Oakland Ballers make request to purchase old Coliseum bleacher seats used by NFL's Raiders

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The new Oakland Ballers independent baseball team is hoping to incorporate a bit of Oakland sports history in its renovated ballpark as the club prepares for its opener next month.

An expansion team in the independent Pioneer League, the “B’s” are inquiring about purchasing some or all of the approximately 5,000 unused bleacher seats that formerly were brought in for Raiders games at the Oakland Coliseum. The bleachers have been stored outside near a parking lot on the southeast side of the formally dual-purpose stadium since the Raiders’ departure for Las Vegas after the 2019 season.

Ballers co-founder and CEO Paul Freedman sent a letter Tuesday to Oakland City Councilmember and Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan, who is chair of the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum Authority JPA Commission. It is a joint powers agency established by the City of Oakland and the County of Alameda.