Behind Oakland’s intended sale of the Coliseum is a harsh reality: it doesn’t solve the city’s financial crisis. If the deal pans out by May 2025 as hoped, it only covers the deficit for this fiscal year. At current spending levels, we will face a new deficit of approximately $100M in the next fiscal year starting July 1, 2025—only a month after the Coliseum deal is targeted to close.  For two months, Mayor Sheng Thao and members of the city council promoted the sale to the African American Sports & Entertainment Group (AASEG) as a way to avoid budget cuts. But that plan shifted this week with a renegotiated contract that delays the payment schedule. The delay forced the city to activate severe contingency cuts, the very cuts it was supposed to avoid by rushing the Coliseum sale process.  These cuts primarily target public safety services. Police staffing has already fallen to 685 sworn officers as of September, with 85 more slated to be cut, resulting in a total force of only 600 sworn officers. That number…