Raiders to meet with Coliseum Authority about extending Oakland lease
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Raiders might play another season in Oakland after all.
Authority executive director Scott McKibben said he will update the board in closed session on where things stand between the Raiders and the Coliseum following a lawsuit filed by the city of Oakland against the team and the NFL last month. No Raiders officials will be present.
The Raiders had pulled their $7.5 million lease offer for 2019 off the table last month after the city of Oakland sued the team and the NFL over a planned move to Las Vegas in 2020 where they will play in a new $1.8 billion, 65,000-seat stadium. The team held a groundbreaking for their future corporate headquarters and practice facility near Las Vegas on Monday.
McKibben said he has been in touch with Raiders president Marc Badain and told him the board is willing to meet after the team has done its due diligence into other sites.
The Raiders have been searching for a temporary home the past month. They have had talks with the San Francisco Giants about sharing their ballpark, could share Levi's Stadium with the 49ers or try to find a stadium in another market.
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The NFL has said a decision is needed sometime around the Super Bowl so the league can start making the 2019 schedule.
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The Raiders initially started playing in the Coliseum in 1966. The team moved to Los Angeles following the 1981 season before returning to Oakland in 1995 with renovations to the Coliseum. But the stadium was extremely outdated as the last remaining facility shared by an NFL and Major League Baseball team.
The Raiders have been looking for a more modern stadium for years and after failing to get a deal done with the Coliseum Authority they decided to move. The team's application to move to Los Angeles was rejected in 2016, leading to the decision a year later to go to Las Vegas instead.
The Raiders spent the past two seasons at the Coliseum as a lame-duck tenant.
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