Monday, April 14
Franchise claims it was defrauded upon return
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Oakland Raiders claimed in court Monday that they were lured back to Oakland after 13 seasons in Los Angeles on the false promise of a packed stadium and now are in danger of failing.
In opening statements in the $1 billion lawsuit against the city of Oakland, Alameda County and the defunct Arthur Andersen accounting firm, attorney Roger Dreyer laid out the team's allegations that it was defrauded eight years ago.
Dreyer said the team's return to Oakland after the Northridge earthquake had weakened the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was said by Oakland officials to be worth $1 billion in ticket sales for the team over 15 years.
A letter to owner Al Davis from Oakland city official Ezra Rapport said there was "no precedent for a team as popular and legendary as the Raiders to return home."
"The next generation want to get in the stadium to relive this experience," Rapport wrote. "There is no better market anywhere in the world."
City and county officials have called the claims absurd and said the team lost money because of poor performances in the 1990s. Davis only sued in 1997, after the team finished 4-12, the team's worst season since 1962.
Davis was not in court, but was shown in photos presented several times on a large screen for the jury to see. He is expected to testify later in the trial.
Dreyer took the jury back to the birth of the Oakland Raiders in 1960 in the American Football League, which merged with the NFL in 1970. He traced the team's move to Southern California in 1982 and the negotiations that led to their return to Oakland.
Along the way, he pointed out to the 12-person jury each of the team's three Super Bowl championships as he referred to the "winningest professional franchise in all of sports."
In 1995, as the NFL considered whether to approve the move to the Bay Area, the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum Commission sent out press releases announcing that the stadium had been sold out for 1995 and most of '96.
Internal documents, however, show that the claim of selling the rights to 47,000 seats was inflated by about 10,000. But that information was kept from the public and Davis.
"They knew it wasn't true. They knew they didn't have a sellout," Dreyer said. "They weren't even close."
During this time, the coliseum was selling preseason tickets to the public, claiming it was probably their only chance at seeing a Raiders home game in the next decade because it had sold personal seat licenses that gave owners a 10-year claim to their seats.
Dreyer said Davis never knew any of this as he attended an Aug. 7, 1995, news conference to sign the pact in the renovated Raiders locker room at the Coliseum.
Franchise claims it was defrauded upon return
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Oakland Raiders claimed in court Monday that they were lured back to Oakland after 13 seasons in Los Angeles on the false promise of a packed stadium and now are in danger of failing.
In opening statements in the $1 billion lawsuit against the city of Oakland, Alameda County and the defunct Arthur Andersen accounting firm, attorney Roger Dreyer laid out the team's allegations that it was defrauded eight years ago.
Dreyer said the team's return to Oakland after the Northridge earthquake had weakened the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was said by Oakland officials to be worth $1 billion in ticket sales for the team over 15 years.
A letter to owner Al Davis from Oakland city official Ezra Rapport said there was "no precedent for a team as popular and legendary as the Raiders to return home."
"The next generation want to get in the stadium to relive this experience," Rapport wrote. "There is no better market anywhere in the world."
City and county officials have called the claims absurd and said the team lost money because of poor performances in the 1990s. Davis only sued in 1997, after the team finished 4-12, the team's worst season since 1962.
Davis was not in court, but was shown in photos presented several times on a large screen for the jury to see. He is expected to testify later in the trial.
Dreyer took the jury back to the birth of the Oakland Raiders in 1960 in the American Football League, which merged with the NFL in 1970. He traced the team's move to Southern California in 1982 and the negotiations that led to their return to Oakland.
Along the way, he pointed out to the 12-person jury each of the team's three Super Bowl championships as he referred to the "winningest professional franchise in all of sports."
In 1995, as the NFL considered whether to approve the move to the Bay Area, the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum Commission sent out press releases announcing that the stadium had been sold out for 1995 and most of '96.
Internal documents, however, show that the claim of selling the rights to 47,000 seats was inflated by about 10,000. But that information was kept from the public and Davis.
"They knew it wasn't true. They knew they didn't have a sellout," Dreyer said. "They weren't even close."
During this time, the coliseum was selling preseason tickets to the public, claiming it was probably their only chance at seeing a Raiders home game in the next decade because it had sold personal seat licenses that gave owners a 10-year claim to their seats.
Dreyer said Davis never knew any of this as he attended an Aug. 7, 1995, news conference to sign the pact in the renovated Raiders locker room at the Coliseum.
