Oakland and Alameda County will have to contribute "at
least" $8M in FY '98, starting July 1, and an additional
$13M in FY '99, "to shore up the costly Raiders deal that
wasn't supposed to cost taxpayers a cent," according to
Renee Koury of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. A report by the
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority confirms "what
public officials long have feared: that poor seat sales and
spiraling construction costs will force taxpayers to
subsidize" the $197M deal that brought the Raiders back from
L.A. in '95 (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 4/22). The Coliseum
Authority's report said that expanding the Oakland Coliseum
to Raiders Owner Al Davis' "specifications" cost $30M "more
than expected," and PSL sales are $32M "short." Of about
56,000 PSLs and clubs seats, 36,000 have been sold (Rick
DelVecchio, S.F. CHRONICLE, 2/22). The MERCURY NEWS' Koury
notes that to cover the $8M cost, officials said they will
get the money "from a windfall of cash the city and county
earned by refinancing pension bonds last year, and insisted
it won't affect vital services to the public." However, the
officials "acknowledged" that the bond refinancing money,
which totals about $36M, "could have been put elsewhere if
the Raiders deal was paying for itself." Koury also notes
that the reports' financial projections, "though grim, may
be somewhat optimistic," since they assume the Oakland
Football Marketing Association next year will sell more than
500 PSLs and 550 club seats and plan on a corporation paying
$750,000 a year starting in FY '98 for naming rights to the
Oakland Coliseum complex (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 4/22).
