The Oakland Raiders are playing a stadium game that can only be called two-faced and dishonest. On the one hand, Raiders brass in the form of owner Marc Davis and new team President Marc Badain have made the right moves in establishing a good relationship with new Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, and making her and Oaklanders believe they intend to stay in Oakland and not move to Los Angeles. But the Silver and Black bosses also seem to forget that social media exists, and with that in mind, or really not in mind, have set out on a wreckless course of actions that make their Oakland efforts look like forays into hypocrisy.
Let’s take the actions one – by one.
The first is the Oakland Raiders allowed developers heading the effort to build an NFL stadium in Carson, California to attach the team name as a possible tenant along with the San Diego Chargers. Now that would seem rather harmless in total: a wish of a dreamer. And it was presented that way, too. The pitch was that the Carson stadium idea was just that, and something to have in case the City of Oakland and the County of Alameda didn’t make good on plans for a new stadium for the Oakland Raiders. The way that story was presented, one would not even think the Raiders were putting a dime of their own money into that LA NFL Stadium effort, right?
Especially, since the Raiders said they were interested in Oakland Coliseum City – something they’ve not spent any money on either, right?
Well, that sets up the second action. That’s where this blogger discovered that the Oakland Raiders were “major funders” along with the San Diego Chargers of a slick, cool video showing the Carson stadium images. This is my vlog on that:
And so it’s now clear that Davis and Badain were playing Schaaf and the City of Oakland, and Alameda County. Indeed, they were also fooling the current group of lawyers and financiers that have the “exclusive negotiating agreement” to build Coliseum City and a stadium for the Raiders. Davis and Badain have done this as quietly as possible, but, again, they forgot about the power of social media, and probably didn’t know the makers of the Carson NFL Stadium video were going to report the team’s fiscal involvement for all to see.
And now for the third action: Mr. Badain’s act of giving the new Mayor of Carson a Raiders lapel pin. What does that say? It speaks volumes. First, did Marc give Libby a Raiders lapel pin? Second, did Marc even bother to think about the symbolism of that action in a hypermedia World? My guess is no; he was just being nice. And that’s opens up another set of questions.
Being nice to what end? To the hope that the Carson City Council helps the project by agreeing to issue lease revenue bonds to pay for it? That will be a giant financial load if they can get the approvals,but then it’s not for the Raiders to worry about, just make happen.
Still and details aside, it’s not a good picture, and it should piss off a lot of people here in Oakland and in the Bay Area. On the other hand, you can’t blame the Raiders for just trying to be a squirrel catching a nut in the form of a new stadium.
Look, Coliseum City has been around since 2009 as a concept. It was formed during a time when Redevelopment law existed in California, allowing the use of tax increment financing via a ‘redevelopment agency’ (though the law is vague on the use of TIF without the agency – it may be a loophole that should be explored). It was then used as a political football that would save all of our sports teams and that was after California Governor Jerry Brown killed Redevelopment in California. But the bottom line is we as a City of Oakland and a County of Alameda have not formed a set of alternative, doable, plans.
We’ve dithered time on a Coliseum City concept that’s fiscally unworkable. Moreover, we’ve let Mark Davis talk us into believing he wanted a new stadium up here of just 55,000 seats, and at the same time telling us he could get $200 million from the NFL for such a puny stadium – and then at the same time get involved in building a near-80,000 seat stadium in LA, when there’s no evidence that’s going to sell out either. The NFL only gives such loans where it can get the money back in the form of a Super Bowl – we’re not having a 55,000 attendance Super Bowl. Sorry. Not happening.
And by Mayor Schaaf not biting the bullet and forming a task force, we’ve lost valuable time in getting to a real solution. There are a lot of people in Oakland involved in this, and in the Super Bowl 50 issue, for which this is their first rodeo, and they act like it. Secretive. Defensive. Combative. Always willing to use the term “We are doing…” Doing nothing.
I am trying to help here: “An Idea To Save Oakland Coliseum City: Raiders Stadium / Hotel Complex”
Meanwhile, the Raiders, seeing that such a process leads to nothing, were just trying to get something done. From that perspective, I kinda don’t blame them, but I think it would have gone down better to just blast Oakland for being, well, Oakland.
Oakland is in a big pickle. It doesn’t really get what this is all about. It’s about being a big city and not a small town. Big cities have more than just crime problems. Big cities, like Chicago or San Francisco, consistently prove they have the will and the initiative to do big projects. Building stadiums for the A’s and for the Raiders and the Warriors are just that. And one by one, with each team’s overture out of Oakland, Oakland proves it can’t be a player. My city, the one where I worked to bring a Super Bowl to it in 2000, once again shows it lacks the will and initiative to complete big projects. It’s not about not having money, but it’s about understanding public and private financing such that you create enough wealth to do the project.
Oakland once had a proud legacy of such work. Now, it seems to be gone – something in our past and forgotten.
That sound you hear is the bell starting the fight’s second round. Will Oakland make it to the mat? Will it throw a punch? Or will Carson score a knockout with the help … of the Oakland Raiders.
Stay tuned.
Zennie Abraham | Zennie Abraham or “Zennie62” is the founder of Zennie62Media which consists of zennie62blog.com and a multimedia blog news aggregator and video network, and 78-blog network, with social media and content development services and consulting. Zennie is a pioneer video blogger, YouTube Partner, social media practitioner, game developer, and pundit. Note: news aggregator content does not reflect the personal views of Mr. Abraham.