Raiders Owner Al Davis "seems interested in moving the
team" following a "secret meeting" with Oakland Mayor Jerry
Brown, according to Alan Abrahamson of the L.A. TIMES.
Raiders attorney Joseph Alioto said that Oakland and Alameda
County officials "failed to fulfill a promise to deliver
sellout crowds." In order to move from Oakland, Alioto said
the Raiders "must simply give notice within 90 days of the
Super Bowl and agree to pay a 'termination fee' of
$500,000," though it isn't due until 2011. Hollywood Park
Chair R.D. Hubbard, who "wooed" the team in '95: "If it is
going to happen, we'd be interested in talking to them."
Alioto, on NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue saying the
Raiders "have a long-term commitment" to Oakland: "As usual,
he's dead wrong" (L.A. TIMES, 2/20). Mayor Brown
spokesperson Stacy Wells said that the mayor "is committed
to keeping the team in Oakland" (S.F. EXAMINER, 2/21).
NFL EXPANSION NOTES: In Houston, John McClain wrote
that while a delay in the final decision on the NFL's 32nd
franchise "would seem to be to Los Angeles' advantage ...
it's really not," because it's just "more time [L.A.] has to
show it can't do what Houston has already done." McClain:
"The more the owners see Los Angeles fail to develop a
package that equals Houston's, the more they will be certain
that the team should go to Houston" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE,
2/20). The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's John Lombardo gives an
in depth examination of the three groups vying for the NFL's
32nd franchise. New Coliseum Partners' Eli Broad said that
his group "would be willing to sell" a 40 % stake in the
team "to build wider support" for the group. But Broad
stressed the group "already has the financial resources to
pay for the franchise without any outside help" (John
Lombardo, SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/22 issue).
