The two stations, located about 600 feet (180 m) apart, are connected to each other and to the Oakland Coliseum/Oakland Arena sports complex with an accessible pedestrian bridge.

The station also serves as a transfer point for AC Transit buses and business park shuttles.

Fare control and concessions are located on the ground level, east of San Leandro Street, underneath the northern end of the platform.

The grade-level Union Pacific Railroad (UP) Oakland Subdivision runs parallel to BART on the east side of the station, separating it from the adjacent Coliseum neighborhood.

A 950-foot (290 m) pedestrian bridge between the BART station and the Coliseum sports complex crosses over San Leandro Street and the UP Niles Subdivision tracks.

[1] A QuikTrak ticket machine that was previously located at the station was removed due to vandalism issues.

It is served by eight AC Transit bus routes, which stop on both sides of San Leandro Street:[10][18] In addition, several fare-free local shuttle routes stop at the BART passenger loading zone on the southeastern corner of San Leandro Street and 71st Avenue.

[22] Around 1963, the planned station was relocated slightly north to 73rd Avenue to better serve the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum/Coliseum Arena sports complex, which opened in 1966.

[44][40] BART approved funding for design work to strengthen the bridge in November 1974, and issued a construction contract in July 1975 to add additional bracing.

[46] In January 1976, an arbitration panel ordered the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which had designed the footbridge, to pay $44,131 of the $64,000 cost to strengthen the bridge.

[51] The Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) opened a station at Fitchburg (near 77th Avenue) on September 13, 1891, to serve a new housing development there.

[54] During the 1900s, Fitchburg was primarily a flag stop on local trains running between Oakland and Niles, San Jose, or Livermore; Kohler was only used for freight.

[60][61] On August 28, 1921, Stonehurst service was reduced to one daily round trip, with Kohler and Fitchburg closed.

[1][66] In July 1994, the California Transportation Commission withdrew $2.1 million that it had previously allocated to the Oakland Coliseum station project.

[67] For the 1999–2001 seasons, Amtrak operated Thruway buses between Jack London Square and the Coliseum for Oakland Raiders home games.

[1] The station became part of a $88 million construction package, announced in September 2002, to increase Capitol Corridor frequency between Oakland and San Jose.

It included an accessible connection to the footbridge, allowing a grade separated transfer between the Capitol Corridor and BART.

The Coliseum Connections project, a modular structure with 110 mixed-income units on a 1.3-acre (0.53 ha) site, was constructed from November 2017 to April 4, 2019.

[86] BART installed second-generation fare gates for the Oakland Airport Connector from September 15–20, 2024, and for the main station from October 27 to November 1.