Oakland, Former 49er Ronnie Lott Writing Up Plan To Keep Raiders In Oakland

The City of Oakland is trying a Hail Mary to keep the Raiders in town. This week, the city has been putting together a plan combining $1.3B to build a new stadium at the Coliseum. The money would include $600M from Ronnie Lott’s Fortress Investment Group of New York, $200M in public money and another $200M from the NFL—with a possible $300M requested from Raiders owner Mark Davis, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The plan includes leasing 125 acres of the Coliseum property to Oakland City Pro Football Group, which is led by former 49er Ronnie Lott (above with a fan) and former NFL player Rodney Peete. A new 55,000- to 58,000-seat stadium plus 8,500 parking spots would be built on 90 acres with another 35 acres devoted to a mixed-used retail development.

The city and county would share a percentage of non-football revenues at the stadium, such as those from concerts and other sports events, with the firm. New taxes could help pay down the $95M in unresolved debt from the 1990s renovations that originally brought the Raiders back to Oakland.

Mark Davis has yet to provide any input on Oakland’s deal. Along with the Oakland plan, he could be asked to sell a minority stake in the team to Ronnie Lott and partners.

The NFL could vote on the Raiders move to Las Vegas in January, which creates a time crunch for Oakland to sketch out a competitive plan to counter the current Las Vegas proposal. The outline of Oakland’s plan as well as votes of support from city and county officials will be presented directly to the NFL owners.

The Raiders are having a winning season and 30% of Oakland voters say it is a high priority to keep the team here. [SFC]