $50 million Arena lump sum would be funded by the same transaction — which may also explain why the ordinance lifts the affordable-housing conditions from the Arena parcel.
But today’s committee item does not specify what the sale and loan terms would be — the item has no published report or other information.
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Other considerations and counterpoints
Some arguments for the deal restructuring — and for Ray Bobbitt’s continued involvement in the Coliseum Complex sale — include:
Closing would end the city’s Coliseum subsidy obligation — estimated at $6 million per year — and the new 6 percent share of gross ticket sales at both parcels is revenue the current agreement does not provide.
Fifty-five million dollars in near-term cash is more than the city has collected in two years of waiting.
The simultaneous city-county closing this structure enables has been the stated obstacle to the deal — and to the East Oakland redevelopment supporters describe as generational — since 2024.
Sunken-cost considerations: The city and county have been working with Bobbitt’s company for years on the deal, and multiple observers have described it as extraordinarily complex and convoluted.
Read these related articles:
Oakland Coliseum sale terms remain a mystery
This is a proposal, not a signed deal yet, and terms may change before July 14.
The details of the proposed new deal were not made public as of the time of this article’s publication — the loan’s terms, the security behind it, and the allocation of the $5 million deposit credit are unknown.
The record to date suggests this: a buyer that has paid only $5 million against $110 million owed would receive a $60 million loan from the seller it has not paid — on terms the public has not yet seen.
Whether that is fiscally responsible restructuring, or the city compounding its already significant legal and financial exposure, is the question the council will take up on July 14.
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City of Oakland. "Second Amendment To Coliseum Complex Sale Agreement." Council rules and legislation commitee meeting, Jul. 9, 2026. https://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=8130453&GUID=5AFD9A11-F95D-42F4-B396-245C29D5D252
Reinhart, Sean S. "'Oakland deserves better' — Alameda County approves Coliseum buyback term sheet." Oakland Report, May 29, 2026. https://www.oaklandreport.org/p/oakland-deserves-better-alameda-county
Reinhart, Sean S. "Oakland Coliseum: Board of supervisors appears set to buy back from A's, sell to developer with history of missing payments." Oakland Report, Jan. 13, 2026. https://www.oaklandreport.org/p/20260113-oakland-coliseum-board-of-supervisors
City of Oakland. "Ordinance No. 13801 C.M.S." Oakland City Council, Jun. 26, 2024. https://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6707243&GUID=7298C5D3-3FEA-4F67-A759-D702B1566CAC
County of Alameda. "Non-binding term sheet — Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex transaction." Board of Supervisors special meeting agenda, attachment 1, May 28, 2026. https://www.acgov.org/board/bos_calendar/documents/DocsAgendaReg_05_28_26%20Spmtg/GENERAL%20ADMINISTRATION/Regular%20Calendar/County_Term_Sheet_Final.pdf
Wolfe, Eli. "Oakland Coliseum sale to Black-led developer group inches forward." The Oaklandside, May 28, 2026. https://oaklandside.org/2026/05/28/oakland-coliseum-sale-to-black-led-developer-group-inches-forward/
Talerico, Kate. “Private equity-backed developer in talks to buy Oakland Arena from community group in Coliseum deal.” San Francisco Chronicle, May 27, 2026. https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/private-equity-buyer-oakland-arena-22274221.php; https://archive.is/5LxtY
Mukherjee, Shomik. “New offer emerges for Oakland Arena, but officials say sale process is already locked in.” The Mercury News, Jun. 18, 2026. https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/18/oakland-arena-buyer-legends-offer/; https://archive.is/5EasA
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After years of lies that no public money would be needed….here we are.
This deal has clearly been a scam from the get-go. Let me get this straight—the owner of a $110 million property (Oakland) is going to loan some guy off the street $60 million and “sell the property” to him? This sounds akin to buying Manhattan with beads or shells. Make this make sense. This is even worse corruption (or at least on par with) than Mayor Sheng Tao’s shenanigans with the recycling company. Oakland Voters, tell your insane City Council no.