The agreement should be finalized soon.
The Oakland Raiders are determined to find a home for 2019, while they await their 2020 relocation to Las Vegas.
The Raiders have been searching for a new place to play since the city of Oakland filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Mark Davis on Dec. 11, 2018. But their best bet for their interim season might be staying at the O.co Coliseum for one more year.
On Feb. 25, Ian Rapoport reported that the Raiders have reached an agreement with the Coliseum Authority to return to Oakland for the 2019 season.
The #Raiders and the Coliseum Authority have reached an agreement for the team to remain in Oakland for the 2019 season at least and the sides are ironing out final nuances and details of the deal, sources say. It could be wrapped up and presented to the board as early as Friday.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 25, 2019
The deal will come with a team option for the Raiders, just in case their stadium in Las Vegas isn’t ready for the 2020 season.
That’s no surprise, considering where things were headed earlier in February:
#BREAKING sources tell ABC7 the #Raiders are now in negotiations with Coliseum officials to play in Oakland next season.. It’s the first talks they’ve had since the lawsuit was announced in December
— Larry Beil (@LarryBeilABC7) February 8, 2019
“I will confirm that we, late last week, started sitting down and talking with the Raiders about the potential of a 2019 season deal,” Scott McKibben, executive director of the Coliseum Authority, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “In my view, the discussions have been meaningful and productive.”
But the Raiders took a winding path to get here.
The Raiders weren’t always planning to remain in Oakland for the 2019 season.
This comes after an attempt to move across the bay, with the San Francisco Giants and the Raiders in previous negotiations to let the Raiders use their ballpark for the upcoming NFL season.
#BREAKING: #Raiders will play in San Francisco for 2019 season. Team reaches deal w/ #SFGiants to use #OraclePark (formerly #ATTPark). Announcement expected this week. (per my @NFL sources). #RaiderNation#SuperBowl53#NFLpic.twitter.com/anr0zQOqtX
— Raj Mathai (@rajmathai) February 4, 2019
London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco, wasn’t warm to the idea of the Raiders playing in San Francisco, citing congestion issues:
“As far as I’m concerned, the Oakland Raiders should play in Oakland … We don’t need another layer to add to what we already have — and that’s an area that’s really congested filled with construction and will host a number of basketball and baseball games over the coming months,” Breed said, via KTVU.
One of the hiccups with the deal was that the 49ersneed to waive their territorial rights before the Raiders could’ve moved to San Francisco. Oracle Park — where the Giants play — is the closest stadium to the city of Oakland that they could potentially have access to.
With Breed publicly against the Raiders moving to San Francisco, that move was taken off the table. Then their choices were down to Oakland or the 49ers’ stadium in Santa Clara, since Santa Clara doesn’t fall under the 49ers territorial rights.
Update on the #Raiders stadium situation: #49ers are still not expected to waive their territorial rights for San Francisco, sources say. With the SF Mayor going public against the Raiders playing at Oracle Park, SF is off the table. It’s Oakland or Levi’s Stadium for the Raiders
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 6, 2019
The Raiders should be able to finalize their deal to stay in Oakland later this week. That will give the team another chance to say goodbye before relocating to Las Vegas.