Post by TheShadow on Nov 6, 2005 10:32:00 GMT -5
insidebayarea.com/
By Carl Steward
IT'S A GOOD thing local politicians brokered to eventually get the Oakland Raiders' training facility this week. They're going to need it as a fortress to hide from their furious constituencies in 51/2 years.
When the Raiders flee the Coliseum at the end of the 2010 season and the city and county taxpayers still face a massive financial liability for their decade of bungling, folks such as Ignacio de la Fuente and Gail Steele are going to have everyone after them, not just pockets of the populace already steamed.
Irate Raiders fans who've lost their team. Livid taxpayers still paying. Ruthless lawyers trying to collect that $34million the Raiders definitely will continue demanding after they settle in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Antonio or parts yet unknown in 2011.
Anywhere but Oakland.
The "deal" that was announced this week by the Raiders, the city of Oakland and Alameda County was full of smiles and laughter. Those who really know what's happening here, though,were frowning big time. They understand the joke's on us and recognize it as the likely beginning of the end.
Those who believe this "deal" is going to lead to something good just don't see the reality of the Raiders' situation here. More likely, this was a bargain in which both sides decided to cut their losses ... only the city and county are in for significantly bigger losses down the road. Not only are they going to saddle the region with mind-boggling debt, they're going to lose the football team, too. Nice going.
Davis has stated pretty clearly in recent years that there is no financial future for his team in Oakland. The club is almost last in the NFL in revenues generated, and that's not likely to change under this new arrangement in 51/2 years. Hence, Al will have his built-in excuse to leave when it's time and — hey, it's the city's fault this thing failed. just like last time. We tried to rescue it, but it was too late.
To help illustrate their point, the Raiders will take over ticket sales knowing they can't possibly do any worse than the OFMA even though they have very little marketing expertise themselves and a history of clumsy public relations to boot.
Can they somehow significantly reverse the ticket-selling trend? Ahem, I won't be betting my mortgage any time soon. For starters, the Raiders need to win significantly more games on the field to start packing the house. Davis knows that better than anyone even if he's been in denial about it since 1995, hiding behind that "guaranteed sellouts" provision.
More likely, the Raiders simply will try to make do for the remainder of the lease and then be gone. They really don't have much choice anyway, having been bound to the existing lease in a court of law when they tried to break it a few years back.
Some see the Raiders' concessions in this "deal" — which in reality were scant — as some sort of softening on Davis' part, that with his advancing age he's decided to play Mr. Benevolent and save the day with acts of uncommon civic generosity and deference.
Not a chance. Less than Jim Otto's double-zero on that count. And don't go counting too heavily on the much-whispered hunch play of Al being out of the picture soon and his successors being more amenable to negotiating and staying before the lease is up. That won't happen, either.
This "deal" is part of Davis' long-range plan to orchestrate the future should he not be capable of that decision-making process himself at some juncture. Chief lieutenant Amy Trask, for one, is a fierce loyalist who will act on orders Davis no doubt has already clearly expressed.
Look, smile and laugh all you want and rejoice that you no longer have to pay for those PSLs, but the Raiders wouldn't even discuss a lease extension in this "deal." They also wouldn't remove that $34million damage award from the litigation settlements — and hey, that's the biggie, isn't it? — so the notion of the city and county not incurring any more legal fees is a bunch of double-talk.
So what do the city and county get? The Raiders headquarters. If that doesn't send up a red flag about the kick in the head that's coming, what does? Davis paid for the facility largely with public money anyway that he got from the entities that lured him up here. Naturally, de la Fuente had to give it his usual spin of baseless bravado, that the property will be worth $50million once the Raiders vacate.
Even if that $50million pie in the sky eventuates, $34mil of it could still go back to the Raiders, wherever they wind up. Another $16mil will be applied to cover what could be more than $150million in taxpayer liability still owed for Coliseum renovations made a decade ago.
Sounds like a "deal" to me. A bum one.