Raiders Make a Commitment to Oxnard Camp

It looks like Al Davis and the Raiders are staying--in Oxnard.

It may be uncertain where the team will play its regular season games in a few years, but it will continue to hold its six-week summer training camp in Ventura County, officials said. The Oxnard City Council and Raiders representatives last week reached a tentative agreement to extend a five-year agreement to keep the Raiders.

The council will consider formal approval of the agreement during a council meeting next week, Assistant City Manager John Tooker said. Raiders representatives are expected to sign the agreement sometime next week, he said.

Tooker said the agreement would be binding regardless of whether the Raiders play at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum or in Oakland.

The one-year agreement, which would include four one-year options as well as an additional five-year option, would require the Raiders to pay $1 a year to hold summer training on city-owned land near the River Ridge Golf Course.

In 1986, the Raiders built two football fields and a field house on the land. For its part, the city helped buy the property and solicit a developer to build the Radisson Suite Hotel, which has been used to house the football team and its staff.

“The Raiders field agreement was never envisioned as being a substantial revenue producer in itself,” Tooker said.

In fact, civic leaders originally sought to lure the Raiders to Oxnard as a way to generate publicity for the city, said Mayor Nao Takasugi. “It sort of gives us some good PR.”

Rob Varley, executive director of the Oxnard Convention and Visitors Bureau, agreed that national sports coverage of the Raiders has generated some publicity for the city.

“It doesn’t hurt to see the Oxnard byline,” he said. “But it hasn’t been that big a deal as far as drawing droves of people here.”

He said an average of two or three visitors per day ask for directions to watch the team practice. However, Varley said, the visitors are disappointed to learn that the training sessions are closed to the public.

Still, Varley said, the football players and their staff, which total about 140 people, spend about $500,000 a year in the city, mostly at restaurants and shops.

Takasugi said he looks forward to keeping the Raiders in Oxnard. “Certainly, if they are willing to come, we will welcome them with open arms,” he said.

When the deal was originally signed in April, 1985, city officials hoped that the Radisson would generate enough revenue to help pay off a $9-million bond that the city issued to help buy the hotel land and develop its parking lot.

But because of an overly optimistic financial forecast and competition from nearby hotels, the Radisson initially was unable to pay its annual $985,000 in rental payments to the city. However, the outlook for the hotel has improved.

Robert Burk, director of sales and marketing for Radisson, said the city renegotiated the contract last year to include a new schedule for repaying the owed rent. And, he said, the hotel has hired a new management team, which has increased business.

“I haven’t heard adverse reports on the Radisson,” Takasugi said. “We are getting our share of the occupancy. They are doing well.”

THE COLISEUM WILL STAY

“Under no circumstances” will it be demolished, its managers pledge. B7