Though a final site has not been picked, the Oakland A’s could find support from the chancellor of the Peralta Community College District for one of their options.
In their ongoing search for a new ballpark, the A’s have been linked to three locations in Oakland–the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Howard Terminal, and 13 acres of land between Laney College and Interstate 880. The site near Laney College is believed to some offer some key advantages, including convenient BART access and room for surrounding development.
More work will need to be done before the A’s move forward with a plan at any of these sites, but one key individual appears open to a ballpark near Laney College. Jowel Laguerre, the chancellor of the Peralta Community College District who had initially expressed some skepticism about the idea, is now offering some words of support. Laguerre indicated that he became more open to the proposal after getting a more detailed look at how the A’s would build at the site, and believes that having the team at that location could present new partnership opportunities. More from The San Francisco Chronicle:
Only Peralta district offices would have to move to make way for a ballpark, not the campus itself, Laguerre says. He has come around to the idea in a big way, brainstorming how the ballpark could provide workforce training for students in the district.
“We didn’t have that relationship with the Raiders or Warriors, but here’s an opportunity for us,” he said. “The A’s are in the business of hiring people, and we’re in the business of developing people, so it makes sense to have these conversations.”
Some of Laguerre’s ideas: culinary students could intern with stadium concessions, multimedia students with the scoreboard graphics team, police academy students with ballpark security, and design students with the merchandise team.
The chancellor said [A’s president Dave] Kaval and his staff are keenly interested. Ultimately, it would be up to the district’s Board of Trustees, some of whom have been involved in the discussions, to approve any land deals.
For the A’s, the search for a new ballpark site has most recently been concentrated in the Oakland area, marking the latest step in the team’s longstanding effort to replace the Coliseum. The club has indicated that it wants to announce its preferred site by the end of the year.
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