Oakland mayor Jean Quan appeared on Bay Area sports radio station 95.7 The Game on Thursday and revealed an interesting new detail about the future of the A’s.
The San Jose Mercury reported that Quan said the developers working on a Coliseum City project “are partnered literally with the prince of Dubai, who is next in line to lead Dubai. And they have capital.”
Quan developed the idea of Coliseum City two years ago. The concept is a multibillion dollar project that includes new stadiums for both the A’s and the Oakland Raiders, as well as a hotel, shops and homes.
Last October, the city partnered with Colony Capital, the third-largest real estate developer in the world and primarily owned by the oil-rich State of Qatar, and Dubai-based Hayah Holdings. Quan said Hayah is partnered with Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, the crown prince of Dubai, whose father Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai’s ruling emir, is worth more than $4 billion, according to Forbes.
With money like that, the A’s definitely would be able to stay in Oakland. AÂ Major League Baseball official also told the city that the league supports Oakland.
“What they said to us is that (A’s co-owner) Lew Wolff preferred the Coliseum,” Oakland councilman Larry Reid said. “And if that’s where Lew Wolff wants to go, that’s what Major League Baseball supports.”
Quan might have put herself in some hot water, though, as Reid said it was inappropriate of her to have mentioned the crown prince’s involvement because of the deal’s complexity. The Raiders’ stadium likely will be hundreds of millions of dollars short in funding, and the A’s still are looking for a long-term lease extension with permission from Major League Baseball to eventually move to San Jose, Calif.
Photo via Twitter/@MercNews
