Davis Will Probably Get a Free Ride to Oakland

Not only is the NFL going to allow the Raiders to leave Los Angeles without a fight, they are probably going to allow them to leave without a fee.

In preparation for today’s emergency league meeting here, a club source said Commissioner Paul Tagliabue sent a memo to each of the 30 clubs recommending that they approve the Raiders move to Oakland effective immediately.

In a late-night meeting Thursday, the league’s finance committee decided it would not even recommend a relocation fee. Three months ago, the Rams were charged $29 million for the right to leave Anaheim for St. Louis.

The reasoning behind the free ride is that owners believe Oakland is not considered a “hot” expansion or relocation market that could have been used by another team.

The Rams snatched the St. Louis market from several other potential occupants after the market had been enhanced by its support from the league as an expansion finalist.

Oakland has received no enhancements from the league, and only Al Davis wanted to go there.

“There is only one team that belongs in Oakland, or that Oakland would ever want, and that’s the Raiders,” said one owner. “The Rams’ situation was totally different.”

While most of the owners are upset that Los Angeles will be left without an NFL team for at least one year, they will approve the Raiders move because they can’t force them to stay.

“Nobody likes this, but what are you going to do?” said Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. “This is why I was against the Rams moving, or any team moving. Where does this leave the fans?”

But the owners say they have no choice.

“It’s a done deal because where else are the Raiders going to play?” said an owner. “The league has already come out and said that there is no suitable football stadium in Los Angeles. The Raiders will be much more wanted, and successful, in Oakland.”

The question then is, why did the owners allow the Rams to leave if they knew they would approve Davis’ eventual move?

“Because nobody thought Al would actually do it,” said one owner. “We did try to keep him in Los Angeles, remember.”

The only matter left undecided is the amount of personal seat license revenue that Davis must share with the league.

The city of Oakland is attempting to sell 50,000 PSLs--which give the purchaser the right to buy a season tickets--to help finance the $85-million renovation of Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

Because PSLs money is not traditional revenue, there is a continuing debate over whether it should be shared like ticket revenue or held by the individual owners like luxury box revenue.

The league charged the Rams $17 million in PSL revenue, but Davis will fight such a charge because his PSL revenue will be used for stadium renovation.