If Oakland Deal Fails, Davis Will Seek Ante in L.A.

If his Oakland deal falls apart, Raider owner Al Davis wants Los Angeles negotiators to ante up $15 million in advance payment to the football team as a non-refundable guarantee to renovate the Los Angeles Coliseum and keep the team playing there, according to a source privy to ongoing talks with the team.

The payment would be similar to the $10 million the city of Irwindale gave the Raiders in 1987 as a promise to fulfill its commitment of $115 million to build a stadium for the team in that San Gabriel Valley community. With Irwindale unable to follow through, the Raiders have kept that money.

The source, who asked not to be identified, said that MCA Inc., a member of the Coliseum’s private management partnership along with Spectacor Management Group, is balking at the idea of joining in such a payment and is considering dropping out of the partnership as far as the Raiders are concerned.

It was just last month that the Coliseum Commission approved a private management lease of the Coliseum grounds to MCA and Spectacor to facilitate a deal with the Raiders, should the team’s Oakland agreement collapse.

The source expressed impatience at MCA’s indecision on the subject, although he said talks with the Raiders have not been impeded so far.

Should MCA drop out, there is apparently nothing in the Coliseum’s private management agreement that would prohibit Spectacor from seeking a new partner in talks with the Raiders.

Asked for comment, MCA officials would say only: “We are having ongoing conversations with our partners and we have not foreclosed any options.”

Davis did not respond to a telephone call for comment.

Ed Snider, head of Spectacor, said he does not feel that MCA has been dragging its feet in coming to a decision.

“I remain very hopeful that they’ll be as enthusiastic about this project as we are,” Snider said in an interview.

Snider said that the Los Angeles talks with the Raiders are “proceeding as fast as possible.” He would not elaborate.

But there is belief among some Los Angeles Coliseum commissioners and virtual unanimous belief among Oakland officials that the Raiders’ Oakland deal would have to collapse before Los Angeles’ talks with the Raiders could come to fruition.

In Oakland, possible completion of the deal awaits a Wednesday deadline for the submission of petitions being circulated by opponents to force a popular referendum on the issue. And the Oakland plan faces an April 19 deadline for a decision by state authorities whether to approve the use of revenue bonds to finance initial parts of the agreement.

But in the meantime, Oakland officials, using $200,000 of public money from the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, launched an advertising campaign this week seeking a quick sign-up of thousands of people willing to commit themselves to buying Raider season tickets for as long as 10 years.

Officials hope by next week to have signed up enough fans to establish the economic viability of their revised $486-million deal with the Raiders, which largely depends on the sale by the city and county of thousands of premium seats for Raider games.

In another Oakland-related development, Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles) has called a legislative hearing in San Francisco next Thursday to examine whether the Raider deal may constitute a giveaway of public funds.

Another Roos hearing in Irwindale’s case in 1987 revealed previously untold details of that agreement, including that the Raiders would never have to repay $35 million of the money being “loaned” to them.

Roos, who has long been sympathetic to the interests of the Los Angeles Coliseum, said Wednesday that it already appears to him “that the Raiders have managed to secure a giveaway agreement from (Oakland) that will be partially financed by state taxpayers.”

“As was the case in Irwindale, the Raiders-Oakland agreement is on shaky financial ground,” Roos said. “Not only is the revenue stream potentially inadequate to finance both the stadium improvements and loans to the team, but the Raiders’ guarantee to stay in Oakland and play 15 seasons is not long enough to pay off the entire public debt.”