The Oakland Athletics want to pay off the city's $135 million debt on the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in exchange for taking over ownership of the park, team president Dave Kaval wrote in a letter Monday to Mayor Libby Schaaf and the City Council.
"If consummated, our offer would end the long-standing cash drain from the City and County's general funds caused by ownership of the Coliseum, and ensure that the A's possess one assured route to a new privately financed stadium in Oakland," Kaval wrote.
The request comes after the A's were denied their preferred site for a new ballpark, near the offices of the Peralta Community College District, when the board of trustees directed the chancellor in December to end talks with the team.