Scott McKibben is Oakland’s best chance to keep the Raiders and out of Las Vegas.
Prior to Scott McKibben arriving on the scene to become the first really good executive director the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority has ever had, the JPA limped along with City and County elected officials bent to selecting people they were comfortable with, more than competent for the position.
Indeed, in the 2014 contest for the job of JPA boss, Scott wasn’t even the first choice of the JPA board, which is really governed by the same elected officials who had the ‘hire your friend’ attitude when it came to the JPA. The first choice of the group was Mark Hart,the Director of Business and Chief Financial Officer of The Pittsburgh Steelers. But the need to move him out from the Steel City and house him in the Bay Area was a larger financial commitment than the JPA was willing to make, and so the competition was unofficially reopened.
Strangely, former Dublin Mayor and California Assemblyman Guy Houston rose from the depths of the resume pile to become the number one candidate. It was a wild development for someone who had no sports business-related experience at all. Still, primarily because of his great relationship with Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty and Oakland City Councilman Larry Reid, and Guy’s sheer desire for the position (showing up at meeting after meeting), he became the favored pick.
There was a lot of maneuvering to get Guy to the top, even someone giving him the chance to undercut other candidates in his salary requirements.
That was until this blogger revealed the same person was involved in a court case where he was accused of allegedly defrauding an elderly group. That was until this blogger worked to lobby for McKibben’s selection based on his experience and his work in helping me bid for the 2005 Super Bowl for Oakland.
I’ve stated it before, and will again here: Scott was a major asset in our meeting with NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue in 2000. At that time, McKibben was President of Alameda Newspaper Group, the parent company of the Oakland Tribune, at the time. Scott went on to a successful career running The Rose Bowl, but wanted the open Coliseum JPA position as a new challenge in an region he knew.
Scott’s arrival has resulted in the smoothing of relationships with the A’s, Raiders, and Golden State Warriors. He’s manged to eliminate a long-standing budget deficit, and is the main reason why the Oakland Raiders are still here, rather than working to take up early residence in Las Vegas. Anyone who writes that he’s not an asset is simply not informed – but that’s not new in SF Bay Area Media.
Moreover, the writer of the post that was critical of McKibben’s retention by the JPA should disclose that he worked for Scott as a reporter while both were at the Oakland Tribune / Alameda Newspaper Group in 2000, and when I worked on the Super Bowl Bid for Oakland. Moreover, the same writer was critical of the business practices of the Alameda Newspaper Group shortly after he left the Oakland Tribune.
Just saying.
That is why I’m a blogger, and not a journalist: I don’t try to seem objective, when I know I’m not.
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