Following NFL Exec VP/Business Ventures Eric Grubman's visit to Oakland last week, civic leaders' belief that the league's "desire to keep" the Raiders in Oakland is "stronger than ever," according to sources cited by Jason La Canfora of CBSSPORTS.com. Even prior to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's public remarks last week, there was a "growing sense among civic leaders in the Bay Area" that keeping the Raiders in Oakland was "very much the league's intention." Ownership sources have "indicated a strong desire to keep the Raiders in Oakland even if owner Mark Davis manages to secure the public funding in Las Vegas for his planned stadium there." There are "strong reservations throughout the league about Davis' ability to get the 23 votes required for a franchise relocation even if his stadium plan continues to move forward." Oakland is "viewed by many powerful owners as a far superior market for numerous reasons, and the Vegas deal is far from a slam dunk." Other owners believe there is a deal that "can be struck for a new stadium in Oakland, and league officials are expected to spend considerable time there" (CBSSPORTS.com, 9/25).
OFF THE TABLE: In Oakland, David DeBolt reported a group of investors proposing to purchase the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum land from the city and county have "withdrawn their offer." Attorney Martin Greenberg on Thursday wrote in a letter to Mayor Libby Schaaf that his clients are "retracting their offer" of $167M to purchase the property after Schaaf said that she "would not recommend their proposal to the City Council" (EAST BAY TIMES, 9/24).
WIELDING INFLUENCE? Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones said that Nevada leadership "needs to stay aggressive in order to put the last pieces in place" to bring the Raiders to Las Vegas. Jones: "It’s very important for the (development) team to be very aggressive. It’s not hard to look at precedent and the history of the NFL and you don’t see any real movement if you are waiting on the league to initiate an effort to relocate a team. The league would be reluctant to really push to leave a market and all of the inertia is done by virtue of the team creating the opportunity or creating a better place for the NFL." Jones indicated that he "has no plans to lobby on behalf of the Las Vegas stadium development group." But he also said that the state could "miss an opportunity if it waited until next year -- hence, the importance of a special session instead of waiting until the Legislature convenes in February." Jones also "thinks the Las Vegas 'wow factor' could play a role in the owners’ vote." He said, "I will say that this makeup of ownership is progressive and is wanting to enhance the appeal of the NFL and it does clearly consider the wow factor a value and I would say that I would look to decisions that have just been made and say that many of those things are common to an application from a team regarding Las Vegas" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 9/26).
