Raiders Are Adrift; Is L.A. in Sight?

Let’s get this clear: Al Davis, dressed in Raider black, was carrying a white towel Wednesday, but not waving it, although he sounded like a man eager to escape Oakland and return to Los Angeles this year before the NFL’s Sept. 15 deadline to put an expansion team in the market.

He didn’t say the Raiders were on their way back to Los Angeles, but then he shouldn’t have been stumped when asked, “Is there any doubt the Raiders will be playing in Oakland this year?”

“This year?” Davis repeated. “I wouldn’t answer that.”

Does he believe the football fans of Los Angeles would welcome the return of the Raiders?

“I think we would have to work our way back,” he said. “It would have to take some time, and we would have to do a few other things in ownership, but the fan base there is fantastic for the Raiders.”

Uncharacteristically, this was a sympathetic Davis, seeking a means of stability to enhance his team’s chances of winning again on the football field as he approaches his 70th birthday on July 4, and willing to make changes in his approach with football fans if that is what it will take to find a home.

“We’re in the later years of my life, and I don’t want to spend all this time fighting,” Davis said. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my time in court. . . . I want to get it resolved so this organization can get back a little bit to where it belongs. That’s No. 1.”

This was also a desperate Al Davis a day after the NFL dangled an expansion opportunity before the football fans of Los Angeles, breaking his traditional self-imposed silence to deliver a message to the media, a potential jury pool in Los Angeles and Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown.

Davis confirmed previous reports that there have been settlement talks with Oakland officials to release the team from its stadium lease, which runs through the 2011 season, and he said he expects to receive a response soon from Brown.

He said he’s not sure if his attorney, Joe Alioto Jr., is correct in his opinion that the Raiders can leave Oakland by signing papers within 90 days of the last Super Bowl--setting a deadline this year at the end of April, adding, “I’m not interested in that right now. I just want it resolved.”

Davis suggested the league’s decision to put an expansion team in Los Angeles was designed in part to assist the league’s position in court that the Raiders have no claim to the Los Angeles market.

“They have very carefully played a little to the court system in L.A.,” Davis said. “It’s pretty cunning to let the court system know we have chance to get a new team if we can get rid of our ancillary problem [the Raiders].”

The Raiders’ legal contention is that they would be owed more than $700 million from the league and anyone who accepts the “Los Angeles opportunity,” to account for the money the team paid to move into Los Angeles and then for being put into the position of being forced to move to Oakland.

Winning in court, while a possibility, is not how Davis wants to be remembered, however. In recent years, the Raiders have performed dreadfully, dulling Davis’ legacy as a Hall of Fame contributor, and now he recognizes that the team must improve its environment to win again.

Although there was a report Pasadena officials had contacted the Raiders about playing in the Rose Bowl, Dave Jacobs, general manager of the facility, said, “I have not had any discussions with him.”

Jacobs also said the Pasadena City Council is due Monday to consider a resolution formally backing the Coliseum’s bid for an expansion team.

Davis, asked about the mystery Pasadena bid, said, “You heard that too?” and then shifted his attention to Oakland.

“What we’re interested in right now is the Oakland community, county and city living up to its representation to the Raiders that induced them into signing an agreement to come back,” he said.

“When I went to Oakland, I had a young staff. They came to Oakland with the idea--and I’m not sure they wanted to come because their roots were in Los Angeles--predicated on the potential of euphoria and the sellout of the stadium. They wanted to build this thing to where it should be, but instead they have been in a war every day. There are so many obstacles in their way right now to get done what we have to get done to compete.”

Davis wants sold-out luxury suites, club seats and a more workable personal seat license plan, noting that the team continues to fall 20,000 short of a sellout. He wants the home-field advantage and an atmosphere of cooperation in Oakland to improve his team’s chances of success.

The expectation of reversing that situation in Oakland appears bleak, but if the Raiders are forced to wait for a court decision in Oakland, the Los Angeles opportunity undoubtedly will be gone.

The NFL’s decision to award Los Angeles an expansion team contingent on city officials providing a doable stadium plan puts Davis in a match race with the league to secure the market. Davis implied the league’s decision to provide a Sept. 15 deadline--a week after the regular season is to begin--was a strategic move to make it more difficult for the Raiders to begin play in Los Angeles this year.

The Raiders have had no recent discussions with Hollywood Park, but the site remains ready for development.

One NFL owner close to Davis has also let it be known that the Raiders have talked to representatives of the New Coliseum proposal, suggesting a deal that would give local ownership to someone in Los Angeles, while allowing Davis to coordinate football operations.

Davis, without being specific, said there have been discussions with interested parties in Los Angeles, but he denied any intent or interest in selling his ownership piece in the Raiders or taking on new partners.

It would seem unlikely that he would leave Oakland and agree to play in a temporary site, such as the Rose Bowl, without having a new stadium deal in place in Los Angeles.

Davis said it was premature to start speculating on the team’s next move, because, “I’m not ready to do that yet. We need to see if [Oakland] will commit to what they represented to the Raiders.

“Everyone will have a clearer picture [in the next six months]. I know the future of the Raiders is going to be great. Now where are we going to play? . . .”