The Oakland A’s former co-tenants at the Colesium, the now Las Vegas Raiders, actually left behind something useful.
The Oakland A’s and the soon to be Las Vegas Raiders shared the Colesium for 37 years, with the Raiders being the last football team to share a stadium with a baseball team. The scars of the Raiders could be felt from time to time – the yard markers and gridiron on the diamond, Mount Davis, and the loss of the outfield bleachers which were replaced by a four tier grandstand. And then, the Raiders left for Las Vegas, leaving the A’s behind in the battered stadium.
As it turns out, the Raiders actually left something useful behind. With the A’s needing to practice social distancing guidelines, the team will use the Raiders’ former locker room in conjunction with their own clubhouse.
Forst said the A's will utilize both their clubhouse and the former locker room of the Raiders to distance the players. The more challenging part will be figuring out how to space out visiting teams as the Coliseum visitors clubhouse is very small.
— Martín Gallegos (@MartinJGallegos) June 24, 2020
This gives the A’s some needed breathing room, no pun intended. With limited facilities at the Colesium, they will need to find some way to make everything work given the new guidelines. The Raiders’ old locker room does just that.
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Obviously, there are still issues. As noted by Martin Gallegos, the visitor’s clubhouse at the Colesium is exceedingly small. This was by design – an uncomfortable area to get ready before games, and to relax in afterwards, could give the Raiders, and later the A’s, an advantage.
But now, that is a problem. The A’s will need to find a way to extend the visitor’s clubhouse as well. Perhaps there is another storeroom or two that could be repurposed for the rest of the year. And if a pipe or two happen to break causing the visitors more issues, so much the better.
Meanwhile, the A’s will be resting in relative luxury. They will have another reasonably spacious locker room to call their own, courtesy of their former roommates. Unlike the monstrosity in the outfield, or the former chalk lines, this is one parting gift the A’s will be glad to take.
The Oakland A’s found a use for the Oakland Raiders. It just took their departure for that to happen.