Oakland Mayor Schaaf To Roll Out Raiders New Stadium Plan Next Week

Oakland Mayor Schaaf To Roll Out Oakland Raiders Stadium Plan Next Week Fresh off a home run where her wish to have Howard Terminal as the preferred site of the Oakland Athletics was granted (and in the process forcing the hand of Oakland Raiders Owner Mark Davis and pushing the A's to reveal exactly what they are going to do. (And I must add that the phone calls of media types were answered with the idea that nothing was happening: I can tell you that such information is not correct at all – something has been happening, else, my very high placed source would not have blurted out that information without provocation. Mark Davis has the Coliseum land in this scenario and if he backs off the Las Vegas flirting and takes Oakland seriously, Howard Terminal works both politically and procedurally), Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is going to roll out the second phase of her giant sports stadium effort next week: Libby is going to show the first rendering and design concept for a stadium for the Oakland Raiders at the Oakland Coliseum. This action is long, really long, overdue: Schaaf has received major heat for not doing what the San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and many other mayors have done over the years: issue their design concept for a stadium for their sports team, be it NFL, MLB, or MLH. Libby has either paid no attention to those who know, like me, or taken bad advice from people she has elected (excuse the pun) to listen to. What shows for that is no plan at all, and a very impatient National Football League. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell thinks the World of Mayor Schaaf, and was charmed by her last year, as were many NFL staffers – but in the NFL world, charm has to be backed by action. If you show the credibility, certainty, and capacity to do what you say you are going to do, you will gain a life-long friend in Roger Goodell and in the NFL. To date, Mayor Schaaf has not done that, and that's why next week's reveal's a big deal. All Mayor Schaaf should have done is what she wound up doing for next week: hired an architect and worked with that person and staff to form a design plan. Even if Mark Davis and the Oakland Raiders reject Schaaf's idea, she can at least point to a foundation for conversations regarding what the facility should look like. The action will also send a powerful signal to the NFL and to the World that she and Oakland are ready to act like big league players. To date, Oakland has not acted like a big league player: one that forms a design and financing plan for sports stadiums and then hons and refines them. Oakland acts like it's afraid of being accused of the idea of floating public money and allows the local electorate (which is really ill-informed on how to make these plans, let alone their fiscal impacts) to render a view – one that always comes down against the idea and never for it. This 'Fear Of Raiders Deal Two' is so powerful that some politicians consider it the third-rail of local politics. Forget that this idea has never been tested – that's the notion. Next week Schaaf will show her plan for the Oakland Raiders to the World and leave everyone breathless. When Libby decides to take a bold action, she does so – who will forget the giant “Black Lives Matter” image that was shown during her “State of The City Address” ? Or what about her speech where she admitted that there were some companies and people in Oakland who were racist? That was an early classic completely missed by the media – not me. Libby needs to, and will, bring that bold action to bear on the issue of keeping the Raiders in Oakland. Just you watch: next week. And that is a big Lirpa Sloof.

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