OAKLAND (KCBS) – It appears Oakland Mayor Jean Quan is pulling out all the stops in an effort to keep the Raiders in town.
The mayor’s development team said it has worked out the “basic terms” of a financial deal. It calls for giving free land to the team and for taxpayers to pay off $120 million the Raiders still owe for the 1990s overhaul of the Coliseum.
There are still plenty of moving pieces with this latest proposal. A new Raiders stadium is expected to cost somewhere between $900 million and $1.2 billion. While the bill for construction is not expected to be footed by the public, taxpayers would be expected to contribute to land and infrastructure improvements.
Another question – what happens to the Oakland A’s? The team just signed a 10-year lease extension at the Coliseum. Under the Raiders proposal, the Coliseum would be demolished. It is possible that land at the site could be turned into a privately developed ballpark for the A’s.
