McAfee Coliseum
Location: 7000 Coliseum Way Oakland, California 94621
Broke ground: 1962
Opened: September 18 1966
Owner: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority (City of Oakland and Alameda County)
Surface: Bluegrass

Capacity: Football 63,026 - Baseball 34,077
Tenants: Oakland Athletics (MLB) (1966-present)
Oakland Raiders (NFL) (1966-1981, 1995-present)
Oakland Stompers (NASL) (1978)
Oakland Invaders (USFL) (1983-1985)
Oakland Clippers (USA/NASL) (1967-1968)

History:
In 1966, the city of Oakland constructed Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (or Oakland-Alameda Coliseum or Oakland Coliseum for short) for two reasons: as a new stadium for the Oakland Raiders football team and also in an effort to lure MLB baseball to Oakland. The Raiders played their first game there on September 18, 1966. In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics became the Oakland Athletics and began play at the new stadium. The Athletics' first game was played on April 17, 1968. The stadium complex cost $25.5 million to build and rests on 120 acres (0.5 km²) of land. The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex at one time consisted of the outdoor stadium and the indoor arena. The outdoor stadium was commonly called "the Coliseum", while the arena was called "The Coliseum arena." More recently, only the stadium is called the Coliseum. The arena is now called Oracle Arena, and is home to the Golden State Warriors basketball team of the NBA. The outdoor stadium features a unique underground design where the playing surface is actually below ground level. Consequently fans entering the stadium find themselves walking on to the main concourse of the stadium at the top of the first level of seats. This, combined with the hill that was built around the stadium to create the upper concourse, means that only the third deck is visible from outside the park. This gives the Coliseum the illusion of being a short stadium from the outside.

In its baseball configuration, the Coliseum has far and away the largest foul territory of any major league ballpark. This is especially the case along the foul lines. Thus, many balls that would reach the seats in other ballparks are caught for outs at the Coliseum. The distance to the backstop was initially 90 feet, but was reduced to 60 feet in 1969.

In 1972, the Athletics won their first of three straight World Series championships, and their first since their years in Philadelphia. In 1982, the Oakland Raiders moved to Los Angeles, leaving the A's as the only remaining tenants of Oakland Coliseum. The 1987 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held at the Coliseum. From 1988-1990 the venue saw three more World Series. In 1989, the Oakland A's won their fourth Series since moving to Oakland, as "Bash Brothers" José Canseco and Mark McGwire of the A's defeated the San Francisco Giants in the earthquake-interrupted "Battle of the Bay" Series or "BART" Series.

In July 1995, the Los Angeles Raiders agreed to return to Oakland provided that Oakland Coliseum underwent renovations. In November 1995, those renovations commenced and continued through the next summer until the beginning of the 1996 football season (more info below). The new layout also had the somewhat peculiar effect of creating an inward jog in the outfield fence, in left-center and right-center. There are now three distance markers instead of one, at various points of the power alleys, as indicated in the dimensions grid. The Raiders return also heralded the creation of the Black Hole, a highly recognizable group of fans who occupy one end zone seating during football games.

The Bill King Broadcast Booth; note the tarp on the third deck.Along with the since-demolished Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the Coliseum features the unusual configuration of laying the football field on a line from first to third base rather than laying it from home plate to center field, or parallel to one of the foul lines, as with most multi-purpose facilities. Thus, a seat behind home plate for baseball is behind the 50-yard line for football. The Coliseum has the distinction of being the last multipurpose venue in the United States that hosts both Major League baseball and an NFL team. (Note: Although the Metrodome and Dolphin Stadium host both, these facilities were designed as football stadiums that can adjust to host baseball.)

On April 2, 2006, the broadcast booth was renamed in honor of the late Bill King, a legendary Bay Area sportscaster who was the play-by-play voice of the A's, Raiders and Warriors for 44 years