The Raiders have missed the NFL’s Super Bowl LIII deadline for resolving their 2019 stadium situation, but they may be closing in on finalizing this saga.
The likelihood that, after all of the talk of a move elsewhere following Oakland’s lawsuit, the Raiders will play in Oakland has increased. More discussions are on tap next week, with a near-future resolution in sight.
“We’ll talk against next week. Again, this will come to a conclusion one way or another in the next week or so,” Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority Board executive director Scott McKibben said, via Scott Bair of NBC Sports Bay Area. “It’s fair to say that discussions have been meaningful and productive and, after the update with our board, things are progressing.”
Oakland and the Raiders had been discussing a $7.5MM lease for 2019, the franchise’s final lame-duck season before its Las Vegas move. Although the Raiders previously walked away from that deal after the city’s lawsuit, playing at the Coliseum for the $7.5MM amount is back on the table.
It appears the prospect of the Raiders playing at the San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park home has been scuttled. The 49ers refused to waive their territorial rights. Although, Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area notes NFL bylaws indicate the league’s 30 non-Bay Area owners could supersede the 49ers in this case, that is not expected. Normally, relocations require a two-thirds majority vote; in this case, all 30 other teams would have to approve of the Raiders playing in San Francisco. A precedent of teams moving into markets already housing other teams is not one the NFL wants, per Maiocco.
Additionally, the seven opponents set to face the Raiders in the Bay Area may well have objected to sharing a sideline with the Raiders on game day, Maiocco adds. That would have been the case at Oracle Park.
I can totally see why the NFL would want the Raiders to play in that dump one more year. Why would they think the Raiders would have a problem playing in the city that is trying to sue them? Don’t you love my sarcasm! That place is absolute garbage one thing we can take out of this if they are forced to play there it is only for one more season before they move into that gorgeous stadium.
Rumors out of Minnesota indicate that other options for 2019 may be made available to the Raiders. Supposedly three different communities are finalizing plans to submit to the Raiders and the NFL in hopes of luring the Raiders for the 2019 season. Unsubstantiated information identifies the cities as: Hubbard, Blue Grass and the other Minnesota twin cities of Zim and Sax. Stay tuned for further developments.
I heared Mars may be an option
Davis is said to be considering Uranus.
Nothing personal. I just couldn’t resist the straight line.
Rumors out of Harrisburg, PA indicate that some Pennsylvania cities are working with the Commonwealth to enter the fray to make their community available to the Raiders for the 2019 season. A number of cities are banding together to submit proposals to the Raiders and the NFL. Supposedly the size of an individual community would not be large enough to provide an adequate fan base, so to overcome that obstacle, communities are teaming up with their proposals.
Unsubstantiated information identifies the cities as:
East Berlin & West Berlin
Abbottstown & Costellotown
Littlestown & Bigstown
Biglerville & Littlelerville
Hanover and Handunder
New Oxford & Old Oxford
Intercourse is still in search of a partner.
Intercourse will clearly partner with Middlesex
The idea of either the 49ers or Raiders having territorial rights in the Bay area is about as ludicrous as saying the Jets and Giants have separate territorial rights in New Jersey.