Consultant: Al Davis Requested $8 Million

A financial consultant who had worked on a proposed Hollywood Park stadium testified Friday that Raider owner Al Davis asked Inglewood city officials for $8 million in June 1995 to spur the deal along.

Daniel S. Barrett, who did several financial analyses for the city, said Davis made the remarks during a June 10, 1995, meeting with Inglewood and Hollywood Park officials at the park. He said Davis wanted money to ensure that an environmental impact report would be finished and that construction would begin expeditiously.

Davis, who testified earlier in the Raiders’ $1-billion Los Angeles Superior Court trial against the league, has sharply contested that version of events. But in Day 2 of the defense case, after six weeks of the Raider side holding the stage, the NFL clearly sought with Barrett’s testimony to force jurors to measure Davis’ credibility and to underscore one of the league’s key themes in the trial--that Davis simply likes cash.

Davis got $10 million from the San Gabriel Valley city of Irwindale in the late 1980s as part of a proposal to move the Raiders there--money he was able to keep when that deal fizzled. Two weeks after the June 10, 1995, meeting, he moved the Raiders to Oakland; the package there included $53.9 million in up-front cash.

The Raiders, who played in Los Angeles from 1982 through 1994, claim that the team had no option but to move to Oakland after the Hollywood Park proposal died. The team also claims it still owns the L.A. market for NFL football.

Davis, in testimony he gave last week, said the June 10, 1995, conversation began with Inglewood officials telling him emphatically that “they were going to get the EIR done.” So, he testified, “And I said to them jokingly, will you back that up with some money?”

He emphasized: “. . . It was a joke.”

“Did anybody laugh?” NFL attorney Allen Ruby asked. I don’t know, Davis said.

Ruby followed up: “In fact, when you met the people from Inglewood, you said, didn’t you, ‘I need $8 million to do this deal?’ ”

“No way,” Davis replied.

“Didn’t happen?”

“No.”

“Did you say, ‘I need $8 million or I can go to Oakland?’ ”

“No way.”