Raiders’ Oakland saga may continue

Team nears deal to stay at Coliseum a year or two

The Raiders appear to be close to wrapping up a deal to keep the team playing at the Oakland Coliseum this year and possibly in 2020. An announcement is expected this week or early next week, according to sources close to the talks.

“It’s for one year for sure, with an option for the second year,” said one source who could not speak on the record because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations.

Under the proposed deal, the Raiders would pay $7.5 million this year with the rent rising to $10.5 million if the team stays on through 2020. The option for an extra year is insurance in case the team’s new $1.8 billion stadium in Las Vegas isn’t ready.

“All of the major issues ... have been resolved,” the source said.

The deal is being worked out between Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority Executive Director Scott McKibben and Raiders President Marc Badain. Authority members have been kept abreast of the talks in closed session and are barred from speaking publicly on the details at this point.

“But I’d say there is a better than 50-50 shot,” Coliseum Authority board member Chris Dobbins said.

The Raiders didn’t immediately return calls for comment.

If the lease deal goes through, it would be the latest chapter in the ongoing soap opera over the Raiders’ highly charged exit from the Bay Area.

The Raiders walked away from a one-year, $7.5 million lease extension at the Coliseum in December after the city of Oakland joined a lawsuit seeking millions in damages for the team’s move to Las Vegas.

Raiders owner Mark Davis didn’t want to play in a city that was suing him.

Since pulling away from that deal, the Raiders have been in talks with the San Francisco 49ers and the San Francisco Giants about playing six to eight home games at either Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara or at Oracle Park on the San Francisco waterfront.

The 49ers and Raiders exchanged term sheets on a deal to temporarily share the Santa Clara stadium, which was built for two teams, but it’s unclear how far the talks went.

The talks with the Giants were complicated both by the need to get the 49ers’ permission for the Raiders to play in downtown San Francisco — part of the 49ers’ NFL territory — and by concerns from City Hall that neighborhoods near Oracle Park would be overwhelmed with traffic and tailgaters on game days.

Word is that both deals would have cost more than what the Oakland Coliseum was offering and would have been inconvenient for the team, which is still headquartered in Alameda.

The team’s decision to reengage with Coliseum officials follows NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s preSuper Bowl comment that the league needs to start scheduling its 2019 season and that he expects a decision “soon” on where the Raiders would play their home games.

“We could have stuck it to them, but instead they kept the same deal on the table,” that the Raiders had walked away from, said one source with knowledge of the talks. Job bank: Even while calling for big changes in state policies, new California Gov. Gavin Newsom is sticking to the longtime tradition of appointing former lawmakers and political allies to nicepaying jobs on state commissions.

First up, former California Professional Firefighters President Louis Paulson of Walnut Creek. Newsom just nominated him to a $153,689a-year seat on the Public Employment Relations Board. The firefighters were a key backer of Newsom’s campaign for governor.

Next, labor leader Art Pulaski of Berkeley, whom Newsom reappointed to a $58,633a-year seat on the State Compensation Insurance Fund Board of Directors, where he has served since 2018.

Pulaski has served as executive secretary-treasurer and chief officer of the 2.1 million-member California Labor Federation since 1996. The federation endorsed Newsom for governor.

And, in the once-a-lawmaker category, Newsom appointed former Assemblyman Michael Allen of Santa Rosa, to a $153,689-ayear seat on the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. Allen served as assistant Assembly majority leader in 2011 and 2012.

Other unemployment board members include former state Sen. Marty Block; Dan Reeves, who was chief of staff to several legislative leaders; and former Deputy Attorney General Ralph Lightstone.