DALLAS – Al Davis is at it again.

The Oakland Raiders owner has been in a California courtroom the last few weeks, once again pursuing a lawsuit to squeeze big bucks out of the team’s stadium and relocation deals. This time, he’s charging he was cheated out of $1.1 billion in the deal that brought the team back to Oakland in 1994.

“It was an excellent deal when I signed it,” Davis said in court, “but because of the fraud, it turned out to be a bad deal.”

Davis, a former American Football League commissioner and a 1992 inductee to the NFL Hall of Fame, just might own the sports world’s record for litigation. He’s sued his fellow National Football League owners at least four times. Now, he’s in court facing off against the northern California authorities that lavished millions of dollars on his team.

In Sacramento, Davis argued that the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum authorities used false promises of sellouts to lure the Raiders back to Oakland after a 13-year sojourn in Los Angeles.

Davis concluded his testimony in the 3-month-old trial on Wednesday. It will probably be another month or so before the issue goes to the jury.

The legal wrangling in Sacramento provides a cautionary tale for a system that encourages cities to bribe professional teams with sweetheart stadium deals.

“You’re seeing cities so desperate because that’s how leagues want it,” said Patrick Rishe, an economist at St. Louis’ Webster University. “The teams have the cities at a bargaining disadvantage.”

When cities get desperate to lure or keep a franchise, they risk entering into a deal with the devil … or Al Davis.

His suit is part of a long, tangled tale that stretches over two decades as he tried to enrich himself by playing the stadium game.

It’s also the second time Davis has turned to the courts over his footloose franchise. In 2001, he lost a $1.2 billion suit against the NFL in which he alleged that the league frustrated his efforts to build a new stadium in the Los Angeles area, forcing him to return to Oakland.

The Raiders played in Oakland from 1960 to 1981. Seeking the riches of a larger market, Davis moved his franchise to Los Angeles in 1982, doing so against the NFL’s will. That time, Davis won $50 million in damages in a suit against the NFL for trying to interfere with his business.

In southern California, Davis tried to strike deals to build a new stadium. None of them panned out, so he struck a deal to return to Oakland that included $197 million for stadium renovations and relocation expenses.

Davis saw a deal where Oakland-area civic leaders would guarantee that the Raiders would sell enough seat licenses, tickets and suites to make the team one of the NFL’s richest.

The fans didn’t buy into the Raiders, and Davis figures he’s out $1.1 billion. The calculation starts with the difference between sellouts of 63,000 and actual attendance over a 16-year lease that runs through 2010. The Raiders also claim revenue losses from club seats, luxury suites and sponsorships. For good measure, they add in diminished franchise value.

“Right now, we’re 30th in the league of 32 teams in revenue,” Davis told reporters. “We’re struggling for our life.”

Davis’ suit is shaping up as a battle over whether the Raiders knew going in that sales hadn’t gone as well as expected and whether Davis has been financially harmed.

Davis testified he was misled about the sales effort.

The defense introduced Davis’ own statements and Raiders memos from the early days in Oakland to show that the franchise didn’t get hoodwinked.

Oakland attorney Jim Brosnahan also argued that Davis has made a lot of money since moving to Oakland. He introduced evidence that Davis pocketed $16 million during his first five years back in Oakland, compared with $2.86 million during the last five years in Los Angeles.

“This was the first time this morning when people learned how much Mr. Davis earned personally from all this,” Brosnahan said after proceedings on July 3. “You would think that listening to him talk for the last five years that he was going to be homeless.”

Brosnahan said in court that the Raiders increased in value to $500 million after relocating to Oakland, but Davis said he’d have an $850 million property by 2010 if he’d gone to Baltimore.

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(c) 2003, The Dallas Morning News.

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AP-NY-07-11-03 1950EDT