Alameda County Supervisors are calling for an audit of the
Oakland Football Marketing Association, which heads up the
Raiders marketing operation ("Sports View," CNBC, 1/10). The
discord is over the group's "seemingly secretive, free-spending
ways" which recently came to a head over the acknowledgment of
nearly $1M in payments to two consultants "widely blamed" for
troubles within the Raider ticket selling operation. Some
elected officials felt they should have been informed about the
payments in advance, since taxpayers would be liable if the deal
became a financial bust. Board of Supervisors President Gail
Steele: "I don't know what the going rate is, but you can't have
$500,000 in expenses every month." OFMA head Ezra Rapport, who
also serves as Oakland Deputy City Manager, said the $440,000
paid to consultant Marc Ganis was based on work done to attract
the Raiders since '94. Charlotte-based marketer Max Muhleman,
defended his total charge of $478,000: "We were called in on an
emergency basis. If something wasn't done to save it, the whole
operation was going to die within 30 days. Frankly, I estimated
it was going to cost more. We reduced our fees twice before we
arrived at this amount" (Peter Fimrite, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE,
1/11).
