Looking at Raiders--and Their Status

At the halfway point of the 1990 professional football season, we inspect conditions with the Los Angeles Raiders and find, to start with, they are still in Los Angeles.

It looked for a spell as if they would be in Sacramento, occupying the stadium of Sacramento State, awaiting construction of their new residence in that community.

Then it looked as if the Raiders would be residing in Oakland, awaiting renovation of the stadium in that village.

Now inhabiting the Los Angeles Coliseum, where a remodeled facility is said to be coming along when all the details are completed, the Raiders are awaiting a report on what is called an environmental study.

This deals with the impact of new construction on the neighborhood and its inhabitants.

If it is decided that the new project imposes no problems on everyday life in those precincts, the stamp of approval will come home from those in charge of making such judgments.

It then becomes the right of any citizen to challenge that report.

If the report is positive and, from the ranks, a voice of dissent isn’t heard, it then becomes the responsibility of those promoting the Raider deal to come up with the money.

Give or take, we are talking maybe $150 million, which isn’t much to you or to me but could require a little doing on the part of those of lower caste.

Those who will post this money haven’t yet been identified. Banks aren’t the brightest prospects because, historically, banks aren’t anxious to take in a stadium as collateral. And especially if those building the stadium don’t own the land on which it is built.

Money isn’t abounding today as it did a while back, making it tougher for promoters to raise cash from the sale, long in advance, of luxury suites and club boxes.

To help in this respect, the mayor of Los Angeles is appointing a committee consisting of business and civic leaders to generate support for this project.

How, in this nervous economy, when investors are going out the window, industry will respond to a luxury box tab of, say, $100,000 a year isn’t known.

If the problem gets too pesty, promoters of the Raider deal have the right to back out, paying the club a forfeit fee, but it is hoped that will not become necessary, as it did in the case of Irwindale.

The Raiders didn’t want Irwindale’s money as much as they wanted the stadium there. They feel the same about the Coliseum, although it could open vistas for a new career, going through life getting rich on deals that aren’t made.

“How did you make the Forbes list?” Al Davis would be asked.

“I parlayed 10 stadium deals that fell on their face,” he would answer.

The next thing you know, Al would be solicited by investment groups to consult them not on the art of the deal but on the art of getting one botched.

On the field of combat, the Raiders come to the halfway point with a record of 6-2, better than anyone had reason to expect, but disappointed in the effort they dredged up in Sunday’s game at Kansas City, won by the home side, 9-7.

Sterling on defense, the Raiders put together no attack that was visible and they gave away the game on two blunders, both resulting in enemy field goals.

One developed from a special teams breakdown; the Raiders had a punt blocked. The other error was charged to Bo Jackson, fumbling away the ball on the Raider 23.

It was no day of distinction for Bo. Nor did his functions titillate folks in Kansas City, who bought all 78,000 tickets weeks in advance, braced for welcoming home a prodigal son.

In the football game, Bo did roughly what the Royals did during baseball season--nothing. But it isn’t his fault that people bought tickets to see him do something special.

At least he didn’t show up weighing 246 pounds, as Buster Douglas did. And, at game’s end, Bo was still on his feet.

It’s just that expectations have been rising too high in sports lately. If folks look for Bo to give up 3 points, instead of go for 6, they don’t leave disappointed.