Oakland Alameda Coliseum authority officials filed a
lawsuit yesterday against the Raiders charging them with
interfering with a $17.5M naming-rights deal with UMAX
Corp., according to Rick DelVecchio in a front-page story in
the S.F. CHRONICLE. The dispute "is the most dramatic
example of the deterioration of relations between the NFL
team and East Bay officials." The Coliseum complaint
accuses the Raiders of making "unreasonable objections to
the name sale to extract more cash from the Coliseum." The
Coliseum authority is seeking damages from the team "and a
judgment on whether the Raiders have a right to break" their
lease. Raiders attorney Joseph Alioto: "We are trying to
work things out with them. ... We're not talking about
leaving Oakland, but if they're trying to force us out of
Oakland they're going about it the right way." Alioto said
that the Raiders "aren't bluffing and will insist in the
counterclaim that East Bay officials haven't fulfilled their
end of the lease agreement" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 9/30). In San
Jose, Frances Dinkelspiel reports that Raiders officials
contend "they had been misled" by East Bay officials who
told them in '95 that selling out the Coliseum "for Raiders
games would be no problem." UMAX officials had no comment
on the lawsuit and said they "still hope the name deal is
viable" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 9/30).
