Sacramento Seeks Raider Guarantees

City officials said they don’t want to pay the Los Angeles Raiders $50 million to move to California’s capital until a group of private investors provides $37 million in guarantees that the city won’t lose money on the football deal.

Sacramento Mayor Anne Rudin said Thursday she wants the investors to advance the first $30 million of the $50 million relocation fee offered to the Raiders. The city would not repay the money until a football stadium is built and the first game is played.

Rudin and other Sacramento officials also want the investment group to issue the city a $7-million letter of credit that the city can tap if it fails to earn enough money from the football deal to make debt payments on a proposed bond issue to raise the $50-million fee.

“It would be a way to guarantee that unless the stadium is built and the first game played, we are not out any money,” Sacramento Treasurer Thomas Friery said.

In Los Angeles, meanwhile, the president of the Coliseum Commission said today that Raiders owner Al Davis is strongly interested in keeping the football team where it is.

“We have had several indications recently that Davis wants to stay here,” said Richard Riordan, president of the commission that has been battling Davis on several fronts over renovating the stadium.