The Oakland A’s have picked up support from a key figure in their hunt for a new ballpark: the chancellor of the Peralta Community College District, which controls land that is at or near the top of the team’s list.

The 13-acre site between Laney College and Interstate 880 — one of three potential ballpark locations under consideration — has strong appeal to team executives. Among its advantages: sweeping views of Lake Merritt, proximity to BART and just enough land to create the “vibrant, urban ballpark village” that A’s President Dave Kaval has in mind.

But to seal the deal, the Peralta Community College District needs to be persuaded to sell or lease the parcel and uproot its district offices. Until a few weeks ago, that seemed a tall order, with Chancellor Jowel Laguerre, head of the four-college district, saying Laney faculty and students would probably put up a fight against a ballpark plan and that he hoped the team would look elsewhere.

But Laguerre said that was before he knew exactly where the stadium would be built.

Only Peralta district offices would have to move to make way for a ballpark, not the campus itself, Laguerre says. He has come around to the idea in a big way, brainstorming how the ballpark could provide workforce training for students in the district.

“We didn’t have that relationship with the Raiders or Warriors, but here’s an opportunity for us,” he said. “The A’s are in the business of hiring people, and we’re in the business of developing people, so it makes sense to have these conversations.”

Some of Laguerre’s ideas: culinary students could intern with stadium concessions, multimedia students with the scoreboard graphics team, police academy students with ballpark security, and design students with the merchandise team.

The chancellor said Kaval and his staff are keenly interested. Ultimately, it would be up to the district’s Board of Trustees, some of whom have been involved in the discussions, to approve any land deals.

The A’s have long been dissatisfied with the Coliseum, which is more than 50 years old and was made over in the 1990s to accommodate the Raiders when they returned from Los Angeles. At one point the A’s looked seriously at moving to Fremont, then pushed for years to get permission from Major League Baseball to try to build a ballpark in San Jose. When the Giants stuck to their territorial rights to the South Bay, the A’s decided to focus their efforts on Oakland.

Besides the Laney site, the A’s are also looking at the Coliseum site and Howard Terminal northwest of Jack London Square. Kaval won’t say which of the three locations A’s owner John Fisher and other team officials favor, but he promises to make an announcement by the end of the year.

Those who advocate for building the ballpark next to the Coliseum, on “shovel-ready” land that already has the necessary approvals in place, say the college site may have appeal now, but it’ll be hard to maintain during the years it will take to get permits and other development approvals prior to building.

“How do they keep community momentum for five years?” asked Andy Dolich, a former executive vice president of the A’s.

Kaval is meeting with business, religious and community groups and surveying local residents around all three sites. Behind the scenes, city analysts are helping his staff collect data on traffic and transportation, and sorting through land-use and ownership issues.

“Each aspect to developing a new venue has complexities and things you wouldn’t foresee. If you have the right partners, these things have a way of working themselves out,” Kaval said. “We can’t do this in a vacuum. We need the community and commitment from everyone.”

Pat Gallagher, a longtime Giants executive who helped with the marketing and business development of AT&T Park, said there will be pushback from neighbors and groups wherever a new ballpark goes. Teams need to create a political strategy and assemble allies to help them navigate regulations and permitting, he said.

The A’s bargaining position, with both the city and residents, will be helped by the departure within the next few years of the Raiders to Las Vegas and the Warriors across the bay, said Daniel Rascher, a University of San Francisco economist and sports management professor.

Even though the A’s have committed to privately financing the ballpark, infrastructure work could cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. Being the last game in town may prove useful in negotiations, Rascher said.

“Infrastructure, environmental impacts, right of way, ingress and egress, and residential displacement are difficult and very specific to each situation,” Rascher said. “It really behooves the team to be out on the ground talking to people block by block and getting buy-in. That’s why it’s a slow process.”

Thus far, city officials are mostly steering clear of stadium conversations — at least publicly. Mayor Libby Schaaf, who favored the Howard Terminal site along the waterfront, has backed away in recent weeks from vocally advocating for her desired location.

City Councilman Abel Guillén, a former Peralta trustee whose district includes Laney College, wouldn’t say whether he supports a ballpark at the site. He and other East Bay politicians say they are just happy the A’s want to remain in Oakland.

Ignacio De La Fuente, a former City Council president and also a member of the joint powers board, said a project as big as a stadium will never be accomplished without a champion in City Hall to shepherd it through the various approval stages.

“It takes political will and risk — a 24/7, 100 percent commitment by the people who have the power to make decisions,” he said. “Someone needs to be willing to put their political power behind a project. The A’s need to feel confident someone is responsible. You can’t negotiate with 20 people.”

De La Fuente said he fears too many community demands will be placed on the A’s and the ballpark will become a “political football” amid re-election campaigns next year, hindering its approval.

“The community sometimes thinks these projects are going to solve all the problems we have in Oakland,” he said. “It’s the responsibility of elected officials to make sure the demands and expectations placed on businesses are realistic. Otherwise it’s pie in the sky, and nothing ever happens.”

For Laguerre, though, asking the A’s to give students jobs and internships is sensible.

“The A’s will be the team we have left in Oakland, and we really need to put our arms around it and make it feel welcome wherever it goes,” the chancellor said. “We’re talking about huge potential community benefits. These are things we should have been doing a long time ago.”

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov