Oakland Raiders Rumors: Stadium Deal “Gurgling Blood,” Nearly Dead
By Kevin Saito
Okay, Oakland Raiders fans, take a deep breath and hold on to your hats – perhaps hats of the tin foil variety – for the latest “development” in the ongoing Coliseum City stadium saga.
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In a recent article that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Raiders’ stadium deal, as described by an anonymous “Coliseum official close to the talks,” is “gurgling blood,” and that the only question remaining is when it is going to be declared dead.
Given the fact that the Raiders have just committed millions of dollars to renovating and upgrading their training facilities, it seemed to be a good sign that the team was perhaps, on the verge of striking a deal with the city of Oakland and Alameda County to get a land and stadium deal done.
Given the amount of money to improving their current facilities, Mark Davis’ dream of a Coliseum City seemed to be one step closer to becoming a reality.
Or so we thought.
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According to the article in the Chronicle, Davis is demanding free land upon which to build Coliseum City – something that neither the city of Oakland or Alameda County appear willing to deliver. Furthermore, it’s believed that between Davis and what the NFL is willing to kick in, the Raiders can deliver up to $500 million dollars toward the project. With initial estimates for the stadium being at least double that figure, there is obviously a huge gap that has to be made up somewhere.
The additional funding would likely require some big time investors and/or the use of public money to complete the project. And both Oakland and Alameda County have already expressed their displeasure and incredible reluctance to provide the Raiders with any public money for the stadium.
According to the Chronicle’s source though, the biggest sticking point may be the construction itself.
"“But the real poison pill is the Raiders’ insistence that the minute we start working on the new stadium, the old one comes down. Team owner Mark Davis has made it clear that by the time the Silver and Black are in their new home, he doesn’t want to be playing in the middle of a construction zone. Of course, knocking down the Coliseum means knocking down the A’s home and losing the A’s would be suicide for all of us.”"
Davis is on record, numerous times, declaring that his preference and intent is to keep the Raiders in Oakland. And while there is still time for a stadium deal to be worked out between all of the parties involved and any potential investors, it’s very clear that the clock is ticking.
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And out of all of this uncertainty, an – interesting – rumor has bubbled to the surface. In an article written by Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, he outlines – or at least starts the ball rolling – on an incredible, mind-bender of a rumor.
The city of St. Louis has pulled out all of the stops to build a new riverfront stadium – with the goal of keeping the Rams there – and putting together a coherent and workable plan. Obviously, Rams owner Stan Kroenke doesn’t want to play ball with them to the point that he’s not even taking their calls. Kroenke is intent on playing in Southern California, and is making no bones about it.
Truth be told, there are so many different rumors, scenarios, and speculations in play that it’s A) difficult to keep up with them all, and B) too tiresome to even try keeping up with them all.
But this one is so out there that it makes you wonder if Miklasz spent a little too much time sniffing the white out in his cubicle before committing his words to the page. So of course, we felt compelled to share it with you.
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The city of St. Louis has ponied up big time to get their riverfront stadium deal done. They have a financing package that includes some $400 million in public money, and the NFL does not want to see a team walk away from that sort of financial investment.
Roger Goodell and his henchmen have commented favorably upon the progress St. Louis has made in securing a stadium deal and making it a viable market for the NFL, and presumably does not want to see all of that time, effort, and most importantly, money go to waste.
But if Kroenke doesn’t want to keep the Rams in St. Louis, what is the NFL going to do? According to Miklasz, it is going to break down like this:
Kroenke is going to sell the Rams to local ownership committed to keeping the Rams. Kroenke will then buy the Raiders from Davis and take the team south to his nifty state of the art stadium in Inglewood.
And according to another piece that appeared on SB Nation, this move would then give the Chargers some flexibility and leverage in working out a new deal with the city of San Diego to keep the team there.
Dec 21, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders fan Mark Acascio aka Gorilla Rilla cheers in the Black Hole end zone against the Buffalo Bills at O.co Coliseum. The Raiders defeated the Bills 26-24. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
So if you’re scoring at home, the domino effect of the theory Miklasz is proposing goes like this – Kroenke sells the Rams to a local group dedicated to keeping the team there. Kroenke then somehow manages to convince Davis to sell the Raiders to him, and he brings the team to his palace in Inglewood. And lastly, all of this somehow frees up more cash in San Diego to keep the Chargers there.
And everybody lives happily ever after – except for Raider fans who wanted the team to stay in the custody of the Davis family, in Oakland, but get shafted again.
What Miklasz doesn’t explain however, is how exactly Davis is going to be persuaded to sell the team to Kroenke – or whether Kroenke is even interested in the franchise switch to begin with. Not to mention the fact that the other owners in the league can put the kibosh on the whole thing by voting to not grant a relocation permit to Kroenke.
It’s a wild theory, birthed from a very creative imagination, to say the least. But it’s probably the least likely scenario of the fourteen million currently floating around.
It also serves to underscore the point that the stadium deal in Oakland, and the chance for the city and county to keep the team there, is on life support. Alameda County Supervisor Nate Smiley, not a big fan of the project to begin with, recently described the situation in very grave terms.
"“The Raiders have indicated, and the continue to indicate that Oakland is their preference. They want to be here. But, once again, I think it’s going to boil down to who’s prepared to put up what type of money to keep the Raiders here. The Raiders are looking for a contribution from the public sector, and that could include infrastructure, bond indebtedness, as well as the land, and I just don’t know what the appetite is from the public sector to do all that.”"
And one of Goodell’s top henchmen, NFL Vice President Eric Grubman was even less optimistic about the Oakland stadium situation.
"“I have had multiple visits to Oakland, and in those visits, each of those for the past three years, I’ve visited with public officials, and I feel like we’ve gone backwards. I just feel like we’ve lost years and gone backwards, and that usually doesn’t bode well.”"
Despite the fact that sentiment about getting a deal done to keep the Raiders in Oakland seemed to be turning and gaining some momentum, the city of Oakland as well as Alameda County have both seemed to cool to the prospects recently. The tide of sentiment to keeping the team in the Bay Area seems to be turning once again. And despite the millions committed to upgrade their local facilities, Davis and the Raiders can only sit and watch as officials in Oakland seem to be losing their commitment to the team.
Raider fans, at this point, can only sit and hope that the reports of a new stadium deal dying a slow, horrible, “blood gurgling” death are about as accurate as the rumors about Kroenke buying the Raiders and moving them to Inglewood are. All Raiders fans can do right now is hope that they can somehow get it together and save the patient.
Time will tell of course, and we’ll have a million more crazy scenarios to add to the pile, but one thing is very clear – if Oakland and Alameda County are serious about keeping the Raiders in the Bay Area, time is very rapidly running out.