If the fans don’t hurt you, the
Chili Mac Hot Dog will.

OAKLAND COLISEUM AUTHORITY//NOTES | Sylvia Lloyd says fan behavior at Oakland Raiders games is getting out of hand and the stadium’s concession vendor, Aramark, doesn’t have their backs.

While working a Raiders game last season Lloyd was doused with two beers by an irate woman, but without any security in the area, she nabbed the fan and searched for authorities. Two white men grabbed the worker and threw her against a trailer, she said. The men later identified themselves as an Oakland police officers and Alameda County sheriffs deputy. She says she was merely defending herself, but was later terminated by the company.

Mickey Robinson, another Aramark employee who witnessed the exchange, told the Oakland Coliseum Authority Thursday morning the cops sided with the fan. “They just believed her and wanted nothing to do with Sylvia,” said Robinson.

Fans get drunk in the parking lot before games and become unruly once inside, Robinson said. “It’s not a safe environment to be working at an Oakland Raider game.” He added a belief Oakland PD is nearly non-existent at games, especially on the second deck above the infamous “Black Hole.”

The Coliseum’s contract with Aramark is up for renewal in October and some of its employees urged the Authority to intervene in talks between the company and the Oakland Athletics and AEG, which runs the stadium’s day-to-day operations.

“Aramark does a terrible job,” said Robert Parker, an employee at the Coliseum for the past 25 years, who said the vendor is the worst run outfit he has seen during his tenure. Parker added “the lack of safety this year in the stadium has been horrible” and Aramark was unprepared for the season. “We want to give good service to the customers,” said Parker. “When they come out that’s when we make money.”

Although the concession issue does not directly involve the Authority—it’s a tenant and vendor issue, said Authority chair and Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley—Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan asked to agendize the contract renewal for a future meeting and offered to include language about working conditions at the Coliseum.

RAIDERS SEARCH FOR CORPORATE TITANS The National Football League have greatly impressed upon the Authority for the need to attract corporate sponsorship to keep Coliseum City as a viable option for the Raiders. Miley, as chair of the Authority offered to split the bill for organizing a corporate event to lure some of the region’s biggest companies. Instead, the Raiders are offering to foot the bill for the entire event, to be held tentatively in late June, said Miley. “We’re working very collaboratively with the Raiders on marketing and promotion, in particular, with the corporate community,” said Miley. He also wants to strengthen the relationship between county entities and the Raiders, including eliciting the support of the Oakland city councilmembers and all the mayors in Alameda County and the entire East Bay.

Rats on Warriors Ground.

ROARACLE OR SQUEEKACLE? One concession worker warned the Authority Thursday morning of an infestation of rats in the ivy surrounding the inner circle between O.co Coliseum and Oracle Arena. Ivy also surrounds the bowls of both stadiums and the existence of rats within the bowels of the Coliseum has long been a problem. However, numerous sightings, said the employee, have been noted as arena workers leave through an underground tunnel to their cars after basketball games. Miley said he will ask the Alameda County Department of Environmental Health to look into the rat problem.

NOBODY WANTS THE JOB The Authority’s nascent search for a new executive director is not going well. A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was posted through a search firm to attract prospective candidates for the vacancy, said staff, which yielded zero responses.

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