Oakland makes deal in bid to keep Raiders
OAKLAND Mayor Libby Schaaf said on Tuesday that the city has reached a framework agreement for a new stadium to keep the NFL’s Raiders from leaving town.
The deal with with a group led by NFL Hall of Fame player Ronnie Lott must yet be approved by the city council, but even if the backing comes, it might not keep the Raiders from fleeing the San Francisco Bay Area.
Raiders owner Mark Davis is not involved in the deal and he is trying to gain approval from NFL owners to relocate the team to Las Vegas and a proposed new $1.9 billion stadium there with a financing plan in place.
While Schaaf did not revea l details of her agreement wit h Lott’s group, she said the new plan satisfies some of the prev ious demands Davis had made in seek ing a new stadium in Oakland.
“What I can tell you is the Lott group has the ability and the willingness – more than that, the passion – to actually put the private money into this deal that I believe it would take to actually build a stadium under the conditions that Mark Davis has always said he needs,” Schaaf said.
“It’s a team-centred approach but one that protects the public dollar.”
The Raiders are the only team in the NFL still sharing a home stadium with a Major League Baseball club, the Oak- land A’s. At 8-2 this season, the Raiders share the second best record in the NFL with New England, one game behind Dallas.
Davis has said the Raiders will play the next two seasons in Oakland even if the Vegas relocation were approved.
It takes 75 percent support from the 32 NFL team owners to approve relocating a club.
Come January, the Raiders might also receive the option to join the Los Angeles Rams in a new stadium project and relocate there. The San Diego Chargers have first rights at the deal and could say yes after city voters nixed a deal to finance a new NFL stadium to keep the team in San Diego.