How to Outsmart, Out-Negotiate the NFL

The Oakland Raiders have been such a mediocre team lately that even those of us who sometimes root for them can forget what made us fans in the first place.

For me, it was the comebacks. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen Raider teams pull off a seemingly miraculous play in the waning moments of a game to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. And even if their comeback rally fell short, games involving the Raiders were at least close and exciting.

Don’t look now, but the Raiders could play a similar role in the campaign to bring pro football back to Los Angeles.

That effort began in 1995, when the Raiders returned to Oakland after a controversial 13-year stint as tenants of the Memorial Coliseum. That same year the Coliseum’s former tenants, the Rams, left Orange County for St. Louis.

Last Tuesday, the National Football League, in effect, acknowledged that pulling two teams out of the second-largest city in the country was a big mistake. It happened when NFL owners voted to put their league’s 32nd franchise in L.A.

Some key conditions were attached to the resolution awarding the new franchise. Among other things, it stipulates that L.A. has six months to decide on a stadium site and to detail plans for financing stadium construction and a still-unspecified franchise fee. Since the total cost of the deal will hover in the $1-billion range, this is no small matter.

If the NFL does not like what it sees in Los Angeles by Sept. 15, the 32nd franchise will instead go to Houston.

This is typical of the NFL’s arrogance. After abandoning this city and watching NFL television ratings drop off dramatically as a result, the league still will not publicly acknowledge what most Angelenos have known all along:

The NFL needs Los Angeles more than we need them.

That’s why I can’t bring myself to join the celebratory mood that has prevailed around town since the NFL’s vote. Which is not to say we don’t have good reason to be confident about the NFL coming back. With Mayor Richard Riordan backing the deal, it seems set politically. And with big-money guys like Eli Broad and Michael Ovitz ready to help pay the NFL franchise fee, it’s hard to imagine that financing would be much of a problem.

What worries me is the attitude of the NFL characters sitting across the table. Too many of them--like Denver’s Mike Bowlen and New England’s Robert Kraft--have extorted money for new stadiums out of their communities. They don’t want L.A. proving that a city can get an NFL team without gouging taxpayers. So we can assume that greedy NFL owners will look for every opportunity to turn the L.A. deal to their advantage.

Which brings me back to the Raiders and their owner, Al Davis--the only man who is as detested by his fellow NFL owners as he is by L.A. sports fans.

As it became apparent that the NFL was preparing to award a new franchise to Los Angeles, Davis began making noises on the sidelines. He’s again unhappy in Oakland and wants to get out of his stadium lease there. He claims to “own” the L.A. market as a result of his short stay here. Davis even insists his departure four years ago was orchestrated by the NFL, which had unsuccessfully sued to keep him from moving here in 1982.

Without going into the legal complexities of Davis’ case, it is clear he could cause trouble for a new NFL franchise if he chooses. But, for many of the same reasons, he could be a useful option as L.A. nears the endgame of its standoff with the NFL. To keep from losing our bargaining advantage at the last moment, L.A. may want to consider using Davis, and his Raiders, as Plan B.

Here’s a scenario for how this could be done:

Riordan continues to publicly support Broad, Ovitz and other local business leaders in their negotiations with the NFL. But he privately asks a small group that he trusts to contact Davis about a return of the Raiders, if the NFL deal falls apart.

Any group that approaches the Raiders would have to include someone Davis also trusts, like Bill Robertson, the former head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, who helped craft the deal that brought the Raiders here in ’82.

It should include an experienced public official who is a good negotiator, like City Councilman Richard Alatorre. He is retiring from his Eastside seat, so he’s got little to lose politically. And Alatorre is one local pol who could teach even Al Davis a few things about wheeling-and-dealing.

Finally, the team should include a business person who is not averse to high-risk ventures.

The deal this elite negotiating team could dangle before Davis is a chance to play in a refurbished Coliseum. But only if he agrees to sell part of the Raiders to local owners to help ensure that, if the Raiders return, it will be to stay.

A far-out scenario? Admittedly.

But folks thought I was off my rocker four years ago when I wrote that the NFL needs us more than we need them. And I’ve been proved right about that.