© Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
After all the chaos, the Raiders are back to square one.
According to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle’s Phil Matier, the Raiders “appear to be close to wrapping up a deal to keep the team playing at the Oakland Coliseum this year and possibly in 2020.” Matier said the announcement would be made this week or early next week.
According to Matier, “the deal is being worked out between Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority Executive Director Scott McKibben and Raiders President Marc Badain.” The report states that the Raiders would pay $7.5 million to play at the Coliseum this year. That number would rise to $10.5 million in 2020.
The growing feeling among those close to the situation was that the Raiders would ultimately play in the Coliseum in 2019, with their headquarters located in Alameda. The newest development is that the team could now play there in 2020. That option is likely insurance in case the team’s $1.8-billion Las Vegas stadium is not ready by the start of the 2020 season, which was the original plan.
This, of course, is the latest twist in a situation that has been ongoing for the past two-plus months.
With about three weeks left in the 2018 NFL season, the City of Oakland sued Raiders owner Mark Davis and his team for their “illegal move” to Las Vegas. With their Coliseum lease set to expire, Davis started looking for other places to play in 2019, but the search came with little success.
One option was the 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium, but Davis has long thwarted the idea of playing in the same stadium as the Bay Area rival. Another idea was to play in the Giants’ Oracle Park, but the Raiders needed the 49ers’ permission, and they reportedly didn’t want to waive their territorial rights. San Francisco’s City Hall also worried that traffic near the waterfront stadium would be too hectic for residents.
Non-Bay Area cities recently started offering their services. Last week, Birmingham, Alabama and Tuscon, Arizona offered to split hosting duties for Raiders “home” games next season.
But it now seems the Raiders are likely to return to Oakland for one or potentially two seasons.
