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Network
Associates Coliseum
The home stadium of men in silver and
black is Network Associates Coliseum. In literal sense it
means “The Black Hole.” The layout of the arena was planned
by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and was built by the world’s
leading sports architecture firm that constructed arenas for
all kind of sports. The stadium was inaugurated in 1966 and
is the sole possession of city of Oakland and Alameda
County. This $25.5 million multipurpose complex is
positioned on 105 acres of land, on the bank of the
Cumberland River. Its tenant are Oakland Raiders National
Football League team,
Oakland
Athletics
Major
League Baseball and the
Golden
State Warriors
National
Basketball Association.
The Oakland Raiders
played their first game in their home stadium on September
18, 1966. Prior to that the Raiders played at, Frank Youell
Field. |
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The
stadium is truly an ultra-modern structure with an
open-air facility. The arena is unique due to its
exquisite features. It has the capacity of accommodating
68,798 admirers with 175 commercial suites and 12,000
club seats. The food and drinks can be readily accessed.
The north and south ends of the arena has two
scoreboards with big video screens. The surface of the
arena is matted with the bluegrass.
Even
the environment inside the stadium is preserved with
more than 2,000 trees planted. The authorities are also
considerate about the physically handicapped fans and
their associate companions. |
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For them
parking space has also been exclusively reserved. For
the convenience of the visitors the stadium has been
equipped with six ATM machines. The specialty of the
stadium is that in the late 1970’s, it became popular as
“the Mausoleum” due to the non working condition of the
scoreboard.
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The
assorted facilities of the stadium includes
first-aid stations, 10 main entrances to avoid the
stampede, 60 concession stands of local and national
hygienic food spread throughout the stadium, free
public telephone at the lower level, club level and
upper level, lounges, emergency exit, comfortable
services for the disabled visitors, giant scoreboard
messages, public transportation, patrolling officers
for the assistance of the visitors, lost and found
security office etc. |
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In September 1997, the UMAX Technologies obtained
the identification rights of the stadium. But the
courts discretion restored its former name. In 1998,
the Network Associates paid $5.8 million to the
authority for the identification rights of the
stadium. Thus the legendary stadium became
"Network Associates Coliseum.”The
Raiders marked some of their reminiscent NFL
victories at Network Associates Coliseum.
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