The Oakland A’s are in discussions with state and local officials, as well as local health care providers, about launching a drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination site at the recently re-named RingCentral Coliseum.

The A’s and the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority received a request from health care systems in the Bay Area asking to use the site’s sprawling parking lots as a location for health care workers to administer vaccines.

“We will do whatever is necessary to accommodate this first request (from the hospital),” Coliseum authority executive director Henry Gardner said. “I think that we need to be proactive and should be working with the health providers in the county to let them know that we will do whatever we can to assist them in making the site accessible.”

If and when the Coliseum will open up drive-thru vaccination services is yet to be determined. The A’s and Coliseum authority have made it known to local officials, including Alameda County supervisor Nate Miley, and health officials that their gates are open if needed.

Having opened up the 140-acre lot for ballot drop-off in the Nov. 3 election, and as a flu vaccine site, the Coliseum is well equipped to handle the traffic.

“People are used to going to these locations, they know how to get there,” A’s team president Dave Kaval said. “Especially in our case, if you want to do it via car, we have one of the biggest parking lots in the Bay Area. There are a lot of things here well suited for this type of operation. We have a tremendous amount of experience operating there and understand how to make it work.”

California’s vaccine rollout has been slow, as only a third of the 2 million available COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered. This prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to announce a goal to administer 1 million vaccines throughout California by the end of this week.

Dodger Stadium and Petco Park are among the other professional sports stadiums that will use their large lots as vaccination sites in California. Dodger Stadium switched from a mass testing site to a vaccination site this week as health officials pivot to an effort to increase vaccinations.

The San Francisco Giants have also offered Oracle Park as a possible COVID-19 vaccination site, as have the 49ers with Levi’s Stadium, according to a letter from

“We are in conversations with health care providers and our intent is to make the ballpark facilities available in whatever way is needed,” a Giants spokesperson said in a statement.

The 49ers also offered Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara as a vaccination site, according to a letter from team president Al Guido released by county board president Cindy Chavez.

Kaval said the A’s are working with a variety of health care providers to determined the best way to use the Coliseum.

“We ought to be proactive on this and plan to organize an effective way for the medical services to administer the vaccine in the parking lot,” Gardner said. “We will make this space available. It’s a community health crisis.”

Nothing is final, though. Gardner is bringing the issue to the authority board on Friday. Of course, the board isn’t in the vaccination business, but it can lend its mass crowd organizational skills to get the ball rolling.

“We’re very hopeful that it happens as soon as possible,” Kaval said. “We’re just like everyone else in the community, we want to make sure people get vaccinated and that we get on top of the pandemic. Any way that we can help and be a part of that is the least we can do.”

Staff writer Kerry Crowley contributed to this story.