Raiders may return to Coliseum
OAKLAND >> The Raiders best home option for the 2019 season appears to be the place they have played since 1995: The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
The Coliseum’s chief negotiator, Scott McKibben, confirmed he spoke with Raiders president Marc Badain Friday, one week after they resumed talking about playing nine home dates in Oakland.
Also, a source with knowledge of the negotiations said Friday the stadium authority board is prepared to call an emergency meeting to vote on a new lease within the next two weeks.
“It’s fair to say talks are progressing,” said McKibben, the authority’s executive director. “We are going to take it one step at a time. We know it’s a solid deal for the Raiders.”
Oakland needs a temporary home this coming season before moving into a $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat stadium in Las Vegas that is expected to open in 2020. But what should have been a simple solution has erupted into an almost farcical search for a facility because of a legal dispute between the Raiders and East Bay officials.
Raiders executives have not responded to requests this week to discuss their plans for the 2019 NFL season. Raiders owner Mark Davis withdrew from Coliseum negotiations in December after Oakland city officials filed an antitrust lawsuit in federal court 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.
“Emotionally, I don’t want to pay for my own lawsuit, but for the fans, it’s something I’ve got to think about,” Davis said at the time.
Raiders officials returned to the bargaining table with Coliseum executives a week ago, after a deal with the Giants to play at Oracle Park unraveled. Sources said the 49ers blocked the deal by declining to waive their territorial rights to play in San Francisco. The Raiders needed an unanimous vote of the 32 NFL owners to play there.
While signs point to returning to the Coliseum, those negotiations could explode because of the hurt feelings over the Raiders’ impending departure to Las Vegas.
For example, the team still owes about $1.2 million from parking revenue that was discovered in a 2017 audit by the stadium board. The Raiders have put about $466,000 of the $1.2 million they owe in an escrow fund.
Talks could potentially stall if the Raiders don’t agree to pay the parking fees in full.
Still, it’s difficult to imagine that Davis would consider turning to Levi’s Stadium after rejecting an agreement that set out the terms of the deal. But when it comes to the Raiders, almost anything is possible. Birmingham, Alabama, and Tucson, Arizona, even surfaced this week to offer to borrow the team for a year.
But Levi’s could be the team’s only option if it doesn’t happen at the Coliseum. Perhaps the Raiders could play at the 50,000-seat Stanford Stadium because the 49ers probably wouldn’t block such a move. But the school and team have not had any contact, a Stanford athletic official said.
Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor said this week that the city can’t stop the Raiders from coming, because Levi’s was built for two teams and the lease gives the 49ers control over whether to sublease the stadium to a second NFL club.
If the Raiders played at Levi’s in 2019, the city would get an additional $1 million in fixed rent, according to the lease. But the nine games also could increase city costs related to traffic and police.
The city manager’s office is trying to estimate what those additional costs might be, Gillmor said. In 2010, voters passed Measure J that prohibits using money from the general fund for the stadium.
“Both of the teams will bear the cost; the public will not bear the cost,” Gillmor said.
The lease says the 49ers “may be required” to reimburse the city for the cost of updating its public safety plan in the event of playing host to a second team.
Currently, the 49ers are required to reimburse the city for up to $170,000 in public safety costs for each NFL game played at the 68,500-seat facility, a figure that automatically increases by a percentage every year. The threshold is $1.7 million for 10 home dates.
Any public safety costs the team pays over that established amount get factored into a formula that goes toward reducing the team’s performance-based rent. The 49ers also pay for other costs, including barricades, radios and special events.
However, the 49ers have sole discretion over changes to the public safety threshold costs. That agreement doesn’t appear to change if a second team subleases the stadium.
Santa Clara City Manager Deanna Santana said in a statement Wednesday that the city has serious concerns about using public resources that would be necessary to play host to a second team.
Santana declined to comment this week through a spokesperson.
In the meantime, NFL schedule makers need to finalize the 2019 schedule soon. They released last year’s regular-season schedule April 19. An NFL spokesman said the league does not have a firm deadline when it must announce the upcoming games.