Red McCombs spoke to the San Antonio Express-News last week about the possibility of the Oakland Raiders relocating to San Antonio, and he’s a rich guy who used to own the Minnesota Vikings, so he gets to have his every idle speculation reprinted in the newspaper. These were:
- Raiders owner Mark Davis had a good meeting with San Antonio officials: “I don’t think it could have gone better.” McCombs says Davis especially liked former San Antonio mayor and HUD secretary Henry Cisneros, who put together the deal, noting, “I can remember when Henry was mayor, and the mayor of New York left a meeting he was in and got up and embraced Henry and said, ‘God, I’m glad you came up here.'”
- McCombs would be interested in buying into the Raiders “if that’s what it would take to get them here,” but has no idea if Davis would be seeking minority investors.
- “It’s a myth that San Antonio is a bargaining chip.” (The Express-News headline implies that McCombs called Davis’s interest in San Antonio “sincere,” but the headline writers actually seem to have been quoting their own reporter.)
So put it all together, and McCombs is indicating … either that Davis is serious about moving to San Antonio, or that McCombs wants Davis to be serious about it. Definitely one of those two. Also, that the Express-News wants it to be the former, or at least wants readers to think it’s the former, because eyebaaaaaaaaaaaaaalls!
Yeah and the rich guy who once owned the Vikings for about six years sold them because he couldn’t get a stadium deal done. Which is funny a) because seven years later they got the whole thing paid for anyway b) even without the stadium the value of that franchise has to have skyrocketed. McCombs would have been smarter to sell, but the NFL isn’t for used car dealers (that’s MLB).
Guy’s got a ton of money, but selling the Vikings was probably a bad idea. I’m sure he’s fine with it as he’s a de facto ‘owner’ of the University of Texas’ football program.
Would have been smarter not to sell.
Doh.
See my comments about Billy Jo in the previous San Antonio threads. Slick real estate guys from Jersey with an army of lawyers get shiny new taxpayer funded palaces. Scruffy bumpkins from south of the pecos get sent packin’.