Raiders Owner Mark Davis yesterday spoke "mostly of frustration and sadness" in his first interview since the NFL approved the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas, according to Daniel Brown of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. Davis, speaking to the team's flagship station KGMZ-FM, said, "I’m not celebrating anything like I would like to be. ... We are going to be building a world-class stadium in the entertainment capitol of the world. It’s going to be great for Super Bowls and everything else. But I still have a feeling for the fans in the Bay Area. And I’ve met with a number of them. And anything I say to them isn’t going to soothe them, and it makes this whole thing bittersweet" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 4/4). Davis said Oakland "never presented a viable plan to keep the team and that led to the decision to apply for relocation." Davis said that he "thought he was close to a deal for a new stadium at the site" of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in the summer of '13 and in '14, but that "unraveled" once the A's were "given a 10-year lease at the site." Davis said that he "talked with the A's about doing a joint deal for two stadiums at the Coliseum site and selling them" 20% of the Raiders. Davis: "The only people Oakland was in competition with was themselves. If they could have come up with a deal that would have given us the land, either leased it or gave it to us at reasonable terms, and gave us the infrastructure, and we had the ability to find a developer to fill that funding gap, we may have been able to do something on that site." Davis also said that the relationship with the East Bay was "damaged when the Coliseum authority decided to triple the team's rent after the proposed move" to L.A. was blocked last winter (AP, 4/4).
TRUTH BE TOLD: In S.F., Vic Tafur noted former A's co-Owner Lew Wolff "confirmed" that he talked to Davis about a "joint deal for two stadiums at the Coliseum site" in '14. Wolff: "I do recall Mark saying that a minority percentage owned by, I think passive investors could be for sale. However, no price or terms were discussed. We did not see any reason to enter professional football, as our desire was, and is to have a new baseball venue in Oakland" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 4/4).
