Lott says he is hopeful about Oakland deal

Ronnie Lott said he is “optimistic” that his investment group can get something done with the political leaders of the city of Oakland and Alameda County to build a stadium for the Raiders in Oakland.

The former 49ers and Raiders Hall of Fame defensive back said he has been meeting regularly with the city and the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, which jointly own the property that is home to the Coliseum and Oracle Arena. Lott said he also has talked to Raiders owner Mark Davis.

“I have a lot of respect for Mark,” Lott told The Chronicle on Tuesday in his first public comments on the subject. “We have a great relationship. I think the city and county will find a way to get this done, and Mark and the Raiders can continue to be an important part of this community.”

Lott and partner Rodney Peete — a former Raiders quarterback and, like Lott, a USC alum —

have an agreement with the city and county that gives them 90 days to work out a deal for the Coliseum. Mayor Libby Schaaf said that expires at the end of November.

Lott said his attorneys wouldn’t let him discuss the financing plan for the billiondollar football stadium that the Raiders require to stay. Unlike Las Vegas, Schaaf is unwilling to spend taxpayer money on another stadium, offering instead $90 million in public funding for infrastructure improvements to the Coliseum area.

Lott said he first got involved in the project because he has seen how much losing the 49ers has hurt San Francisco.

“People in San Francisco miss Candlestick (Park) and having the 49ers,” Lott said. “It’s affected a lot of people, and that’s before you even bring the economics into it.

“And look at the good a new stadium can do. The Giants’ new ballpark created a demographic change to that area that was for the better. And that could happen to Oakland and the area around the stadium.”

Schaaf has said that Lott and Peete “understand business. … They understand football. They understand having a commitment to the community.”

Lott and Peete were not involved, contrary to earlier reports, in an offer that a group of investors made to Schaaf last week. Atlanta-based Stadium Real Estate Partners LLC offered to pay the city and county $167 million for 120 acres.

Schaaf said she declined the offer because she is “committed to a team-centered development that requires the city to deal directly with the Raiders and the National Football League.”

And that is why Lott plans to work with Davis once officials get an appraisal to find out how much the Coliseum land is worth.

“Oakland losing the Raiders again would be very, very, very tough,” Lott said. “You lose all the economic impact that comes with it, and it would impact the whole community, even kids growing up who lose the chance to go watch a game.”

Lott said going to a Los Angeles Coliseum game one time as a kid changed his life.

“I had never seen anything like it,” Lott said. “It gave me hope, I saw something that I didn’t know existed and I thought, ‘Maybe I can do this and be something.’ ”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell last week echoed Lott’s sentiments about Oakland possibly losing the Raiders a second time.

“Well, you never want to see a community lose their franchise once, much less twice,” Goodell said. “That’s why we work so hard with our communities to say, ‘This is what you have to try to get to,’ because you need to try to make sure this franchise continues to be successful.

“The Minnesota community did that in a great way. I think we can do it in Oakland. I think there’s a solution there, but it takes the community to help identify it.”

Two weeks ago, the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee voted to recommend that $750 million in public money — raised through an increased tax on Las Vegas hotel rooms — be allocated for a new football stadium in the city.

The Nevada state Legislature still needs to approve the financing plan, and 24 of the NFL’s 32 owners would need to give it the go-ahead in a vote.

The league office’s Eric Grubman, who was the point man for the Rams’ move to Los Angeles, was in Oakland to meet with Lott and other local officials.

“How do we make it work?” Lott said. “That’s what we’re all asking. I am optimistic because I believe in the good of people.”