Coliseum Authority holds closed door meeting on Raiders lease

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Coliseum officials held a meeting with Raiders officials to discuss the team's near future. It's their first meeting since NFL owners this week turned down the team's bid to relocate to L.A.

The Alameda County Coliseum Authority is hoping to enter into a new lease with the Oakland Raiders and discussed details about that lease in a closed session Friday morning. Oakland City Councilman Larry Reid says even though team owner Mark Davis has said he is still looking for a location for his team, the board is remaining optimistic.

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"He said in the past he wants to stay in Oakland. We want to help facilitate something that will keep them here in Oakland," said Reid.

Oakland City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan wore her optimism around her neck. She says the new lease needs to include ways to make more money, such as keeping the lines for food and drink down and improving the quality of the food offered at games.

"I think for the Raiders, we need to look at how we can strengthen their revenue in the long term financial viability if they can have better sales sell outs portions, stronger revenue picture that also benefits tax payers," said Kaplan.

A Stanford economics professor agrees that a good place for the Oakland Coliseum to start.

"You look at Candlestick compared to Levi's Stadium, the number of people who can fit in there is roughly the same -- it's all this other stuff. That is the same problem as the Oakland Coliseum it really has terrible concessionaries," said Roger Noll, Stanford economics professor.

Negotiating the lease could take a couple of months and that is if the Raiders decide they want to stay in Oakland.

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