El Segundo Weighs Raiders’ Commitment

The word in El Segundo is that the Raiders may be leaving.

Someday.

So El Segundo city officials, merchants and residents say they are concerned but not devastated by the Los Angeles Raiders’ recent agreement with the City of Irwindale to build a football stadium and facility housing corporate headquarters, a practice area and a Raiders Hall of Fame.

Last week’s announcement of the Irwindale deal indicates that the team eventually plans to abandon the nine-acre headquarters and practice complex it has occupied for five years on the campus of the former El Segundo Junior High School.

But Raiders owner Al Davis has said it will take until 1990 to complete the proposed stadium, and the agreement with Irwindale does not specify a deadline for construction of the headquarters and practice facility.

The Raiders have a $10,000-a-month lease with the El Segundo School District that extends through August, 1992. Davis recently said the team was “tremendously proud of the work we’ve done in El Segundo” and emphasized that any decision about moving the team’s headquarters will be made “further down the road.”

Lease Through 1992

El Segundo School Supt. Richard Bertain said he knows only what he heard at Davis’ recent press conference, but he does not believe speculation that Davis’ tough stand with Los Angeles Coliseum Commission--the Raiders are seeking to break their Coliseum lease and collect $18.5 million for breach of contract--means he will also try to get out of the El Segundo lease.

“I’m confident they’ll see the lease to its conclusion,” Bertain said. “It lasts through August, 1992, and I have no reason to suspect that will be changed. We’re not unduly anxious about it.”

The Raiders’ lease calls for them to return the campus to its original condition if the district so demands, Bertain said, and contains two three-year options for the team to stay if the district does not reclaim the site.

Raiders spokesman Irv Kaze would not comment on the organization’s plans for El Segundo except to repeat Davis’ statement that a decision will be made later.

The general sentiment in El Segundo appears to be that the Raiders are well ensconced in town and would be reluctant to depart for the hot, dusty clime of Irwindale, even after 1992.

Davis and several team executives rent homes in the Marina del Rey and El Segundo areas, a short hop to Los Angeles International Airport. Players including Todd Christensen, Mickey Marvin and Marc Wilson and coach Bob Mischak live in El Segundo and send their children to city schools. Mischak’s wife, Doris, works part-time in a local jewelry store.

“We certainly don’t want to lose them,” said Chamber of Commerce Assistant Manager Barbara Bixler, who rents apartments to Marvin and Mischak. “They’ve become part of the community. I’m hoping it doesn’t happen. You’ll see them jogging down Center Street or shopping on Main Street. They like the fact that they can walk to work.”

Players and team officials are also regular customers at a mall near their Center Street facility, according to owners of shops and restaurants where team paraphernalia is on prominent display. Since the team arrived from Oakland in 1982, the bar-restaurant Stick and Stein has been a favorite place for weary Raiders to pound beers after pounding each other in practice.

“They like to come in and kick back after practice,” said owner George Stevens. “They’re a real nice bunch of guys.”

Stevens also expressed doubt that the team will abandon El Segundo, though he has received numerous queries from residents who think he has the inside story.

Regardless of the Raiders’ decision, Mayor Jack Siadek said the economic impact of the team’s departure would be negligible.

‘A Business Decision’

“They’ve been good neighbors and it’s been fun,” Siadek said. “But it’s not like we’re going to lose a lot of jobs. It’s a business decision. And they did give us the first shot. A couple of months ago they asked us about the feasibility of building a stadium near El Segundo and Sepulveda (boulevards), but it didn’t fly.”

The Raiders organization apparently has a mixed reputation as a corporate citizen of El Segundo. Bertain and Bixler praised team management and players for working with young people. Players and coaches have advised high school athletes as part of the district’s adopt-a-class program, have given anti-drug talks and have sponsored a yearly luncheon honoring inductees to the El Segundo High School athletic Hall of Fame.

“They’ve been good citizens,” Bertain said.

The team also has been active as a Chamber of Commerce member in events such as the city’s annual Community Appreciation Day and a yearly “Burlies” basketball game, a fund-raising event pitting Raiders players against city and corporate officials, Bixler said.

Commitment Doubted

But some city officials said the Raiders have been less supportive than corporations such as Hughes and Chevron USA, particularly when it comes to financial commitment.

“I don’t really feel they’re a big part of El Segundo,” Councilman Keith Schuldt said. “I haven’t seen the kind of participation of a Hughes or a Rockwell. There’s no doubt about that. People like to have the team here, but if they leave I don’t think the city’s going to crumble. I don’t know why we should have loyalty to them. They don’t have loyalty to their fans. Al Davis’ loyalty is to bucks.”

Other city officials, who asked not to be identified, complained that the Raiders charge $1,600 for playing in the Burlies game and have declined to sponsor runners in an annual “jogathon” that draws funding from most other local companies.

Regardless of their opinion of the Raiders and their plans, most said that for the next few years they expect the team’s presence to continue as usual. When the team returns to town from a preseason camp in Oxnard next week, Bixler said, the customary banner over Main Street and lawn signs bearing the team’s “Commitment to Excellence” slogan will welcome the Raiders back home.