Network Associates Coliseum (its "official" name, we never call it that, to us it's the House of Thrills (HOT)) was built in 1966 to host the Raiders and the anticipated move of the A's MLB franchise to Oakland (they arrived one year later), and was located on a 120 acre lot 3 miles from Oakland International Airport, on the East Side of the Nimitz Freeway (I-880). Prior to the stadium being built, the lot itself was mostly derelict space owned by PG&E and East Bay Municipal Utility District. The area itself is actually reclaimed swamp land, as is much of the East Bay Area as it stands today.

Construction began on the Stadium in 1962, and was completed in the fall of 1966, much in line with the original plans. One omission (probably thankfully) was that there was to be no auto-racing track around the perimeter of the parking lot (although anyone who's burned rubber around the lot to get their tailgate spot might debate that!). Another unanticipated part of the plans was the unearthing of prehistoric Mammoth tusks, probably from a creature which fell into the swamp and had drowned. A UC Berkeley professor asked that the stadium be called "The Mammoth Complex", and offered to finance a statue of the beast where the PSL Wall of Fame now stands. We are of course eternally grateful to whoever said "no" to him for saving us from being the laughing stock of the league.

At the time of construction, it was considered state of the art, and held nearly 50,000 with parking for 9,600 vehicles. The original cost of construction was around $25.5 million, and also included the 17,000 seat "Jewel Box", the Oakland Arena, which stands beside the Coliseum to play host to the NBA's Golden State Warriors as well as various conventions and other large-scale indoor events. The original design was contracted by the Guy F. Atkinson Company, and the Architect was Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

When the Raiders returned from Los Angeles in 1995, an enormous renovation project was undertaken to bring the stadium up to current standards. The lower level bleachers were removed on the East Side, and 22,000 new seats added. The main bulk of these seats were in a towering new third tier on the East Side, which became known as Mount Davis. Other improvements included the introduction of 80,000 Square Feet of Function facilities (The East and West Side Clubs) and 90 new Luxury Suites on that side, including a "double-deck" of which that gives Mount Davis its altitude (it effectively sits on top of them). Further new suites were added on the West Side, and the stadium scoreboards, which had never been the best, were also replaced. In terms of gross size, the capacity increased to its present day limit of 63,142, although it's often said it doesn't look that big from the outside. That's mainly a result of the stadium actually being sunk into the ground with only the 2nd and 3rd decks visible from outside - the field itself is 21 feet below sea level.

The suites themselves are on two levels on the West Side, Club (Lower) and Loge (Higher), and seat 12-18 people. The East Side has three levels, again the Club and Loge as well as the lowest Plaza level, Club and Plaza being separated by outdoor Club Seating. All suites feature retractable windows and sound systems. For the renovation stage, the architect was HNTB, and the General Contractor Tutor-Saliba. The project was managed (we were going to say mismanaged, given the eventual cost of around $180 million) by the Cordell Corporation. Further expansion has been considered, mainly to make the stadium eligible to host the Superbowl (the NFL requires the Superbowl venue to have a minimum capacity of 70,000), but it is unlikely until the current legal entanglements between the Raiders and the City of Oakland are resolved. The $5.8m Naming Deal with Network Associates, another source of disagreement between the Raiders and the City, expires in 2003. The source of the disagreement was that the stadium was nearly named the UMAX Coliseum, however there were major disagreements and the deal fell through, mainly because of Raider objections to the length of the agreement (10 years).

The Raiders actually committed to the stadium back in 1962, a sign of how desperate they were to move. On their formation in 1960, they had been denied playing in Oakland as UC Berkeley (the only feasible site) declared they wouldn't make their stadium available, and the plans for the proposed downtown stadium at Peralta Park fell through. The Raiders were forced to play their first two seasons firstly in San Francisco's Kezar Stadium, and then moved to Candlestick Park (a full ten years before the 49ers, who remained in Kezar, moved in). However, then-General Partner Wayne Valley was intent that the Oakland Raiders should play in the City of their name whether the Coliseum was ready or not. Valley, with the leverage from the City of San Jose that if Oakland didn't build a facility then the Raiders would be playing in Spartan Stadium in 1962, eventually succeeded, although it appears the tight-fistedness of Oakland Politicians is not something that is confined to what goes on these days - the result was Mayor John Houlihan constructing what could only loosely be called a stadium and more a child's construction kit. A wartime housing project was demolished and made way for the architectural nightmare that was Frank Youell Field.

The stadium was named for an undertaker who was also a generous local sports booster, which some suggested might be apt given how badly the Raiders of the pre-Al Davis era were. The stands were temporary aluminium structures seating 18,000 (later 22,000) which creaked and shook under the weight of the crowd and when an eerie wind blew through it, it suggested that it might be an idea to be close to a spot where a jump to safety was possible. But for some reason, the fans of Oakland grew a bond with the place, it was constantly packed and although they weren't sad to see the back of it, it has its place in Raider history as the place where Al Davis took the reins as Head Coach. The Raiders meanwhile moved on to play their first game at the new stadium on September 18, 1966, losing 32-10 to the Chiefs in front of a 50,000 sell-out crowd.

The Oakland A's played their first game there a year later after moving from Philadelphia, and while the Arena didn't welcome the Warriors until 1971, although it was used almost from inception thru 1976 as the home of the California Seals Hockey Team. The Seals technically no longer exist, although their legacy is now with the Dallas Stars: the Stars were previously the Minnesota North Stars, who were formed from a merger of the by-then Cleveland Seals and Minneapolis Crusaders in 1978. The Arena also flirted with the past glories of Roller Hockey when it hosted the Oakland Skates (I'm sure Run Run cared, unfortunately no-one else did). The Stadium itself also had a short-term affair, with the USFL's Oakland Invaders, between 1983 and 1985 (hmmm... Raiders... Invaders... Raiders... Invaders... my what cunning marketing ploys! How do they think of them?). The Stadium also saw the dubious historical feat of the first appearance of The Wave at a baseball game (started by the infamous Crazy George who still frequents Raiders and A's games today), and reputedly rapper MC Hammer was discovered dancing in the parking lot at an A's game. Tales that after he sung the National Anthem he was sent back there are unsubstantiated.

Of the Raiders other homes, two remain to this day, while the name lives on in another: The odd man out is unsurprisingly Frank Youell field, which was torn down (admittedly as intended it always would be once the HOT was ready). Kezar Stadium closed in 1988 and was demolished the year after, but was reconstructed as a 10,000 seat multi-purpose stadium with athletics track and soccer field. Candlestick Park (now renamed 3Com Stadium) remains the home of the 49ers, although it's future has been in doubt for years - with the 49ers clamoring for a new stadium, and the Giants have already departed for PacBell Park.

The most recent home, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, has the most storied (and checkered) past - it has hosted two Olympic Games, two Superbowls, a Papal Mass and a World Series, but its location (in what could kindly be called one of the less-friendly areas of LA) continues to count against it. The stadium also suffered enormous damage in the 1994 Earthquake and has been criticized for years as an emotionless, featureless bowl where any atmosphere and excitement dissipates into the wide-open spaces - although the commonly-held belief that it is the origin of the phrase "mausoleum" is false - that phrase was actually applied to the Oakland Coliseum in its early days, when the entire stadium was grey (this predated the dark green seats). The LAMCC attempted to resolve this in 1993 by removing the running track and inserting new seats closer to the field (half the distance they previously were, which equates to only about 3 nautical miles), but the key problem remains that it has remained fundamentally unchanged for the near 80 years of its existence and is a relic of another age: many would like to see the back of it completely, but it's status as a National Historic Landmark prohibits demolition. There have been countless plans to upgrade it, however finding financing has been impossible without an NFL team willing to commit to it and plans have progressed no further than models.