NFL execs and representatives from the Raiders for the first time yesterday met with Fortress Investment Group, a source said. Fortress is proposing to invest $400M in a stadium plan that could keep the Raiders in Oakland. The meeting occurred in S.F. and comes as the Oakland City Council tonight is scheduled to vote on entering an exclusive two-month negotiating period with Fortress to develop a new stadium and mixed use development on the site of the Coliseum. Fortress is seeking either equity in the Raiders, which would be held by a Fortress partner, or a sizable share of the profit from the development, the source said. However, the problem the NFL is likely to have with the deal is the same it has had in similar situations: inserting a developer between the team and the municipal government. The Raiders are focused on relocating to Las Vegas and have refused to enter talks with the city or Fortress. The NFL itself was in play as a potential developer, and the league may still be willing to take on that role. The league will brief owners tomorrow on the $1.3B city of Oakland proposal during the league's owner meetings, but it is likely to be a dour one, even if the city council votes affirmatively tonight. The news is also murky on Vegas, where no information has been forthcoming on a lease for the Raiders or the economic role of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who has provisionally offered to put in $600M into a $1.9B stadium. Like Fortress, he is likely seeking equity or serious upside in the stadium.
NOT THE BEST OPTIONS: The NFL finds itself with unpromising options. If owners delay a Vegas move, the Oakland negotiations with Fortress are no sure thing, and the team is not yet involved. But small market Vegas offers its own risks even before the uncertainty of Adelson is played in. Doing nothing leaves the Raiders without any plan and stuck again in the crumbling Coliseum. A source close to Oakland stressed the city was not going away after two months no matter the fate of the Fortress talks, and that is the message owners should take from the new plan and the city council vote. The NFL has also communicated to advisers to the city of Oakland its displeasure over the plan to take stadium taxes and bond them to pay for part of the $350M municipal contribution. The league in the past has viewed those taxes as team money, while the advisers, sources said, see it as public money. One thing the league is sure to want to communicate to Oakland: the term sheet with Fortress is not a deal, just the approval to negotiate with one party.
