Saturday, August 18, 2012

NFL meets with Oakland officials about Raiders stadium

OAKLAND -- One week after Major League Baseball officials came to town to discuss stadium options for the A's, NFL executives arrived to hear Oakland's pitch for a new Raiders stadium.

NFL officials requested the secret Aug. 9 meeting, whose participants included Raiders owner Mark Davis, team president Amy Trask, Mayor Jean Quan, City Council president Larry Reid and Alameda County Administrator Susan Muranishi.

The Raiders have been the lone tenant at the Coliseum complex to not dismiss the city's proposal that the teams build new facilities there along with hotels, restaurants and shops.

The Warriors spurned Oakland's overtures and instead announced plans to build an arena in San Francisco, and the A's still want to move to San Jose.

Raiders and NFL officials refused to say much about last week's meeting, during which the team laid out its vision for a transformed Coliseum complex.

"It was an important meeting because it is at a stage where the Raiders must develop a (stadium) option," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an email.

It remains unclear whether the league would help pay for a new football stadium in Oakland after it already pledged $200 million to the 49ers planned $1.1 billion stadium in Santa Clara. The league had encouraged both New York teams to work together on their new stadium, for which it contributed $300 million.

City officials are proposing that its three teams pay to build new facilities

at the Coliseum complex. The teams would also get rights to help develop the entertainment complex on the remainder of the 750-acre publicly owned site in East Oakland.

The Raiders have said they prefer to stay in Oakland, but want a replacement for the 46-year-old O.co Coliseum they share with the A's. The planned 49ers stadium in Santa Clara remains an option for the team, as does a return to Los Angeles, where private investors have proposed a downtown football stadium.

Contact Matthew Artz at 510-208-6345.

Source: http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_21331314/nfl-meets-oakland-officials-about-raiders-stadium?source=rss_viewed

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