Oakland Stadium Plan is Dead on Arrival
NFL Vice President Eric Grubman openly mocked the stadium plan calling it a “Carbon Copy” of past failed plans. He also added “We have seen this movie before.”
Arthur Blank, the Atlanta Falcons owner, touched on keeping teams in their existing markets, but that it must be a reasonable plan, and those options are falling away.
Jim Irsay, the Indianapolis Colts owner, was much more candid.
“At this point there is really no reason for optimism in either market, I think everything has been done that can be done… right now there isn’t any communication going on.”
There is a reason why there is no communication going on between the NFL and Oakland. Oakland, not only, shot itself in the foot with its “Term Sheet”, it doubled down on it by approving a 60 day exclusive, and confidential, agreement with Fortress Investment Group. That means the NFL and Oakland Raiders are barred from negotiating with the city on the land. At least for the next 60 days.
Eric Gruman had a comment about that as well. He said that left the NFL and the Raiders on the outside looking in. Sources sat that any deal that does not include the Raiders or NFL having control of the land in Oakland is a total non starter.
So basically there can be zero talks over the Oakland Coliseum land until the second week of February! Which means that the Raiders will apply for relocation before the 60 days are up.
Why is that such a big deal you ask? Well because back in September Eric Grubman laid out NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s plan to keep the Raiders in Oakland to Mayor Libby Schaff. Sources say that the plan was to have the NFL purchase or lease the Coliseum land, and act as the developer. It fell on deaf ears. Since that time, there has been no communication between the NFL and the Mayor’s office.
This has frustrated the league office, and that frustration was on display yesterday. Roger Goodell drove the dagger home when he said this.
“We have not made great progress in Oakland… There is not a stadium proposal on the table that we think addresses the long-term issues.”
Not only that, but both Goodell, and Irsey expressed their optimism about Las Vegas. They spoke about the city’s economic growth trend, and diversity. That there was data the NFL needed to collect, and that what they had seen so far was positive.
In the aftermath of this devastating news, Oakland officials, and Ronnie Lott, scrambled to insist their plan was not a “carbon copy” of failed plans in the past. Unfortunately for Oakland Fans, the reality is, the NFL and NFL Owners don’t believe it. If fans want to point fingers, they need to start with Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. She has refused to lease, or sell, the Coliseum land to both Mark Davis and the NFL. And now, because of a 60 day exclusive window with Fortress, there will be no negotiations with either the Raiders or the NFL, until after the Raiders filed for relocation.
As Elvis once said, “Viva Las Vegas”
