Post by TheShadow on Nov 2, 2005 20:05:20 GMT -5
www.sfgate.com
Tom Fitzgerald and Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writers
Oakland -- The Raiders will scrap the controversial and largely unsuccessful personal seat license program set up to finance the renovation of the Oakland Coliseum when the team returned to the East Bay 10 years ago, officials announced today, and the football team will handle ticket sales after this season.
The announcement by the team and East Bay political leaders is an acknowledgment that the so-called PSL program failed, and it settles a series of lawsuits that had mired the Raiders in court with Alameda County and the city of Oakland.
"We decided to eliminate PSLs and turn ticket sales over to the Raiders," said Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente. "We admit that things didn't work out the way they were planned. But instead of fighting, we're going to work together and move forward."
Officials announced a series of compromises that they hope will allow the team to sell more tickets and help the city and county repay the $200 million cost of renovating the stadium, now known as McAfee Coliseum, which was funded through a bond issue.
Under the new deal, the Raiders will take over ticketing and marketing duties previously handled by the Oakland Football Marketing Association under a plan created to lure the Raiders from Los Angeles in 1995.
The deal also allows the Raiders and the public agencies to settle all outstanding lawsuits and legal issues, but it does not affect a Sacramento jury's $34 million judgment against the city and county after finding that Oakland Coliseum officials misled the team, although not intentionally, in their bid to bring the franchise back. Alameda County and the City of Oakland have launched a series of appeals to avoid paying the judgment.
De La Fuente said the deal, which came Tuesday night after two years of negotiations, must be approved by the Oakland City Council and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors early next month.
The city of Oakland and Alameda County have each accrued $10 million in annual losses on the Coliseum complex, largely because sales of the personal seat licenses, which were meant to finance repayment of the bonds and were required of all season-ticket holders, fell far short of expectations. The PSLs sold in 1995 will expire after this season.
Raiders chief executive Amy Trask said those fans who invested in PSLs 10 years ago "will be taken care of."
"They will be first in line to buy their own seats," Trask said. "We want to recognize their commitment to our team."
The Oakland Football Marketing Association, a third party that critics called cumbersome and ineffective, will cease to exist, and the Raiders will take over ticket sales.
"We think we can do a better job," team owner Al Davis said. "We look forward to doing this ourselves. We want to do it right. It wasn't done right. It had alienated lots of fans."
In return for the control of tickets sales, Davis agreed to relinquish parking revenue to the public agencies and give the city and county a higher share of concessions revenue and club fees.
The team also will turn over to the city and county ownership of the Raiders practice facility in Alameda -- which was financed in part from $10 million in public funds -- in 2011, the year the Raiders lease on the Coliseum expires. De La Fuente estimates the value of the facility will be $50 million at that point.
But it remains unclear whether the new deal will help the city and county cut subsidies to pay for the renovation of the stadium. De La Fuente and county Supervisor Gail Steele said a significant savings would come from reduced legal costs, and that money could be used to pay back the bonds.
"The legal fees cost us millions," Steele said.
In addition, the public agencies will not have to pay $3 million annually to market the personal seat licenses.
Personal seat licenses at the Coliseum cost from $250 to $4,000 depending on the seat location, and guarantee the owner the right to purchase season tickets. At most other venues around the country, PSLs are permanent. In Oakland, officials had hoped the popularity of the Raiders would allow a remarketing of the licenses after 10 years.
But authorities conceded long ago that plan wasn't going to work. Because the club rarely came close to a sellout, fans could buy game-day tickets without having to buy seat licenses.
Davis said the team, despite consistently selling more team merchandise than any other NFL franchise during the past 20 years, ranks near the bottom among the 32 NFL teams when it comes to revenue. He also said that cities without a football team would love to see one come to town.
He and Trask declined to comment on the team's plans after its lease in Oakland ends.
"We want to make this a viable, competitive franchise," Davis said at today's news conference. "This deal gives us five years to see what we can do."