The XFL’s not coming to the Oakland Coliseum as a full spring football season according to Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority (Coliseum JPA) Executive Director Scott McKibben. At last Friday’s Coliseum JPA Meeting, Mr. McKibben announced the news in his “Executive Director’s Report.” McKibben said that the XFL, which was in San Francisco in 2001, and in the form of the San Francisco Demons team at AT&T Park, favored the Oakland / East Bay Market to return to the Bay Area, and due in large part to the planned departure of the Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas.
A proposal was due from the Coliseum JPA to the XFL by June 29, but McKibben said due to scheduling conflicts with the Oakland A’s, the Coliseum Stadium could not accommodate a full XFL Season of spring football. “After extended discussions with partners involved,” McKibben said to the Coliseum JPA Board of Directors, “we have concluded that we cannot provide the venue they need at the time they need it. There are several conflicts with availablity of the field as it relates to the (Oakland) A’s. (Oakland A’s President) Dave Kaval and I had numerous discussions, and we just can’t get this worked out from the timing perspective. I have continued to work with (XFL Project Manager) Howard Handler, to get something done at Memorial Stadium at Cal, with the idea in mind that we would like to play at least one game here in the month of February, while we still have the football field for the Raiders season in play without having a conflict with the A’s. I will keep you up to speed on how these discussions go with the XFL.”
Perhaps in this we can see the advantage of having a new Oakland A’s stadium at Howard Terminal in the future: the Oakland Coliseum would be available for spring football, regardless of if its the XFL brand or something else. But as of now, what the Coliseum can do in accomodating spring football is curtailed by the A’s schedule.
You can watch Mr. McKibben give his report via the Zennie62 on YouTube Livestream from the Coliseum JPA Meeting, here:
Stay tuned.