A day after proclaiming that the city had partnered with the prince of Dubai to finance the Coliseum City project, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan immediately denied that was the case on Friday and walked back her announcement through a spokesperson.
On a local radio show, 95.7 The Game, Quan said on Thursday that the developers for the project “are partnered literally with the prince of Dubai, who is next in line to lead Dubai. And they have capital.”
Her spokesman, Sean Maher, said on Friday that the crown prince of Dubai, which has a history of discriminating against Jews, is not involved in the Coliseum project” after immediate blowback from representatives of both sides.
As Inside Bay Area notes, “the crown prince of Dubai, an oil-rich Persian Gulf emirate, is 31-year-old Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum,” and his “father, the ruling emir, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has a net worth in excess $4 billion, according to Forbes.”
The Coliseum City would, as the outlet notes, “include new stadiums for both the Oakland Raiders and Oakland A’s, as well as a hotel, shops and homes.”
Inside Bay Area also notes, though, that “economists have been dubious about its viability, and the city has turned to the Persian Gulf region” where governments such as Dubai “have been willing to bankroll unprofitable projects that improve their reputation in the U.S.”
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