The Oakland City Council has approved an exclusive negotiating agreement with the Oakland A's to study building a new baseball stadium at the Coliseum complex, the site where the team has been playing since it moved from Kansas City in 1968.
The City Council's vote late Tuesday night means that the A's are now studying two possible stadium sites in Oakland. The Port of Oakland commissioners voted last month to approve an exclusive agreement with the A's to explore building a stadium at the Howard Terminal site northwest of Jack London Square.
A's president Dave Kaval said in March that the team is offering to buy the entire 120-acre Coliseum complex in exchange for paying more than $135 million in debt currently owed by the city and Alameda County at the site.
The existing stadium at the Coliseum complex is one of the oldest in Major League Baseball and the A's are anxious to build a new ballpark.
The A's announced last September that they wanted to build a new stadium near Laney College and Lake Merritt, but the Peralta Community College District's board of trustees eliminated that option in December when it advised the team it would no longer negotiate a sale of the site.
Kaval said in March that the A's hope a decision on a site for a new stadium is made by the end of the year so it can be ready in time for the 2023 baseball season.
The Howard Terminal site needs environmental review but an environmental review for the Coliseum site has already been completed.
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Alameda County is considering selling its 50 percent share of the Coliseum complex to the city of Oakland, which would allow the city to be the sole group negotiating with the A's.
