NFL’S DEFENSE OPENS THURSDAY

(4/17/01) The Raiders rested their case Tuesday afternoon in their suit against the NFL in State Superior Court in Los Angeles.

The NFL begins its defense Thursday morning when University of California-Berkeley economist Rich Gilbert takes the witness stand to testify on the Raiders’ damage claim.

Roy Weinstein, an economist hired by the Raiders, testified Tuesday that he and his staff of 15-20 people took four years to figure the "damages" owed to the Raiders by the NFL. The Raiders had paid nearly $1 million for his work even before the trial began.

Under cross-examination by NFL attorney Allen Ruby, Weinstein admitted that his damage estimates were consistently and significantly revised upward during the course of his work on the project. He denied that the differences were anything other than objective.

Weinstein testified that the Raiders should be awarded damages of $569 million on their Hollywood Park claims. He estimated this total to be the difference between the revenues the team has earned (and will earn) in Oakland versus what he "estimated" the club would have earned at a new Hollywood Park stadium. Upon questioning by Ruby, Weinstein admitted that he initially projected the damages to be a small fraction of that amount, and that his projections were generally above those made by Hollywood Park analysts.

In addition, Weinstein stated that he used "three different calculations" to determine that the Raiders should be awarded between $412 million and $840 million for the loss of the Los Angeles opportunity. When questioned by Ruby, Weinstein admitted that his initial calculations called for as little as $16 million in damages on that claim.

Other admissions made by Weinstein on Tuesday:

• He has previously testified that the Raiders paid for "the right to play in Los Angeles" and that he continues to believe that today. He did not testify that the Raiders "own" Los Angeles, or ever owned Los Angeles. He could not identify a single previous instance in which he had ever described any payment made by the Raiders as being a "payment for an expansion opportunity."

• Weinstein testified that he had reviewed 57 different financial projections prepared by Hollywood Park for the proposed stadium. However, he admitted that he never saw a single financial projection prepared by the Raiders despite his requests to the team that he be furnished with that information. (Weinstein’s testimony again confirms the League’s contention that the Raiders had no clear commitment to the Hollywood Park project.)

• Weinstein testified that the Raiders’ club seat and suite revenues would have significantly increased due to the NFL awarding a Super Bowl to the prospective Hollywood Park stadium. He calculated that each club seat was worth an additional $500 per year and each suite an extra $25,000 per year due to the leverage a Super Bowl provided. In total, according to Weinstein, one Super Bowl would have generated for the Raiders a minimum of $132 million in extra club seat and suite revenue from 1997-2010. (The NFL has repeatedly asserted that the award of Super Bowls and extra Super Bowl tickets was unprecedented and would have helped the Raiders sell club seats and luxury suites.)

There will be no court session on Wednesday.