Raiders off to Vegas
Reaction: City, county officials consider suing over relocation plan
East Bay officials are exploring options to sue the Raiders and possibly the National Football League after league owners approved the Oakland team’s relocation to Las Vegas, dismissing a plan from Oakland that Mayor Libby Schaaf on Monday insisted was “viable.”
Those briefed on legal discussions say actions by the county and city could include arguing that Raiders owner Mark Davis didn’t negotiate in good faith with Oakland leaders. For his part, Davis said at a news conference Monday that a rent increase from $900,000 to $3.5 million last year — money paid to Oakland and Alameda County to lease the Coliseum — was the final straw that made him turn to other options.
Schaaf said that Davis had refused to meet
with her over the past year, with one exception.
For months, Schaaf had vetoed proposals that would have put public money on the bargaining table with NFL and team officials — funds to be poured into a new stadium to compete with the Las Vegas plan that calls for $750 million in taxpayer money to build a $1.9 billion domed facility.
Instead, Oakland wanted to use mostly private, third-party investments to construct a sports complex and stadium, along with $200 million in public money to make infrastructure improvements to the surrounding land.
“There was no way we were ever going to compete with the money Vegas was offering, and frankly, there are many people who say we shouldn’t,” said Chris Dobbins, who led a group aiming to keep the team in Oakland and who sits on the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, which oversees the stadium. “Today is devastating, just incredibly sad.”
The mayor and others also rejected calls from the NFL to evict the Oakland A’s so the Raiders would get preference on the site of a new stadium, a “threshold issue” that led the NFL to dismiss Oakland’s proposal, said Schaaf.
After a news conference in which she said she was disappointed by the NFL decision, Schaaf rode an elevator to the roof of City Hall. There, she and A’s team president Dave Kaval cheerfully hoisted an Athletics flag — an annual ritual to mark the start of the Major League Baseball team’s spirit week and which happened to coincide with the Raiders vote.
With the Raiders and Golden State Warriors, who are building an arena in San Francisco, out of the picture, the A’s are left alone to negotiate a new ballpark with the city.
“We understand the Raiders’ need for a new stadium,” the A’s said in a statement. “Oakland is an incredible sports town and we would be sorry to see them leave. We commend the city’s and county’s efforts to keep the Raiders in Oakland. The Mayor and her team have worked incredibly hard to save the franchise. We are focused on, and excited about, our efforts to build a new ballpark in Oakland and look forward to announcing a location this year.”
In the end, the refusals by Schaaf may have cost her city its NFL team, but they will likely win her political support outside the devoted team fan base. The vast majority of surveyed residents placed keeping the team in town last among their priorities two years ago in a city Chamber of Commerce poll.
“The mayor deserves a lot of credit for drawing the line,” said Oakland City Council President Larry Reid. “We were not about to do what the NFL asked the mayor to do at the meeting in Palm Beach when they posed the question, ‘Would you pull the trigger on the Oakland A’s?’ ”
Reid, who chairs the Coliseum Authority, said he asked attorneys for both the city and the joint board to review their legal options against the Raiders. For starters, Reid said, he doesn’t want them playing at the Coliseum while the Las Vegas facility is built.
But kicking out the Raiders would likely be a steep uphill battle.
The contract signed by Raiders, city and county officials — a copy of which was obtained by The Chronicle — gives the team unilateral authority to extend its lease through the next two seasons. Hours after the vote by NFL owners to relocate, the team sent the Coliseum Authority written notice that it will play at the Coliseum this year. It has an option to renew the lease at the Coliseum in 2018.
“If in fact the Raiders do continue to play at the Coliseum, I hope they play to a crowd of maybe two or three people or no people at all,” Reid said at a news conference, adding later that he plans to donate his Raiders gear to charity and tear up old photos.
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, weighed in on the issue, too, saying she was “deeply troubled” by the vote.
“This decision flies in the face of the NFL's own guidelines and displays a callous disregard for the loyal fans who have enabled the Raiders to thrive for generations,” Lee said in a statement.
Wherever the Raiders play and whatever legal challenges come their way, if any, Oakland and Alameda County will continue to be on the hook for almost $83 million in stadium debt, part of the financing of the Coliseum’s renovations in the 1990s that coaxed the team to move back from Los Angeles. At the time, city officials thought sales from seat licensing would pay off the bonds.
“That did not come to pass,” Schaaf told reporters. “Every year we cut a check out of our general fund — money that could be used for any city service goes to pay that construction bill. And so in Las Vegas, when their hotel taxes don’t materialize as planned, they certainly can give us a call. We’ll let them know what that feels like.”