Raiders: Putting “news” up in Oakland in perspective

A little bit of old news got turned into new news today when it was reported the National Football League is in talks with the city of Oakland about coming on as a developer on the land on which the Raiders hope – or hoped – to use a portion of to build a new stadium.

According to NFL Executive Vice President Eric Grubman, while the NFL remains in contact with Bay Area leaders and is always available to assist, nothing new, significant or viable is currently being discussed.

Which makes today’s report a new twist on what has been the case for while: Yes, the NFL would prefer the Raiders and/or league have development rights to that land rather than a third-party developer, which Bay Area leaders have advocated in recent attempts to secure a stadium plan for the Raiders.

But no, there is no new movement to make that happen.

Why is the development rights to the land so important to the NFL?

The NFL has always been negative about the addition of third party real estate developers because developers try to leverage their control into a piece of a team, or an overreach into football revenues, or they want to borrow against it.

The way the NFL sees things, if the rights to that land is actually worth something, then the team is in the best position to use it to bring about a stadium project.

Relative to today’s news that the NFL is in talks to come on as the developer – which is inaccurate – the NFL is available and ready to help that cause if the Raiders ask.

Of course, for that to happen Bay Area leaders have to first express an interest in selling the land to the Raiders and/or NFL.

That hasn’t happened yet.

And keep in mind, this approach applies to Los Angeles and London and any other market where there is excess land beyond stadium envelope.

Or where construction of a new stadium could unlock that value.