Co-owner Ed McGah said the team couldn’t continue to operate at current attendance levels, but said the owners would sell rather than move the team themselves. He added that the team had lost $327,000 in 1960, were on track to lose more than $400,000 in 1961, and could only continue to wait for a new stadium if losses were no more than half that amount
Fellow owner Wayne Valley said 1961 losses would be closer to $450,000 and that the team had to have an Oakland stadium for the 1962, but that the team wouldn’t pay to have one built.
AFL executive Milt Woodard said the league believed in Oakland if they could play there, but that several other cities—Atlanta, Chicago, Memphis, San Antonio—had shown interest in getting a team.