Oakland Mayor To Make Case For Keeping Raiders In Meeting With NFL Wednesday
OAKLAND (KPIX 5) -- As Oakland officials prepare to make their case to the NFL to keep the Raiders from leaving, Mayor Libby Schaaf sat down with KPIX 5's Phil Matier and offered a preview of the presentation she plans to make Wednesday.
"I'm prepared to answer tough questions and obviously one of them is going to be: What will the city do help keep the team?" Schaaf said.
At what cost? "We've been clear that we won't directly subsidize stadium construction," Schaaf said.
When asked if there would be free land, the mayor said, "We have various options with the land, long-term lease is obviously an option."
Schaaf said she will offer to help with improvements to the area, such as building a brand new BART station, to attract more fans from around the bay, especially San Francisco, now that the 49ers have moved to Santa Clara.
"What we have to sell right now is an incredible market," the mayor said.
But it will not be cheap. "Could be in the range of $100 million," Schaaf said. "Not taking existing city money away. Just using the future revenues generated by a new project."
Selling the NFL on the plan is one thing, but the mayor also has to have to sell the public that still feels burned from the last Raiders deal, a deal that still costs city taxpayers $10 million a year.
"The existing debt is our responsibility, that is a legal obligation," the mayor said. "That is something that we just are accepting."
Schaaf went on to say, "Most Oaklanders would like their teams to stay here, they like their sports teams. But not enough to spend public money to build stadiums. That's the approach we have taken and that's the approach we will continue to take."
The mayor also said private investing is "absolutely vital" for the plan.
"I am not going to speculate about what the NFL is going to do," Schaaf said. "I am just going to make Oakland's case to the NFL."
