The Oakland Athletics president Dave Kaval announced via a Facebook video that the team would be taking down the much-loathed tarps that cover the third-deck seats at the Coliseum:
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Now, fans can enjoy these ultimate Oakland nose-bleed views for $15 each —proceeds from which will benefit Oakland Promise, the preferred youth-college-scholarship foundation of the mayor.
(The Express mistakenly reported earlier today that the tarps would also be removed from the much-loathed “Mt. Davis,” the nosebleed seats above the outfield plaza and bleacher seating.)
A’s fans and city officials have no love lost for the third deck, otherwise known as “Mt. Davis,” after legendary Raiders owner Al Davis. Oakland and Alameda County still owe nearly $100 million in debt-obligation payments for the towering Coliseum addition, constructed after the Raiders moved back from Los Angeles in the mid-Nineties. And yet the seats have been out of commission and covered in tarps for years, even during A’s postseason games.
The removal of the tarps covering Mt. Davis is more of a gesture than out of necessity; the average Coliseum attendance last year was just over 18,000, according to Baseball-Reference.com — but the actual turnout was probably much lower.
