A new Raiders stadium offer "worked out by Oakland Mayor Jean Quan's development people calls for giving free land to the team" and for city and Alameda County taxpayers to pay off $120M they "still owe for the 1990s overhaul of the Coliseum -- which would be demolished," according to Matier & Ross of the S.F. CHRONICLE. Zach Wasserman, an attorney representing backers of the mixed-use Coliseum City project, said that the "'basic terms' of a financial deal have been worked out among his group, the city's negotiators and the Raiders." But Matier & Ross write even as Raiders Owner Mark Davis "thinks it over, questions are being raised about whether the proposed deal will fly." The idea is the public "wouldn't be on the hook for construction costs," but would "contribute the land and infrastructure improvements." The city and county "would also have to come up with" the $120M to "pay off the Coliseum expansion that lured the Raiders back" from L.A. in '95. City and county taxpayers now pay $20M a year "in general-fund money for debt service." A "big question" is how the A's -- who "just signed a 10-year lease extension at the stadium that would be demolished -- fit into the picture." Sources said that if the A's "won't play ball with the project's backers, part of the land could be turned over to team owners Lew Wolff and John Fisher for their own privately developed ballpark" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 9/3).
HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS: In S.F., Ann Killion writes the "tension and dislike" between 49ers and Raiders fans is likely to "ramp up a few degrees this season." The two franchises "just moved further apart in the department of Haves and Have Nots." While the 49ers have "a brand-new, state-of-the-art stadium that they are touting as the best in the NFL," the Raiders "continue to play in what is widely considered the worst stadium in the league." While the Raiders "remain in stadium limbo," the 49ers are, "apparently, set for life." The fan bases "have a new issue to divide and antagonize them" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 9/3).
