NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been making calls pushing the idea of letting a predominantly African American investment group, led by former 49ers star Ronnie Lott, help build a new stadium for the Raiders in Oakland.

As we first reported two weeks ago, Lott and retired quarterback Rodney Peete — both of whom played briefly with the Raiders — have met with team executives and Oakland officials to pitch a plan to be master developers of the city- and Alameda County-owned Coliseum site.

But they got a chilly reception at City Hall.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf told us she would “not meet with any developer for this project unless they are brought to me by the Raiders, and I have asked the City Council to do the same.”

Then came the Goodell calls, including to Schaaf.

Now comes word that Schaaf is scheduled to meet with Lott’s group this week. A separate meeting is planned between the developers and members of the county Board of Supervisors.

Asked what triggered her turnaround, Schaaf told us Friday that “I am encouraged by the team (Lott) has assembled. My recent conversations with Commissioner Goodell and others have given me confidence it’s time to continue our conversations.”

Goodell himself confirmed at the league’s meeting in Charlotte, N.C., on May 24 that he had spoken to Schaaf the night before and had urged her to work with the Raiders.

The league has committed to spending $300 million toward a new stadium for the team, which is a start but far from a finish for a structure that will cost more than $1 billion.

“This has been a long time that we have been seeking a solution in Oakland, and it’s time to get to that,” Goodell said. “We will play our part, and I know the Raiders will also.”

Raiders owner Mark Davis has previously pledged to come up with $300 million from naming rights and the like.

One source involved in the talks tells us the Raiders may be willing to work with the Lott group, assuming it can come up with the other $400 million needed to fill out the stadium financing.

“The Lott group’s first and foremost interest is owning a portion of the team and keeping it in Oakland,” said the source, who wasn’t authorized to speak on the record.

The ownership part is attractive to Goodell, because the NFL is the only major sports league in the U.S. that doesn’t have African Americans represented among team owners.

The Raiders’ front office isn’t talking publicly, but we hear that their stadium planner, Larry MacNeil, has met with Lott’s group. We also hear that the Raiders remain skeptical that any deal can be pulled off — largely because of complications involving the A’s, who also want a new ballpark on the Coliseum site and just signed a 10-year lease extension.

So just in case, Davis is keeping up his flirtation with moving the Raiders to Las Vegas, where plans are in the works for a stadium that would be built largely with tourism tax revenue.

Safety sell: Calls were going out into the weekend for last-minute money to help pass Proposition A, showing how tough it may be to swing two-thirds of the voters on San Francisco’s latest bond effort.

Early polling showed support in the 60 percent-plus range for the $350 million bond to fix up the city’s health clinics, fire stations and homeless shelters. That rose to just over 70 percent when voters were “educated” on the need for the improvements.

The education, however, has not been all that easy.

For starters, the electorate’s mood has changed since last year, when a smiling Mayor Ed Lee starred as the face of a $310 million affordable housing bond that the voters green-lighted.

Since then, positive feelings about the direction of the city have plummeted, as has Lee’s approval rating. And the new bond lacks the big-bucks backing that developers put behind the housing bond.

This time out, the campaign has centered on direct mail — featuring Lee front and center for Chinese American voters, and doctors and nurses for the rest of the city.

Central scuffle: When it comes to money, the rumble over control of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee has risen to an incredible level — with more than $1.6 million being raised and spent on the campaigns of the 60 people running.

The biggest donors are tech investor Ron Conway ($59,000), Facebook ($50,000), Airbnb ($20,000) and various real estate interests (more than $1.2 million), all of which back moderates led by Mayor Ed Lee ally Mary Jung.

On the other side, public employee and teachers unions have kicked in about $77,000 to push a progressive slate.

The prize is control of party endorsements and election spending, which in a one-party town can make all the difference.

As DCCC Treasurer Tom Hsieh Jr., one of the moderates, put it: “It’s like the Good Housekeeping seal of approval.”

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: matierandross