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Overstock.com Inc., the Utah-based online discount retailer, said Wednesday it paid $7.2 million to acquire the naming rights to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum for the next six years.

The stadium is the home to both the NFL Oakland Raiders and major league baseball's Oakland Athletics.

"This is one of only two stadiums in the country hosting two major league teams," said Jonathan Johnson, president of Overstock. "With two teams playing there, it should give us a fair amount of national attention."

Naming rights to the stadium, which seats approximately 60,000 when configured for football and around 40,000 for baseball, was previously held by the McAfee Inc. under a 10-year deal that expired in 2008, said Deena McClain, the interim executive director of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority.

McAfee is a software company best known for its anti-virus computer products.

"We hired someone two years ago to find another company interested in the naming rights," she said, indicating that the lean years of the recession made finding someone a difficult task. "These things can take time, but we now have a great partner in Overstock.com."

As part of the new alliance, Overstock receives branding opportunities through stadium signage, internet, television, radio and print promotion. The deal is effective immediately, with the facility hosting its first game under the new name when the Oakland A's play the defending American League champion Texas Rangers on Friday.

Johnson said the coliseum authority approached Overstock in March. He said part of the company's deal will enable it to renegotiate the agreement if either the baseball or football team moves and no longer calls the coliseum home.

Along with the Overstock.com Coliseum, the county authority also manages the Oracle Arena next door that is the home to the Golden State Warriors,

Although it took the authority a little more than two years to find a company willing to purchase the naming rights, the last such deal announced in Utah took much longer.

After almost 13 years of trying to sell the naming rights to the E Center, West Valley City last June was able to announce it had struck a deal with Maverik Inc., the Utah-based company that operates a chain of more than 200 convenience stores.

The Maverik Center at 3200 S. Decker Lake Drive is owned by the city and has been managed by Centennial Management Group. The 12,500-seat arena is home to the Utah Grizzlies hockey team and the Utah Blaze of the Arena Football League.

West Valley City officials have refused to reveal the terms of the deal, which they said was between Maverik and Centennial Management. However, the value of that contract to the city has been estimated at $600,000 a year.

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