O.co Coliseum – stadium description

First images of the stadium were released in late 1960, but it wasn’t until 1964 that construction actually began. The multi-use stadium was opened in Sept 1966 and has since served as the home Oakland baseball and football, primarily Athletics and Raiders.

Just as its name, the stadium’s layout is interesting. It was designed nearly as a perfect circle, thus the Coliseum reference. From the outside it seemed very modest, but that impression faded after entering. The reason was most of the stands were built below ground level. The entire lowermost tier was built in a sunken area, while second one rests on landfill. Only the third has concrete structure raising above the seemingly green area.

In its early decades the stadium had the east end open. Allowing batters to hit the ball out, the open end also gave a picturesque view of Oakland hills. This changed in 1996, when a massive grandstand enclosed the east.

Hardly fitting to the stadium’s aesthetics, this 10,000-capacity concrete block raised high above previously built structures, blocking the view and spoiling layout for baseball enthusiasts.  For football this was a worthy addition, but still didn’t prevent the Coliseum from becoming the very smallest NFL stadium in 2015 (not counting temporary venues).