Labor Market
The company that runs the Oakland Coliseum and Oakland Arena has told California it will lay off 1,605 workers at the end of the year, the largest single notice in the state’s current layoff report. The filing, under the name AEG Management Oakland LLC, lists a permanent layoff at 7000 Coliseum Way in Oakland with an effective date of Thursday, Dec. 31, 2026.
The California Employment Development Department’s WARN report, which covers notices processed from July 1 through Nov. 2, shows the notice dated Thursday, Oct. 29, and processed Friday, Oct. 30. The San Francisco Chronicle reported the layoffs on Tuesday, Nov. 3, identifying the employer as Legends Global, which has operated both venues since 2012, and saying the cuts cover all of its employees at the Coliseum and the Arena.
The same state report lists a second notice at the complex: Levy, at 7000 S Coliseum Way, reported a permanent closure affecting 181 employees, also effective Dec. 31. That notice is dated Monday, Oct. 26, and was processed Wednesday, Oct. 28. The two notices are listed separately, and the state report does not say whether any workers appear on both.
Why the operator is leaving
Legends’ management contract dates to 2012 and runs through Dec. 31, 2026, or until the city or county no longer owns the complex, whichever comes first, according to the Chronicle. Alameda County and the City of Oakland jointly own the two venues and plan to sell them to a group called Oakland Acquisition Company, which hopes to close by Dec. 31, when the contract expires.
The Chronicle reported that the buyers plan to split the property: they would keep the Coliseum, the former home of the Oakland Athletics, and sell the arena to Oak View Group, the venue developer founded by Irving Azoff. Oak View Group has agreed to pay at least $100 million for the arena. Oakland would sell its stake for $125 million and the county for $115 million, the newspaper said. The deal still faces obstacles: the county sold its share of the 112-acre property to an Athletics affiliate in 2019, that sale must be unwound before the county can transfer the land, and a lawsuit is holding up that process, so the expected closing date keeps slipping.
Legends earns a management fee of 12% of the revenue it generates at the complex. Its fee income was $2.22 million in fiscal 2024, down from $2.72 million a year earlier, and a rival bid Legends made in June, offering to invest $102 million in the property and renovations, appears to have fallen flat, the Chronicle reported.
What workers are being told
Legends spokesperson Stacey Escudero told the Chronicle the company will keep operating both venues through the end of the year with its existing employees. In a statement, the company thanked workers “for their incredible dedication to delivering exceptional experiences for fans” over nearly 15 years.
Ray Bobbitt, a spokesperson for the buyers, said Oak View Group has met with organized labor leaders and plans to rehire all unionized employees laid off by Legends. “Nothing for the people working there will change,” he told the newspaper, describing workers as moving from Legends to Oak View Group. Another investor, Susan Cronin, offered a narrower promise: workers will have to reapply, “but the intention is to hire them back.”
That intention has limits on the record. The arena has 2027 concerts scheduled, including Calvin Harris in May, but the Coliseum has no programming in place for 2027, and the Oakland Roots soccer team played its last game there in October. The Chronicle said it is unclear how Oak View Group could rehire all of the laid-off workers if it has only arena events, and an Oak View Group spokesperson did not give a clear explanation.
What the notice does and does not mean
A WARN notice is an advance warning of planned job losses, required in California for mass layoffs and closures; it is not a record that jobs have already ended. The notice gives a headcount, address and effective date but does not break the 1,605 workers out by role or by venue, and neither the state report nor the Chronicle named the unions representing them. Whether any of the jobs carry over depends on the sale closing and on hiring decisions the new operators have not published; no rehiring process or application timeline has been announced.
Sources
- California Employment Development Department, “WARN Report – 07/01/26 to 11/02/2026,” November 2, 2026. https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/jobs_and_training/warn/warn_report1.xlsx
- California Employment Development Department, “Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN),” accessed November 4, 2026. https://edd.ca.gov/en/jobs_and_training/Layoff_Services_WARN/
- San Francisco Chronicle via Yahoo News, “Oakland Coliseum operator will lay off 1,600 employees. A new owner says they’ll be hired back,” by Kate Talerico, November 3, 2026. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/oakland-coliseum-operator-lay-off-221436108.html
Featured photo: The Oakland Coliseum from above before the Athletics' 2024 Opening Day game, March 28, 2024. Photo: Quintin Soloviev, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Cropped from the original.
