The Raiders yesterday "added a significant piece to their Las Vegas relocation puzzle," as the team "informed an NFL owners subcommittee that Bank of America has been secured to complete the financing" on their proposed $1.9B stadium, according to sources cited by Vincent Bonsignore of the L.A. DAILY NEWS. BofA's involvement is a "critical development, as it makes up" for the $650M that Las Vegas Sands Chair & CEO Sheldon Adelson "pulled off the table after Adelson and the Raiders could not come to terms on a suitable partnership agreement." Raiders Owner Mark Davis and President Marc Badain additionally "informed the league’s finance committee that everything is in place in Las Vegas for their relocation bid to be voted on by fellow NFL owners." The NFL is "targeting a vote at the end of March in Phoenix at the league’s annual meetings" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 3/7). An NFL spokesperson said that BofA "regularly does business with the NFL." In Las Vegas, Jon Mark Saraceno in a front-page piece notes BofA’s $650M stake "will be a loan and will not include an equity stake in the team or the stadium" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 3/7). Las Vegas Stadium Authority Chair Steve Hill yesterday confirmed BofA's involvement and said that it would "be enough to push the project forward" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 3/7). In L.A., Sam Farmer notes although BofA would "provide a credit facility for the total cost of the project, the Raiders would not need to borrow all of it as they generate money from personal-seat licenses, naming rights and the like" (L.A. TIMES, 3/7).
OAKLAND STILL IN THE PICTURE? In S.F., Vic Tafur notes Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf yesterday also "made a presentation to the finance committee." But sources said that "no new cost or financing proposals were made" for keeping the Raiders in Oakland. Schaaf has "balked at using public money to build a new stadium in Oakland, and the NFL has not been excited about the city’s proposals with Fortress Investment Group" and Pro Football HOFer Ronnie Lott and former NFLer Rodney Peete. Lott’s group has "proposed building" a $1.25B, 55,000-seat stadium at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum site. The group "submitted an updated plan last month, but it doesn’t appear to be much different from the December financing proposal the league rejected." Sources said that one of the "elephants in the room" has been the A’s. Schaaf’s office has been "unable to convince the NFL" that the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority would "exercise its two-year termination clause" on the MLB team for a new stadium at the current site (S.F. CHRONICLE, 3/7).
