Oakland Community & Economic Development Committee hears report on economics of Oakland A’s Howard Terminal Proposal

Today, Dr. Nola Agha, a nationally recognized sports economist and the University of San Francisco Professor of Sport Management, presented the findings of her study on the revenues, costs, and economic impacts of the A’s proposed development at Howard Terminal to the Oakland Community & Economic Development Committee. She also countered misinformation about the proposed economic plan and the use of public funds. Dr. Agha’s independent study was commissioned when the City failed to provide the independent economic analysis of the project’s proposed development agreement and financing framework requested by the City Council in April. Professor Agha’s report is based on the information about the proposal available to the public, provided by the Oakland A’s, Oakland City Administrator Ed Reiskin, and the City Council’s July 2021 non-binding term sheet, and includes updated projections based on the current economic forecast.

The report focuses on three primary concerns with the A’s proposal:

1. Revenue projections are overestimated
2. Direct cost projections are underestimated
3. Indirect, unanticipated, and often inconspicuous costs have not been accounted for

Following the hearing, Dr. Agha said:

“Both the team and the city have made a lot of assumptions in designing the financing framework for this project, all of which put the city and taxpayers at greater risk down the line. A close look at the available information reveals that the project requires a historically large and growing public subsidy to be financially feasible. Publicly-funded stadiums typically don’t pay off, and this one is unlikely to be any different.”