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Oakland Businesses Propose $92 Million to Create First Black-Owned NFL Team

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Ray Bobbitt (left), pictured with Raiders superfan Violator, is in a group lobbying for a team in Oakland. (Photo provided by Ray Bobbitt).

A group of African American entrepreneurs and business people have put together a history-making proposal to purchase the Oakland Coliseum for $92 million to create the first Black-owned NFL team.

This is more than just about football, says Ray Bobbitt one of the Oakland business owners and a member of the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (ASSEG), which developed the proposal.

“Historic design, having it be the first African-American owned football team in the NFL,”  he said.

Seventy percent of the players in the National Football League are Black, and the NFL made about $16 billion in national revenue in 2019.   Yet there has never been a Black-owned team In the history of the league.

A lifelong Raider fan who grew up in Oakland,  he views the proposal as much more than about sports: it is a way to enrich and empower the community. “We would add an educational component to the facility,” Bobbitt said. “We want to add a Bay Area sports and entertainment museum, utilize funds to help increase education in East Oakland.”

Bobbitt’s development team includes sports agent Bill Duffy of BDA sports management, one of the world’s top ranked sports agencies; Oakland developer Alan Dones of Strategic Urban Development Alliance, one of Oakland’s largest African-American real estate development firms; former Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb, who heads an African American-owned national consulting firm to both public and private sector clients; and Loop Capital, the largest African American-owned, full services investment banking brokerage, financial advisory and investment management organization.

In a letter to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and Oakland City Council members,  Bobbitt wrote for the AASEG team, “We recognize the interests of city leadership in the holistic redevelopment of the Coliseum area….(and) in maintaining a home for its Major League Baseball franchise.”

“We believe that all these objectives can be achieved and to these ends, we have assembled a Master Development Team well-capable of marshaling the resources and expertise necessary to transform our mutual interests into reality.”

Taking into consideration the aspirations of Oakland residents, the ASSEG Team’s proposal includes:

  • Local hiring with priority on racial equity;
  • Inclusion of local and small business contractors and businesses;
  • Environmentally-friendly landscaping and sustainable, energy-efficient design;
  • Anti-displacement assistance and housing preservation policies for residents of the area;
  • Affordable housing;
  • Living wages, benefits and stable employment opportunities

Concluding the letter, Bobbitt wrote:

“As America wrestles with social change, social justice and economic justice, Oakland can lead the way by demonstrating what the real impact is. As proud Oakland (residents), it is a part of our DNA. It is simply who we are and what we do best.

“We look forward to helping lead that change in the City of Oakland.”

City Council President Rebecca Kaplan told the Oakland Post that she is enthusiastic about what the proposal can mean for the community.

“I’m excited about the possibility of more African American-owned businesses in Oakland and economic development and housing and more that benefits the community including WNBA, affordable housing, restaurants, hotels, local jobs and more,” said Kaplan.

Justin Berton, a spokesperson for Schaaf, said:

“The mayor has tremendous respect for Mr. Bobbitt and other Black entrepreneurs who want to make significant investments in Oakland, as well as claim long overdue ownership stakes within industries like the NFL.

“The vision of Mr. Bobbitt’s group is a historic one that would make Oakland the home to the first African American-owned football team in the NFL — a league that desperately needs more diversity among its fraternity of owners.”

 

 

Michelle Snider

Associate Editor for The Post News Group. Writer, Photographer, Videographer, Copy Editor, and website editor documenting local events in the Oakland-Bay Area California area.

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Oakland Post: Week of February 26 – March 4, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of February 26 – March 4, 2025

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Oakland Post: Week of February 19 – 25, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of February 19 – 25, 2025

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U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Lateefah Simon to Speak at Elihu Harris Lecture Series

The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.

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U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (left) and Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) (Right).
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (left) and Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) (Right).

By Scott Horton

United States House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-8) will be a speaker at the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series on Friday, Feb. 21.

The event will be held at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, 10 Tenth Street in Oakland, at 7 p.m.

The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.

The overarching goal of the lecture series is to provide speakers from diverse backgrounds a platform to offer their answers to Dr. King’s urgent question, which is also the title of Jeffries’ latest book: “Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community?”

In addition to Jeffries, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) will also speak.

“Certainly, now is a time for humanity, in general, and Americans in particular to honestly and genuinely answer Dr. King’s question,” said Dr. Roy D. Wilson, Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Executive Producer of the lecture series.

“Dr. King teaches that time is neutral but not static. Like the water in a river, it arrives and then quickly moves on,” continued Wilson. “We must urgently create conditions for listening to many different answers to this vital question, and generate the development of unity of action among all those who struggle for a stronger democracy.”

In his book, Jeffries shares his experience of being unanimously elected by his colleagues as the first African American in history to ever hold the position of House Minority Leader.

In January 2023 in Washington, Jeffries made his first official speech as House Minority Leader. He affirmed Democratic values one letter of the alphabet at a time. His words and how he framed them as the alphabet caught the attention of Americans, and the speech was later turned into a book, The ABCs of Democracy, bringing Congressman Jeffries rousing speech to vivid, colorful life, including illustrations by Shaniya Carrington. The speech and book are inspiring and urgent as a timeless reminder of what it means to be a country with equal opportunities for all. Jeffries paints a road map for a brighter American future and warns of the perils of taking a different path.

Before his colleagues unanimously elected him Minority Leader in 2022, Jeffries previously served as Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and as an Impeachment Manager during the first Senate trial of the 45th President of the United States.

Jeffries was born in Brooklyn Hospital, raised in Crown Heights, grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church and he is a product of New York City’s public school system, graduating from Midwood High School. Jefferies went on to Binghamton University (BA), Georgetown University (master’s in public policy) and New York University (JD).

He served in the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012.

Admission is free for the Feb. 21 Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series featuring Congressman Jeffries. Please reserve seats by calling the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center at (510) 434-3988.

Signed copies of his book will be available for purchase at the event.

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