Post by TheShadow on May 22, 2005 19:40:39 GMT -5
www.sacbee.com/
By Jim Jenkins -- Bee Staff Writer
The Raiders may be making progress in an effort to solve the personal seat license mess, a big contributor to their attendance woes.
In Old Sacramento for a sales-oriented social gathering with area business leaders last Wednesday, Raiders chief executive officer Amy Trask said she is optimistic about an issue resolution.
"I think we are all pulling our oars in the same direction," she said of ongoing meetings with Oakland and Alameda County officials, Coliseum landlords who were targeted by the Raiders in a broken-promises lawsuit two years ago.
The team won $34.2 million in damages but has yet to collect.
A workable season-ticket plan is, of course, vital to any franchise's financial stability. But it is still unclear how Oakland's PSL system will be replaced or retooled to make it more attractive.
A key source of extra revenue for teams, PSLs are essentially seating rights fees to guarantee fans season tickets. In most NFL cities where they are used, it is a guarantee through the length of a team's stadium lease. In Oakland, PSL customers were given a 10-year limit, expiring at the end of the 2005 season.
The Raiders' lease runs through 2010.
Because PSL sales in the East Bay, from $250 to $4,000 depending on location, never met projections - the team's last estimate was 31,000 - there have been 54 non-sellouts and television blackouts during the Raiders' first decade back from Los Angeles, a span of 80 regular-season games.
Trask, with other Raiders front-office and marketing personnel, hosted the reception with the aim of drumming up luxury box business, another area the Raiders aren't making as much money as they had projected.
In her presentation, Trask, owner Al Davis' top aide, said the team's offseason roster moves, including a trade for Minnesota's Randy Moss, should create enthusiasm for fans and, as a result, generate more box office business. The deal for Moss, arguably the game's most talented receiver, was given cover treatment by Sports Illustrated, which Trask said was a pleasant surprise.
Meanwhile, Trask said the Raiders have filed legal papers to overturn a judge's recent ruling, refusing to grant the team a new trial in a $1.2 billion suit against the NFL over the territorial rights to Los Angeles.This has been a ping-pong battle.
The NFL won the case in 2001, but a new trial was ordered because of alleged jury misconduct. Earlier this year, the NFL successfully appealed the new-trial ruling. Now the Raiders, who claim the league sabotaged their stadium plans, want to appeal again, contending they should be compensated before Los Angeles gets another team.
High price of playing
During a visit to the Raiders' training camp in Napa a few summers ago, John Madden said players will never be the same physically, even if they play only one down in the NFL.
After many years of coaching and television work, Madden concluded the game is now so brutal between big-body participants that injuries are unavoidable, even for players with relatively short careers.
As an update to that comment, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch detailed a study on the NFL's first 50 years, a probe undertaken by the players' union and Ball State University.
According to the report, of 870 former NFL players surveyed, 65 percent said they had suffered an injury at some point that either required surgery or forced them to miss at least half a season. The study also cited long-term health problems for retired players, with arthritis the most common complaint.
Some of the game's greatest players were not immune. The report said Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas, who died in 2002 at age 69, had both knees replaced and suffered significant nerve damage in his right hand. The condition affected his strength and sense of touch, and limited his ability to play golf.
The survey cited a Sports Illustrated interview with Miki Yaras-Davis, director of benefits for the NFL Players Association, who told the magazine, "Everybody comes out of pro football with some injury. It's only the (severity) that separates them."