Raiders secure Vegas funding
Bets are back on for Las Vegas, as far as the Oakland Raiders are concerned.
Team President Marc Badain told the NFL stadium and finance committees Monday that the Raiders have secured financing for a 65,000-seat stadium, league sources told The Chronicle. Bank of America will replace Goldman Sachs in bankrolling the $1.9 billion project, which temporarily went off the tracks in January when Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson pulled out.
The Raiders believe they have everything in place now for a relocation vote at the annual owners’ meeting March 26-29 in Phoenix. Twenty-four of 32 owners must approve the relocation proposal. Regardless of what happens with the vote, the Raiders plan to play in Oakland the next two seasons.
The Las Vegas Stadium Authority will meet Thursday to discuss the financing. Raiders officials had no comment on the development.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf also made a presentation to the finance committee Monday, but league sources said no new cost or financing proposals were made. Schaaf has balked at using public money to build a
new stadium in Oakland, and the NFL has not been excited about the city’s proposals with Fortress Investment Group and former NFL players Ronnie Lott and Rodney Peete.
“Today, we presented a plan that we believe responsibly meets the needs of all parties,” Schaaf said in a statement released by the city. “We made a sound economic case for keeping the Raiders in Oakland through the creation of what could become one of America’s premier mixed-use sporting venues.
“Ours is a project that enhances the use of the already-entitled Oakland Coliseum site for the Raiders and for the public benefit and leverages the site’s proximity to BART and other public transit options, Oakland International Airport and major freeways.”
Lott’s group has proposed building a $1.25 billion, 55,000seat stadium at the current site.
The group submitted an updated plan last month, but it doesn’t appear to be much different from the December financing proposal the league rejected. That one called for $600 million from Lott’s contingent and Fortress Investment, a combined $500 million from the Raiders and the NFL, and $200 million in infrastructure money from Oakland.
One of the elephants in the room has been the Oakland A’s, league sources said. The mayor’s office has been unable to convince the NFL that the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Authority would exercise its two-year termination clause on the Major League Baseball team for a new stadium at the current site.
Before Bank of America replaced Goldman Sachs, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval’s office had said that the Raiders were on the hook to invest $1.15 billion and accept operating responsibilities. Raiders owner Mark Davis is putting up $500 million.
There had been speculation that Adelson, who originally pledged $650 million toward a new stadium, would attempt to purchase a piece of the Raiders, but Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II cited league rules and policies that would prohibit a casino owner from owning a franchise. The Raiders had been negotiating with Adelson for months; his lobbying and money went a long way to securing the $750 million in free money from a tourist hotel tax.
Adelson, 83, was taken aback and pulled his proposal when the team proposed a lease agreement with $1 annual rent and total control of operations. Goldman Sachs, which does a lot of business with Adelson, withdrew the next day.