Raiders in talks to tear down Coliseum despite A's deal

Planners for the Coliseum City sports-retail project hope to close a deal by the end of summer that would pave the way for a new football stadium at the existing Coliseum site by 2018. Planners for the Coliseum City sports-retail project hope to close a deal by the end of summer that would pave the way for a new football stadium at the existing Coliseum site by 2018. Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Raiders in talks to tear down Coliseum despite A's deal 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

While the A's are trying to negotiate a deal to stay in the O.co Coliseum for another 10 years, the Raiders are in talks to tear down the stadium next year to make way for a new home for the NFL team.

The talks, revealed in a memo to Mayor Jean Quan from planners of the city-backed Coliseum City sports-retail project, stunned officials of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority - the agency that just reached an agreement to keep the A's in the existing ballpark for a decade.

Representatives of Coliseum City say they expect to reach a deal with the Raiders by the end of the summer that would lead to the opening of a new football stadium on the existing site by 2018.

"It will be critical to demolish the existing stadium in 2015" if the project is to be finished on time, Coliseum City attorney (and local political powerhouse) Zachary Wasserman said in a July 2 memo to Quan and City Administrator Henry Gardner.

In the meantime, the Raiders "are making arrangements to play elsewhere," Wasserman wrote. Just where that might be, he doesn't say.

Two years' notice

Just where the A's would play under this scenario isn't clear, either. If the City Council and Alameda County Board of Supervisors ratify the deal reached between the A's and the Coliseum Authority, the baseball team would get two years' notice before any construction that would force them out of the ballpark. That would keep them in the Coliseum through at least the 2016 season.

If that happens, it would "frustrate efforts to develop the site and disrupt the ability to deliver a stadium for the Raiders and the ancillary developments adjacent to that stadium," Wasserman wrote.

Quan and the city are serious about Coliseum City, which would put a hotel, offices and housing on the current stadium site, along with a new home for the Raiders and a retail center. Wasserman noted that the city has already spent more than $4 million planning the project.

The A's lease extension talks, however, have complicated that planning. Quan has been pushing the idea of a baseball-only park at the Howard Terminal near Jack London Square, but A's ownership has shown zero interest.

Instead, they've been busily negotiating with the Coliseum Authority - which includes representatives of the city along with county officials. The City Council has been hoping for more out of the A's lease than what the Coliseum Authority approved, and it's an open question whether Oakland will ratify the deal.

Smoke and mirrors

County Supervisor Nate Miley - who serves as the Coliseum Authority chairman - called the idea of tearing down the Coliseum "totally preposterous."

"We still owe about $180 million on the stadium," Miley noted, thanks to the mid-1990s makeover that city and county taxpayers paid for to bring the Raiders back from Los Angeles.

"This is either smoke and mirrors," Miley said, "or they are on crack."

Oakland City Councilman Larry Reid - who also sits on the Coliseum Authority, supports the A's lease extension and walked out of Monday's closed council meeting in frustration when the issue came up - called the teardown idea "crazy, absolutely insane."

Reid noted that while the Coliseum City group has the blessing of Quan and the council, it has no such blessing from the Coliseum Authority, which actually controls the stadium.

Like Miley, he wondered whether the project is anything more than smoke and mirrors.

No funds or developer

"They don't have a developer - they don't have the money," Reid said of the Coliseum City planners.

The development firm Forest City pulled out of the project months ago, and a replacement has yet to be announced.

Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, who also sits on the authority board and who is running for mayor, pointed the blame at Quan's administration for pressing ahead with the Coliseum City deal without any evidence it can be delivered.

Kaplan said the A's and co-owner Lew Wolff would also like to be involved in a development deal at the Coliseum, but not "underneath this particular development group that he lacks confidence in."

Wasserman told us Tuesday that he couldn't give "a definitive answer" on how the Coliseum City project would be financed until an outlined agreement with the Raiders - known as a term sheet - is completed later this summer.

However, he said the basic idea is to pay for the stadium with money brought in by the surrounding commercial and housing developments.

Scratching their heads

As for the stadium's price tag, Wasserman said only that it would be "less than $1 billion."

The Raiders didn't return our calls. Nor did Quan or Gardner.

The A's - who say they're willing to look at building a new ballpark on Coliseum property, but not as part of any Coliseum City deal - are simply scratching their heads.

"From our position, we just don't think that (Raiders project) is going to happen - we are betting it doesn't," said team Vice President Ken Pries.

But if it is real, the A's say, they have already agreed to leave on two years' notice if the Raiders put down a $10 million deposit on their new stadium.