Raiders:
Team signs one- year lease to stay in Oakland; hires real estate executive as negotiator.
The Raiders signed a lease to stay in Oakland this year, officials announced Thursday afternoon at a news conference.
The team’s agreement with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority comes the week before the Feb. 17 expiration date of the Raiders’ current lease. The new deal includes one- year options for 2017 and 2018.
Raiders owner Mark Davis also announced at the news conference that the team has hired real estate executive Larry MacNeil to represent its interests in negotiations with Oakland and Alameda County. MacNeil served for 10 years as chief financial officer for the San Francisco 49ers, and was an architect of the Levi’s Stadium deal in Santa Clara.
“Today is like giving birth to a baby,” said Scott Haggerty, president of the county Board of Supervisors and a commissioner on the Coliseum Authority.
Speaking at the news conference, Haggerty was optimistic that the new lease would give the Raiders “an opportunity to talk about other things” with officials from the city and county — including a financing plan for a new football stadium.
Davis has for months jousted with Oakland
Mayor Libby Schaaf over how to fund a future stadium. Schaaf has refused to give the Raiders public land at the Coliseum site or hand out “direct subsidies” for stadium construction.
Davis made it clear at the news conference that the Raiders expect heavy public subsidies to build a stadium.
“Now we have $ 600 million,” Davis said. “That’s what we’re bringing to the table.”
The $ 600 million includes subsidies from the NFL, but the construction of a stadium could easily top $ 1 billion.
Davis has repeatedly said he wants to “control” 120 acres of land at the Coliseum site, a parcel that includes O. co Coliseum, which also houses the Oakland A’s. Asked if he would be willing to pay for that public land, he said that “if” there is a price, he would want it included in the budget for a new stadium.
He said that if he were to control the land, he would welcome the A’s to stay on that site — and build their own ballpark, so long as the Raiders retain much of the current parking lot for tailgaters.
“If they want to stay on the Coliseum site they need to commit ASAP,” Davis said of the A’s. The land is owned and operated by the city and county Coliseum Authority, which leases O. Co to the A’s and the Raiders and Oracle Arena to the Warriors.
Schaaf released a statement Thursday congratulating the team and the Coliseum Authority for signing the one- year lease. She said she looks forward to “ironing out a new plan for a permanent new home for the team in Oakland.”
“I remain confident that we can build a new stadium in Oakland in a way that works for the team, the fans and the taxpayers,” Schaaf said in the statement.
The Raiders have long been threatening to move out of Oakland, even as the city and county struggle to pay off a costly renovation of the Coliseum’s east end, which includes a top deck that hasn’t been used in years — and will remain tarped off this year, Davis said.
In January, the Raiders pulled their bid to pursue a $ 1.7 billion stadium project with the San Diego Chargers in Carson ( Los Angeles County) after the project failed to win support from NFL owners. Teams need approval from 24 of the league’s 32 owners in order to move to another city.
Speculation about a potential move was building weeks later, when Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson tried to woo the Raiders with plans for a $ 1 billion domed stadium. Though Davis met with Adelson late last month, he told The Chronicle this month that it would take years to build a stadium in Sin City and that his “No. 1 plan” was to stay in Oakland for the 2016 season.
In 2014, Davis met with San Antonio officials about a possible stadium there. He’ll also be first in line to join the Rams in a swanky new $ 1.9 billion venue in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, if the Chargers decline to move in next year. Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E- mail: rswan@ sfchronicle. com Twitter: @ rachelswan