As "public grumbling" over the Raiders $200M deal to
relocate to Oakland increases, an Alameda County grand jury
"has secretly" obtained testimony from "key officials"
involved in the deal, including chief architect Ezra
Rapport, according to Dan Reed of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS.
The jury has questioned "at least five players in the deal
and its management" over past weeks. The panel is
interested in the "complex transactions" that enticed the
Raiders back from L.A., which sources say could leave
taxpayers with a "once-unexpected bill" of millions of
dollars. Reed notes that the "key to the 16-year deal is
paying off bond debt with revenue" from PSLs, costing $250-
$4,000 per seat and to lure the team back from L.A., Oakland
officials agreed to pay $200M to expand Oakland Coliseum,
pay a relocation cost and market the team. But ticket sales
"have not met expectations" and "with several agencies"
involved in the deal, many are "wondering who is
accountable." Gail Steele, an Alameda County supervisor
"frustrated" by the lack of information on the deal: "I'm
sure they think they're going to find a big scandal, when
what they probably will find is incompetence" (SAN JOSE
MERCURY NEWS, 11/23). In San Francisco, Peter Fimrite
writes the "results will likely show a rudderless marketing
operation, still floundering under the same confusion,
finger-pointing and political sniping that plagued it from
the beginning" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 11/23).
