Fans of the Oakland Raiders desperate to see their team remain in place got a bit of bad news recently, as it has become very clear that Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is not particularly concerned with Raiders owner Mark Davis' desire to get a new stadium built.
Davis and the NFL have put together plans for a $900 million stadium project in Oakland, but are currently facing a $400 million funding gap due to a lack of assistance from taxpayers in Oakland and Alameda who are currently still helping pay off the O.co Coliseum renovations from the mid-90s.
"That money we're paying now is general-fund money we could spend on police, parks or libraries," said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf recently, via Rachel Swan of SFGate.com.
Davis has said several times that he would keep the Raiders in Oakland long-term only if a new stadium initiative would give the franchise a modern, updated home.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced last week that the league has received no response from Oakland or Alameda County decision-makers as to whether or not they would be willing to assist with the $400 million gap which would, ostensibly, keep the team in Oakland.
In the meantime Davis has, along with the San Diego Chargers, begun exploring the possibility of a move to Los Angeles, putting together plans for a $1.7 billion stadium in Carson, a project which has made significant progress in recent weeks, per a report from Albert Breer of NFL.com. It is one of two Los Angeles relocation projects the NFL is mulling as the league looks to return to the market by 2016.
Unfortunately for Raiders fans, more pressing needs exist for Schaaf and Oakland - an $18 million shortfall from this past year, a crime surge which coincided with the elimination of 80 police officer jobs in 2010 and health care and social service needs.
Complicating matters further is the perception that the Raiders came out on the winning end of Mount Davis, the Coliseum expansion efforts from two decades ago.
"I wouldn't say we got screwed," said Supervisor Nate Miley, vice chair of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, the body formed in 1995 to initiate the first Coliseum deal, via Swan. "I'd say we got out-negotiated. The Raiders were smarter."
Schaaf, per Swan, would support using public monies to improve transportation to the Coliseum or upgrade the land around the stadium, but she believes the stadium itself should be privately financed.
"We don't have $400 million lying around," she said.
