A’s Balk at Sharing Fans With Raiders

Worried East Bay negotiators say the Oakland Athletics have expressed serious reservations about sharing the Coliseum and the same pool of fans as the NFL’s Raiders team.

The fears emerge two weeks after the city made public a final proposal to return the Raiders to Oakland from their current Los Angeles home.

The Oakland Tribune, citing two unnamed sources close to the negotiations, reported today that the A’s have indicated that they may be forced to leave the Coliseum within several years if the Raiders decide to return.

Says A’s Would Leave

“The deal the way it is now, the A’s are going to leave,” a Coliseum board member said. “I don’t think these A’s fans know how serious this thing is from the A’s standpoint.”

Coliseum President George Vukasin, in Toronto, agreed that the A’s have concerns but said he is optimistic that they can be resolved.

“They have raised some questions in relation to the marketing aspect and how it might affect the A’s,” Vukasin said. “ . . . The questions relate to the total sports dollars throughout the Bay Area and how far those sports dollars can go.”

The A’s, under their contract with the Coliseum, must agree to any remodeling of the stadium, Vukasin said. The team’s lease runs until the year 2000, but their contract can be reopened in 1991 if certain conditions are not met.

City, county and Coliseum officials--concerned that the A’s have not yet concurred--are preparing a letter to the A’s for signing, stipulating that they agree to the proposed Raiders renovations, county Supervisor Don Perata said.