Hear that? Oakland’s Coliseum officially has new name
A deal with RingCentral is finally forged after a series of ups and downs
OAKLAND >> The home of the Oakland A’s is now officially known as RingCentral Coliseum.
A contract approved Friday cleans up after a scandalous saga involving former Coliseum Authority Executive Director Scott
McKibben. In May 2019, the Coliseum Stadium Authority board approved a $ 3 million, threeyear naming rights contract with RingCentral, but before inking the deal, the board learned McKibben had sought a finders fee for negotiating the contract, in violation of state government conflictof-interest laws.
The deal was put on ice as attorneys for Oakland and Alameda County — and later the District Attorney’s Office — investigated McKibben. However, RingCentral signs went up and radio and TV broadcasts frequently referred to the ballpark as “RingCentral Coliseum” as the A’s advanced to the American League playoffs in 2019 and won the AL West in the shortened 2020 season. Even the Coliseum Authority’s website referenced the Belmont-based company.
McKibben resigned in August 2019 and was later criminally charged with a felony and misdemeanor count of violating state law by seeking a $50,000 payment from RingCentral. (Executives with the company had notified the Coliseum Authority board, which includes officials from the city and county, of invoices McKibben sent seeking payment, kicking off the investigations.) State law prohibits public officials from having a financial interest in contracts made by them in their official capacity. In October, McKibben pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor count, was put on probation and ordered to pay a fine. He served no jail time.
On Friday, the authority board unanimously approved a new contract, under the leadership of Executive Director Henry Gardner, formerly Oakland’s city administrator.
Gardner said to avoid any perception of impropriety, he reopened negotiations with RingCentral executives who were not part of the McKibben deal.
The structuring of the naming rights deal is a sign of the times:
RingCentral, which has enjoyed free advertising since last year, will pay $450,000 upfront and a monthly payment of $15,000 a month during the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the deadly virus is under control and baseball games and events return to the Coliseum,
RingCentral will pay an annual payment of $1.1 million each year over three years.
Opened in 1966, the stadium was known for three decades as the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum. Network Associates purchased naming rights in 1998, three years after the Raiders returned from Los Angeles. After the company changed its own name, the stadium became known
as McAfee Coliseum from 2004 to 2008.
The stadium was nameless until Overstock.com, or O.co, purchased the rights in 2011. O.co terminated the contract in 2016 — although Caltrans signs on the Nimitz freeway say otherwise — and the stadium went back to its original name, without a sponsor.