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OAKLAND - RingCentral Coliseum (63,132)

222098 Views 722 Replies 97 Participants Last post by  brewerfan386
NFL

Oakland Raiders

3x Champion:
1976, 1980, 1983


MLB

Oakland Athletics

9x Champion:
1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, 1930,
1972, 1973, 1974, 1989










Before the addition of "Mt. Davis" this was a much more beautiful ballpark
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Could be worse.... Could be the KFC Yum! Center, now that makes me want to vomit.
Really? It makes me want a 3 pc. and a biscut...
To each his own I guess.
^^None of those sound feasible for a variety of reasons (lack of premium seating, capacity etc), but the one option that still makes sense to me is rebuilding the Coliseum; If they were to keep Mt. Davis with a rebuilt lower bowl containing new club seating it already has enough suites for the Raiders going forward. Then the other three sides could be rebuilt in a much simpler manner, without any suites or club seats bringing the cost way down.

So if they rebuilt the lower portion of Mt. Davis with some suites and a field club, converted half of the top suite level into a new press box and did a simple two level stand the rest of the way (with a really big single concourse near street level to eliminate costly elevators/escalators) around you'd end up with about 60-62,000 seats, 7,000 club seats and about 88 suites. That sounds pretty functional and way cheaper than the new stadium options being thrown around. I know it's not as sexy as a new stadium, and the location isn't exactly scenic at the moment but it seems practical, at least to me.
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I'm guessing they've tossed this idea around already, but I think it would be so costly, they might as well build a whole new one. Mt. Davis only spans the east sideline, and they would probably have to rebuild the lower section, though it wouldn't be totally necessary. But, it would at least keep the costs down a little I suppose. Especially if they can design a cheaper alternative for the remaining 3 sides.
The Raiders may well have, and there could be any number of reasons for not persuing that option to this point (site issues, demolition costs etc). I would guess a lot of it is no one gets excited about a renovation the same way they get about a new building.

And yes it only keeps one side, but it is the side contains most of the requisite premium seating as is which is typically the most expensive part to build. If the other three sides were built in a fashion similar to Stanford stadium this option would be WAY cheaper than a new stadium as per NFL standard construction. The total price tag for Stanford Stadium was $90 million for a 50,000 seater in the Bay Area in 2006; so even if they double that number to build a nice enough 40,000 seat bowl on the other three sides thats maybe $180 million. Throw in $100 million into revamping the VIP areas/new field club and press areas and locker rooms in Mt. Davis, another $100 million for demolition/site work/landscaping and maybe $50 million for Videoboards. That is $430 million, with a contingency fund it's like $500 million max. Between some seat licenses, a G4 loan and naming rights, they ought be able to come up with that sort of figure.
As long as they could avoid adding large amounts of new premium areas and minimize new escalators/elevators as much as possible (which are super expensive FYI) there is no reason it would need to come in anywhere near the $1 Billion mark, more like half of that. Just because teams like 49ers, Falcons and Vikings have found ways to spend a billion dollars on a stadium doesn't mean everyone has to.
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No no no the Oakland coliseum needs to be completely knocking down.
I don't see why the can't build a new stadium like the titans & buccaneers have, have the endzone's running east to west with views of the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Oakland hills to the east
What kind of question is that, $$$ is your reason. In California state subsidies for stadiums don't exist. The Raiders don't have the kind of cash flow to go buy waterfront property and build a new stadium from scratch themselves. Plus they aren't in a position to ask fans to swallow $600 million in seat licenses like the 49ers were.
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Mt Davis is from 1995, the entire Metrodome was from 1982, we are talking about getting rid of the 60s era portion and keeping the 90s era portion. More to the point Mt Davis has functionally wide concourses enough restrooms and lots of VIP areas. The rest of the Coliseum is undoubtedly falling apart and probably needs to be torn down. And Mt. Davis in it's current form is ugly, but has the requisite programmatic elements for NFL. Keep in mind Lambeau is older than the than anything in the league and renovations have turned it into one of the leagues best venues. Same story with Arrowhead. And while what I am talking about probably isn't going to quite live up to those venues but it could still be a perfectly competitive venue and very decent place to watch a football game.

The trouble with suggesting renovation is that most people don't have the imagination to consider what could be and will simply see what is at the moment.

If money were a non issue then by all means something like what you are talking about would be great (although your not going to see the Pacific from Oakland, the Bay maybe but its a little iffy as well, theres an airport and Alameda between the Coliseum and the bay anyway).
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So I scribbled/photoshopped my thoughts into a little concept for the Coliseum, if the A's moved out.




The upper levels are separated into four stands with open entry plazas in each corner.
The exterior is intended as mesh screen system to give a modern, clean feel at fairly low price
point and could allow for images . A new wrap on the pedestrian bridge along with plantings
could make the walk from the BART station seem pleasant or exiting instead of like entering a
post apocalyptic deathcamp.




The geometry of the bowl is intended to match Mt Davis while keeping everyone in the
new bowl much lower to the field with good sightlines. A cohesive seat color pattern fading from
black to white to black seems sharp.




The new bowl is two levels served by a single wide concourse (about 90' wide) and has
concessions set into pockets to prevent lines from congesting the concourse.







Mt. Davis gets a new field club with 3,500 seats and sixteen suites like the sidelines suites at
AT&T in Dallas. the Plaza and Club suites are basically as is and the Loge (top) suite level is
mostly converted into a new press box. Concourses and existing Club on this side would get a
refreshing, but are more or less kept as is. The field level also contains locker rooms,
mechanical space, storage etc.




Under the the new south end there is space for locker rooms, storage, prep kitchens etc.




The North and West sides are kept as simple as possible with simply the concourse level. Concessions and restrooms are stacked at the outer
edge of the concourse. Concession stands are rotated 90 degrees to
keep the que lines from clogging the concourse. This concourse is 90'
deep where with concession ques and a 56' clear circulation path.


The total rough count for this little idea comes out to about 62,000 with 84 suites and
7,200 club. The new seating area has maximum of 68 rows, Mt Davis has 86 rows after losing the first 6 row to add in the field club and suites.
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Yeah, a new press box on the west side would bump the cost up a bit (would need an elevator core, stair towers, mechanical etc) but just camera positions would be cheap and easy to fit in if cost is really the driving factor. Even with the addition of a press box to the west side I can't imagine this getting to $600 million, $420 million to about 500 million tops seems about right to me. Although construction costs in California always leave me a bit confused; Stanford and the Earthquakes build stadiums well below typical cost for their size in their prospective leagues while the 49ers and Cal projects seem expensive for what they are. So maybe $600 million is more realistic, you probably have a better feel for budgets out there than I do.
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A couple other little thoughts, especially having to do with the orientation of the stadium.
After comments about sun and Mt Davis facing west I got to thinking about operable screens
that could shade the late afternoon sun.




These screens could be mounted between the light posts and run the entire west sideline which
should take care of evening sun, though some late afternoon sun could
still be an issue.




For early or night games/other events they could be retracted and stored at the back of the
upper deck. This seems like a pretty solid alternative to a west side press box, given likely cost
compared to having to build a new press facility above the west sideline and the added benefit
of keeping glare out of the eyes of people in the upper deck/upper suite levels as well as press
areas.




Also this is the sort of feel I was thinking for the new concourse, open, reasonably light, crisp
and modern. Also how the concessions stands are oriented to keep the main circulation path open.


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Thinking waaay outside the box, but it sounds like what Oakland needs is a new multipurpose stadium. Before everybody starts screaming that it's a horrible idea, stop and think about it. This isn't 1965. Surely, with todays technology and some imaginative thinking, a single stadium could be designed that would perfectly meet the needs of both teams.

This is an architecture forum. Architects drool over the opportunity to break new ground. Architects are supposed to meet the customer's needs. A modern multipurpose stadium for the city of Oakland would be a chance to do both.

Think about it --- then flame away.
It's something that never has been done very well. I don't to call a true multipurpose stadium impossible, but the differences in field geometry and culture of the respective sports are so great no one has ever made a facility that is good for both. It's either a decent ballpark that's terrible for football or a good football stadium that's a terrible ballpark. Not that I don't support innovative design, but history would suggest it's a futile exercise.

I would suggest they try hard to keep the prices down and do something like Pittsburgh did with PNC and Heinz.
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Yeah, but it's not really a problem new technology can solve, one wants a somewhat asymmetrical nearly square field, the other a highly symmetrical field a good deal longer than it is wide. Football stadiums want steeper lower levels, baseball shallower. Baseball wants substantial cantilevers, football doesn't want anyone too far under an overhang. To do both the stadium you are describing would need to be a literal shape shifter. It might doable to get a stadium that is acceptable for both in today's climate, but it wouldn't be anything beyond that.
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If this goes through, then the Raiders can stay in THIS stadium and remodel it as a football specific facility... which is what should happen.
Yeah, but that would make WAY too much sense to actually happen.
But it has the added benefit of involving the least amount of effort on Mark's part. So it also uses the law of inertia to it's advantage.
Exactly, it makes sense in almost every way, therefore it's too practical to actually happen. I'd love to see them renovate the Coliseum, but when your owner is a man who takes a private jet flight 500 miles specifically to get this haircut:


I don't expect praticality, or really any sort of sense to entire the equation with anything he does. I hope they work it out, I hope they stay in Oakland but it just seems s likely they will find a way to be the second fiddle in LA.
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Okay, so "Mount Davis" opened in 1996.



How feasible would it be to tear down the rest of O.co, then build a stadium around that, with a similar look? Wouldn't be a palace like AT&T Stadium or where the Falcons or Vikings are going, but it would be an upgrade over the current setup.

It strikes me as an incredibly practical idea, but practical doesn't get the typical billionaire looking to spend other peoples money excited. I had scribbled together a few ideas for the Coliseum like a year and a half ago:

So I scribbled/photoshopped my thoughts into a little concept for the Coliseum, if the A's moved out.




The upper levels are separated into four stands with open entry plazas in each corner.
The exterior is intended as mesh screen system to give a modern, clean feel at fairly low price
point and could allow for images . A new wrap on the pedestrian bridge along with plantings
could make the walk from the BART station seem pleasant or exiting instead of like entering a
post apocalyptic deathcamp.




The geometry of the bowl is intended to match Mt Davis while keeping everyone in the
new bowl much lower to the field with good sightlines. A cohesive seat color pattern fading from
black to white to black seems sharp.




The new bowl is two levels served by a single wide concourse (about 90' wide) and has
concessions set into pockets to prevent lines from congesting the concourse.







Mt. Davis gets a new field club with 3,500 seats and sixteen suites like the sidelines suites at
AT&T in Dallas. the Plaza and Club suites are basically as is and the Loge (top) suite level is
mostly converted into a new press box. Concourses and existing Club on this side would get a
refreshing, but are more or less kept as is. The field level also contains locker rooms,
mechanical space, storage etc.




Under the the new south end there is space for locker rooms, storage, prep kitchens etc.




The North and West sides are kept as simple as possible with simply the concourse level. Concessions and restrooms are stacked at the outer
edge of the concourse. Concession stands are rotated 90 degrees to
keep the que lines from clogging the concourse. This concourse is 90'
deep where with concession ques and a 56' clear circulation path.


The total rough count for this little idea comes out to about 62,000 with 84 suites and
7,200 club. The new seating area has maximum of 68 rows, Mt Davis has 86 rows after losing the first 6 row to add in the field club and suites.
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