AUSTRIAN: HOLLYWOOD PARK GREAT DEAL FOR RAIDERS

(March 27, 2001) - Former NFL President Neil Austrian testified Tuesday that an NFL revenue sharing policy would have given the Raiders $84 million to help pay for their contribution to the construction of a new stadium. Any second team in the Hollywood Park plan was not required to pay anything toward the stadium, but would not have benefited from this revenue sharing policy.

In his fourth and final day of testimony during the Raiders vs. NFL trial in State Superior Court in Los Angeles, Austrian stated that the Finance Committee had approved a resolution, called FC-8, that relieved the Raiders for 12 years from the obligation to share with visiting clubs any of their estimated $20 million annual income on club seat premiums. Under established NFL revenue sharing rules, clubs must share 34 percent of such premiums with the visiting teams. Resolution FC-8 would have waived that requirement for the Raiders. Thus, the Raiders would have been able to keep that 34 percent, or approximately $7 million per year, for 12 years - for a total of $84 million.

Among other key points made on Tuesday by Austrian:

In May 1995, former Seattle Seahawks owner Ken Behring said that he would have been happy to have the deal offered to the Raiders at Hollywood Park, but not the deal proposed for a second team.

A Raiders club seat at the proposed Hollywood Park stadium would have been worth "in excess of $2,500" per year if packaged with the right to purchase tickets to one Super Bowl at the stadium. That premium would have been worth even more if it included the right to purchase tickets to multiple Super Bowls. The second-team option included another Super Bowl at Hollywood Park.

As of May 1995, the Raiders had not sent out season-ticket renewal forms to their fans in Los Angeles. Most teams mail such forms to their fans beginning in February.

Raiders chief executive Amy Trask took the stand Tuesday afternoon, and will return to the stand on Wednesday.

The Raiders claim that the NFL in 1995 interfered with the team's opportunity to build a stadium at Hollywood Park near Los Angeles. The Raiders also assert that they "own" the Los Angeles market and the NFL may not place a team there without paying the Raiders for doing so.

However, evidence so far in the trial has shown that Commissioner Tagliabue and the other NFL clubs worked hard to help - not hinder - the Raiders with their stadium proposal at Hollywood Park. The evidence also has supported the NFL rules which state that the right to place a team in Los Angeles, or any other city, is a collective right of all member clubs, not just the Raiders.

Under California law, a verdict requires a minimum three-quarters vote of the jury, which is made up of eight men and four women. The trial is expected to continue for another 2-4 weeks.