"The Raiders Have No Case"

(4/26/01) - NFL attorney Allen Ruby told the jury in final arguments Thursday that there is not one piece of evidence that anyone was actually prepared to pay for the proposed Hollywood Park stadium. In other words, there was no viable stadium deal for the NFL to "destroy."

"Who exactly was going to fund this stadium," Ruby asked the jury of eight men and four women. "Any names come to mind? There is no evidence in this trial record that anyone was going to pay to get it built. No testimony by anyone from Hollywood Park, no banks, no lenders. That is why the Raiders have no case against us."

Ruby questioned why the Raiders did not produce a single Hollywood Park witness to support their claim that the NFL interfered with the stadium project.

"The Raiders as the plaintiffs have the burden of proof," Ruby said. "They made a choice not to call the Hollywood Park people. Why do you think that was? Dee Hubbard had written the Raiders in June 1995 that the stadium project was contingent on ‘debt financing on acceptable terms.’ In other words, he was saying someone needs to write the check. There is no evidence who that ‘someone’ was."

Ruby addressed the jury for the final hour of Thursday’s session following attorney Joe Alioto’s closing argument on behalf of the Raiders. Ruby will continue Friday morning; Alioto has one additional hour of argument after him. The jury is expected to receive the case later in the day.

The Raiders claim in this case that they still own the Los Angeles market despite having moved back to Oakland. However, Ruby told the jury that any claims to Los Angeles that the Raiders may have held were resolved – and released -- when the team signed a March 1989 settlement with the league that included an $18 million payment from the NFL.

Ruby also rebutted the Raiders’ claim that Hollywood Park needed at least two Super Bowls to be played there to make the project feasible. He reminded the jury that 22 stadiums have been recently built -- or are under construction; only a few of those will host even one Super Bowl, and that none were built with a promise -- like the league made at Hollywood Park -- of multiple Super Bowls.

"While two Super Bowls would have been desirable, they were not essential," Ruby said. "Other stadiums have been built with a lot less help from the league."

Alioto said in his opening statement weeks ago that the NFL was not willing to give even "one dime" to the Hollywood Park project. However, Ruby today showed the jury that the league was prepared to support the stadium with at least one Super Bowl, 18,000 Super Bowl tickets and a Visiting Team Share (VTS) waiver. That package was worth well over one hundred million dollars, Ruby stated.

The trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. (PT) Friday morning.