Oakland Raiders v. City of Berkeley

The City of Berkeley appeals from a summary judgment, obtained by respondent Oakland Raiders, enjoining appellant from collecting a tax imposed by the city’s Ordinance No. 4703-N.S. We reverse the judgment.

On June 30, 1972, respondent and the Regents of the University of California entered into a stadium rental agreement by which respondent leased the use of California Memorial Stadium at the University of California, Berkeley, for several professional football games to be played during the years 1972, 1973, and 1974.

On July 9, 1974, appellant adopted Ordinance No. 4703-N.S. (“Professional Sports Events License Tax”) to amend Ordinance No. 2805-N.S. (“Business License Tax”). Ordinance No. 4703-N.S. provided that “professional sports events” would be subject to an annual license tax of 10 percent of gross receipts. The ordinance was passed as an urgency measure, for the purpose of making it immediately effective. The preexisting business license tax ordinance (No. 2805-N.S.) imposed on all businesses in the City of Berkeley a tax to be determined variously by the number of employees, the gross receipts of the business, or by some flat rate. Where the license tax was…