City of Oakland Makes Hail Mary Effort To Keep Raiders

The City of Oakland and the investment group led by Ronnie Lott is making an 11th hour effort to keep the Raiders.

The clock has nearly struck midnight, leaving time for one last effort to keep the Oakland Raiders in the city they’ve called home for a total of 44 seasons.

With the vote on relocation expected to take place on Monday, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff, along with the Fortress Investment Group, submitted a revised plan of their proposal to build a $1.3 billion stadium on the southern end of the existing Coliseum site.

"“I recognize that this could be our final chance,” Schaaf said, “but we have worked so hard these last two years. We’ve put together a viable deal that satisfies many requirements that we believe is the best deal for the Raiders and the NFL. We hope that they give it full consideration on Monday.”"

The revised proposal has Fortress Investment Group matching the loan being offered by Bank of America in Las Vegas. The firm has agreed to commit $650 million in a traditional loan, which they previously had not done.

Per Jim Trotter of ESPN:

"The league did not like that Fortress was acting as a vendor/guarantor of things such as personal seat licenses, sponsorships and suites, so Fortress now has agreed to commit $650 million in a traditional loan, if the league and Raiders prefer."

As for the rest of the financing, the city of Oakland would provide $200 million in public funding, and the remaining $500 million would come from the Raiders. That totals $1.3 billion, which is the estimated cost to build the 55,000-seat stadium on the southern portion of the Coliseum land. The stadium would be completed in 2021, one year longer than the estimated completion date for the Vegas project.

The full proposal can be seen here.

 Schaff hardly expressed optimism about their chances, but had this to say on the matter:

"“They certainly have not led me to feel unrealistically optimistic about what the results will be on Monday. But they have been fair, they have been honest and they have been responsive.”"

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But is it too late? Albert Breer of MMQB reported that Mark Davis could have 27 or 28 votes in favor of him moving the Raiders to Vegas.

Vegas has gained quite a bit of momentum in recent weeks, with all signs pointing towards an approval. Despite several obstacles still being in the way, the expectation is that Mark Davis will receive the votes needed to get this done.

Some of the obstacles include a relocation fee in the range of $325 to $375 million, the Raiders not yet owning any land in Vegas and have yet to come to a lease agreement with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board. But with $750 million in public funding and a loan from Bank of America, those obstacles seem minor in comparison to what Vegas has on the table.

A possible scenario is that the team receives approval to relocate, but with conditions attached. They would have an allotted amount of time to meet those conditions, otherwise the approval would be withdrawn. It’s also possible that the vote is delayed if NFL Owners decide that Oakland’s proposal is viable, and that more time is needed to sort out this situation.

Although the latter doesn’t seem likely, as after Schaff’s proposal was submitted, the NFL didn’t seem to enthused about the effort.

We’ll find out on Monday.