$225-Million Sacramento Offer for Raiders Reported

A group headed by a local developer and the Sacramento Kings’ managing partner has made a $225-million offer to entice the Los Angeles Raiders to Sacramento, a newspaper reported today.

But negotiations are snagged by the group’s insistence on owning 40% of the National Football League team, The Sacramento Bee said in a copyright article.

The Bee, quoting unnamed sources, said the offer includes $35-million payment up front, annual revenue guarantees of $25 million, and construction of a 70,000-seat stadium by the 1990 season.

The newspaper said that the group headed by developer Angelo Tsakopoulos and Sacramento Kings managing partner Gregg Lukenbill has made three proposals to Raiders owner Al Davis.

The most recent proposal, sources said, calls for the Sacramento group to buy 40% of the National Football League team.

However, it was reported that Davis strongly opposes the ownership condition.

Neither Tsakopoulos nor Lukenbill would comment on the report. Al LoCasale, Davis’s executive assistant, said he had not heard about any offer, although he said Davis might have.

The Raiders’ lease with the Los Angeles Coliseum runs though the 1991 season. The team has been unhappy about the lack of Coliseum improvements and in 1987 took steps to move to a stadium planned in the Los Angeles suburb of Irwindale. Lawsuits and financing questions have delayed that project.