Team, Oakland discuss one more year
OAKLAND >> The Raiders resumed talks with East Bay officials in efforts to reach an agreement to play the 2019 season at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
Coliseum Stadium Authority executive director Scott McKibben acknowledged Tuesday that he had met with Raiders executives for a few hours, a reversal of what he told this news organization a day earlier.
“The meeting was productive and meaningful,” said McKibben, adding it took place for a few hours Friday. “Our deal is still on the table and it was on the table.”
Oakland officials continue to wait to see if the Raiders will play one more season in the East Bay even as the current lease expires Wednesday. McKibben did not say if the two sides had planned more discussions.
On Monday, McKibben told this news organization: “We are willing to continue talking if the Raiders would like to.”
The latest development came just as Tucson, Arizona, and Birmingham, Alabama, expressed interest in playing host to Raiders games this year, according to reports Tuesday.
Raiders owner Mark Davis withdrew from Coliseum negotiations in December after city officials filed a lawsuit against the NFL and the team over the franchise’s move to Las Vegas that was approved in 2017. The sides had been discussing a proposed $7.5 million lease extension that would have allowed the Raiders to use the stadium this year.
McKibben and Oakland might need to resolve the issue
soon with the lease expiring. If the professional football team plays elsewhere the Oakland-Alameda County-owned facility would be able to fill the nine game day dates with other events.
McKibben plans to update the stadium authority board on the situation during a closed session Friday at the group’s scheduled meeting.
Raiders executives have not responded to requests to discuss their plans.
Oakland, which has played at the Coliseum since 1995, plans to move into a $1.9 billion, 65,000seat Las Vegas stadium that is expected to open in 2020. But it has yet to secure a stadium for this
year’s seven regular-season home games and two preseason games because of the legal dispute with East Bay officials.
The Raiders had turned to the Giants’ Oracle Park, but those plans recently fell apart when the 49ers did not grant the NFL neighbors territorial rights to the city that bears their name.
That seemed to leave the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum and Levi’s Stadium as Davis’ only Bay Area choices.
But what about the region’s three Division I football colleges? For a variety of reasons, each is a long shot — or in the case of UC Berkeley, no shot at all.
Cal officials have an agreement with Strawberry Canyon residents to prohibit NFL games from being played at Memorial Stadium — even though the school could use the money to help pay down a
$440 million debt stemming from renovations.
At 50,000 seats, Stanford Stadium is a possibility but school officials have yet to talk to the Raiders, according to Ray Purpur, deputy athletic director.
“It’s hard to coordinate two teams in one stadium but certainly is done,” Purpur said in an email.
“We are in the same territorial rights but I think there is some flexibility in that.”
However, the 49ers might object simply because Levi’s is a business that needs tenants to pay for the building. Even a temporary one such as the Raiders could be appealing from a financial perspective.
Another local option — if someone has a big imagination, that is — is 30,456-seat CEFCU Stadium at San Jose State.
Spartans athletic director Marie
Tuite is game. But school officials haven’t approached the Raiders because they do not want to appear to undermine the city of Oakland.
“We would always entertain the use of the stadium,” Tuite said. “If they are interested it is better they reach out to me.”
Tuite would love to have the Raiders for a year because of potential upgrades to the school’s stadium. But it is difficult to imagine any architect could magically turn the aging facility into something acceptable to NFL teams.
It won’t be at UNLV’s 40,000seat Sam Boyd Stadium. Like San Jose State’s facility, Sam Boyd is not modern enough for NFL tastes. Besides, the 48-year-old stadium will become obsolete when the Rebels join the Raiders in their new digs in 2020.
For now, the eight regular-season home dates against Jacksonville,
Tennessee, Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati, Denver, Kansas City and the Los Angeles Chargers could be played anywhere from the Bay Area to San Diego — or beyond.
NFL schedule makers don’t have much time left while the Raiders continue to muddle about in pursuit of a temporary home.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said during a Super Bowl news conference that he wanted to get the 2019 schedule completed as soon possible. But an NFL spokesman said this week the league doesn’t have a firm deadline on when it must get done.
“As far as timing, the key thing on the timing is our schedule,” Goodell had said. “We need to make a schedule, obviously, for the 2019 season, and the sooner the better for us with that.”