Al Davis Ain't Winning This One

[DIESEL TROLL]

August 5, 2003

Defense picks apart evidence in closing arguments

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Raiders made a calculated business decision to return to Oakland and when profits they expected didn't roll in after a few bad seasons they sued, a defense lawyer said Tuesday in closing arguments in the team's nearly four-month fraud trial.

Attorney James Brosnahan, who represents the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and its chief negotiator, said the team's claim that it was lured back on the false promise of a packed stadium is bogus. He cautioned the jury not to award hundreds of millions of dollars sought by the team based on flimsy evidence.

"Why is it when a plaintiff seeks this kind of award that the evidence is of that kind of quality?" he asked. "You would take it and discard it if it were anything related to your life."

The Raiders claim they were defrauded of $833 million in franchise value and lost ticket sales by moving from Los Angeles in 1995 to a stadium that was not sold out as they said they were repeatedly promised. The defunct accounting firm Arthur Andersen is also a co-defendant.

The team also claims they would be $571 million to $809 million richer if the coliseum had not lied about ticket sales and the team could have moved to Baltimore.

In 190 pages of contracts, there was no guarantee of a sold-out stadium, Brosnahan said. Nine people testified they told owner Al Davis the stadium was not sold out before he signed an Aug. 7, 1995, contract to move the team back through 2010.

Failures at the box office could be blamed on high ticket prices and poor performances on the field, including the team's abysmal 4-12 season in its third season after returning, Brosnahan said.

Still, the team's finances saw big improvements over the final years of its 13-year run in Los Angeles. After moving home, average annual net ticket sales jumped to $24 million from $14 million in the last four years in Los Angeles.

Brosnahan portrayed the team as an insular organization with massive communication problems. Its media relations department claimed it never saw news stories deflating favorable ticket sales projections.

"I always read the sports page and I don't own a football team," Brosnahan said. "For them it's a business. I put it to you and put it to them that every day people who work at the Raiders read the sports page, and not just one paper, to find out what's going on in their business."

Critical pieces of information about ticket sales were not passed up the chain of command. Team executives didn't receive important correspondence.

"Four months of 'I didn't see it. I didn't read the paper. I didn't get the memo. I didn't get the letter,'" Brosnahan said.

All of it strains credibility, Brosnahan said, especially given that Davis has run the winningest franchise in football history and has long been considered a savvy businessman.

Brosnahan focused on the July 1995 press release issued by the coliseum that claimed tickets had been sold out for the season.

The team's lawyer claims the document is central to the fraud -- that coliseum officials and others knew the information in it wasn't true and intentionally misled the team with the information to lure them back. Davis said he relied partly on that information in deciding to move to Oakland.

Brosnahan said the information in the release was accurate, but he questioned how team officials could rely on it when several news articles contradicted the sellout characterization.

"Have you ever heard of where a major business located in one city would make a decision to move based on a press release?" Brosnahan said. "It wasn't reasonable for them to do that."

Applications and deposits for high- and low-priced season tickets exceeded supplies, the press release said. But seats were still available at midlevel prices.

At the time, however, larger problems loomed that would further jeopardize profits. About 10 percent of the applications failed when checks bounced or credit cards were rejected, which Brosnahan said the team was later told.

Brosnahan also referred to the Raider's propensity to sue, referring to the team's lawsuit against the NFL after it spiked a deal for the team to build a stadium at a Los Angeles horse track. Davis said he turned his attention to Oakland after that deal collapsed.

The team lost that $1 billion suit but it is under appeal because of juror misconduct. Brosnahan said the current trial is just another attempt by the team to recoup the same losses.

"What has happened in this courtroom is extraordinary," he said. "There was not a mention about the Raiders case in Los Angeles that they were involved in. That they were seeking the same damages they seek in this court."