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O.co Coliseum
...and this one wasn't a great renovation
No, unlike Kauffman Stadium or Angel Stadium, the major overhaul of Oakland's Coliseum was anything but heavenly, as far as the baseball aesthetics were concerned. When the NFL's Raiders returned from Los Angeles, a gargantuan structure was erected in the outfield to accommodate football fans. During baseball games, though, all it does dwarf the rest of the stadium -- a stadium that was fairly pleasant when the area beyond the outfield was wide open and you could see the foothills in the distance. No wonder the baseball team would like a new baseball-only park somewhere in the Bay Area!
As happened in Anaheim and Arlington, this facility has also gone through a name simplification. The stadium known for years as McAfee Coliseum was, for awhile, officialy referred to as just The Coliseum. Then in April of 2011, Ovwerstock.com bought naming rights, and the stadium was transformed into Overstock.com Coliseum. That lasted all of five weeks, as Overstock excercised its option to rebrand the stadium as O.co Coliseum, because they elected to start promoting their e-commerce site as simply O.co.
When I visited the ballpark in May of 2011 (and took the picture above), there was no indication whatsoever that Overstock had bought the naming rights.
No, this isn't the perfect place to play baseball, with its huge foul territories and upper decks covered with tarps. But the Athletics are always a competitive team, often with great, young pitching, and the weather is often fantastic. For the best seats for games at O.co Coliseum, click here.
BASEBALLPARKS.COM'S RANK AMONG ALL 30 MLB PARKS: 29th
RANK IN ITS DIVISION: 4th out of 4
RANK AMONG PARKS BUILT BEFORE 1990: 7th out of 7
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