As recently as early June, the plans for a stadium in Los Angeles to house a future NFL team were described as “essentially dead.”
Yet the possibility of a stadium there still has the power to back a city and its citizens against a wall. It has given cities leverage to get taxpayers to build new stadiums or make expensive improvements to old ones—and now, it might subject Oakland and its citizens to the indignity of losing its favorite team to the same city twice in barely three decades.
“Of all the situations, this is the one where moving to LA is most likely to happen,’’ said Victor Matheson, a Holy Cross economics professor and, with colleague Robert Baade, author of several studies on public stadium financing.
“It sucks to be an Oakland Raiders fan—not a Raiders fan, but an Oakland Raiders fan,’’ Matheson added.
Oakland is on the hot seat because the Raiders’ lease with the 47-year-old O.co Coliseum expires after the upcoming season. Owner Mark Davis—the son of Al, who moved the team to LA in 1982—has said he does not want to sign another short-term lease, and a month ago consultants hired by the team proposed a new $800 million, 56,500-seat stadium to local government officials.
The city and county, however, would have to chip in $300 million. With all the other economic challenges facing Oakland, they simply cannot afford it.
But, Matheson pointed out, “The NFL has been masterful in using the LA situation to extract new stadiums out of everybody.’’
The Minnesota Vikings are the latest example: Their stadium in Minneapolis is scheduled to break ground this fall and open in 2016. Just over half of the current $975 million cost will come from public money, according to the Vikings.
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