With just a month to go before the Raiders' home
exhibition opener, about 5,000 seat license holders have yet
to renew their tickets, which could bring the number of
season-ticket holders who have forfeited their PSLs to
12,000, according to Matier & Ross of the S.F. CHRONICLE.
Matier & Ross: "It also means the Raiders are facing the
worst attendance record since they returned three years
ago." In addition, fans are also "passing up" single-game
tickets, as, so far, just 10,000 have been sold. Oakland
Coliseum officials "have virtually gutted the stadium's
marketing budget," which has prevented the Oakland Football
Marketing Association (OFMA) from running an ad campaign.
OFMA Dir of Ticket Sales Rich Rogers: "It's very
frustrating. Marketing is in the title of the organization,
and yet I have no money for it." Matier & Ross add that
some think "the pinch is intentional -- the idea being to
use poor ticket sales as a way to force the Raiders back to
the negotiating table and come up with a more equitable
split of the ticket take" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 7/28).
AN ADVANTAGE: Last week, the Coliseum board voted to
hire Advantage Int'l to try to sell naming rights at the
Coliseum "as soon as possible" (S.J. MERCURY NEWS,7/27).
