This week, the city of Oakland, California, sued the National Football League (NFL) and its Oakland Raiders team. The stated reason is that the team made an illegal decision to leave the city. As most casual fans know, the Raiders announced some time ago that (after getting nowhere in discussions about a new stadium with local officials and businesspersons over a period of years) they would move to a new stadium being built in Las Vegas.
Design for the new Las Vegas Stadium, currently under construction. Source: Las Vegas Raiders.
The Raiders’ new stadium is not complete yet and will not be ready for the team to move in right away. So the Raiders had anticipated staying in Oakland in 2019 for one additional season. This would require them to get a short term extension from the owner of the team’s present venue, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, which previously seemed like a done deal. The stadium is owned by the City of Oakland and the County of Alameda.
After the city’s recent announcement that it is suing the Raiders, there are strong rumors that the team will not play again in Oakland. In fact, the team reportedly informed the stadium authority that it was backing out of its lease for next year after the city's lawsuit (which, in turn, alleges that the team still owes money to the city). That would make this month the last time that Oakland fans would see their team play locally. If true, it also means that the Raiders need to arrange a new stadium site for the team’s 2019 games, which would not be played either in Oakland or (yet) in the new Las Vegas stadium.
With that in mind, here are some potential venues where the Raiders could consider playing next season.
Sam Boyd Stadium at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)
It’s not a pro stadium. And it may well be demolished after both the Raiders and the UNLV football team move to play their games in the new stadium being constructed in Las Vegas. But it’s in the Las Vegas metro area and it seats 36,800 fans. The Raiders do not have too many good choices and this might be the best they can do.
Sam Boyd Stadium. Source: UNLV.
At the very least, the team would be able to start building its brand and cultivating fans in the region where it will be moving permanently, even while awaiting the construction of that permanent home.
San Diego Stadium (currently known as SDCCU Stadium, formerly known by the names Jack Murphy and Qualcomm Stadium)
San Diego is without an NFL football team after its Chargers moved to Los Angeles. Raider Nation still has some Southern California fans after being based for a time in Los Angeles.
The stadium formerly known as Qualcomm. Source: Creative Commons via Wikipedia.com by Intersofia.
This would likely anger the NFL’s other SoCal teams, the Los Angeles Rams and the aforementioned Los Angeles (formerly San Diego) Chargers. But it’s a stadium that has served as a venue for NFL games for many years, even if it’s an older multipurpose park that’s not as fancy as many others. In many ways, it’s much like the Oakland Coliseum that the Raiders will soon be vacating. And San Diego gets the team somewhat closer to Las Vegas.
Stanford Stadium
The University of California, Berkeley reportedly has already announced that it is not interested in hosting the raiders for a year. The region’s other major university is Stanford University, which has a large stadium that once played host to a Super Bowl. It could fit NFL games.
In January 1985, the NFL's championship game (Super Bowl) was played at Stanford Stadium where fans sat on wooden bleachers to watch Miami vs. San Francisco. That seems amazing in today's NFL world. Source: AP.com.
But does the university want to take this on with all of the traffic and fans? Probably not. And I’m guessing some of its billionaire tech mogul neighbors would not be too wild about that prospect either.
Levi's Stadium (home of the San Francisco 49ers)
This is probably what the NFL would like to see. From the beginning, when the Raiders were searching for a new stadium site locally and having trouble finding the right deal, the league was pushing the 49ers and Raiders to share space in one stadium. Scheduling can be finessed to accommodate two NFL teams in one metropolitan area. MetLife Stadium outside of New York does this for the New York Giants and Jets. Similarly, the new Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park will accommodate both the LA Rams and Chargers once it has been completed.
Levi's Stadium. Source: Creative Commons via Wikipedia.com by Jim Bahn.
But the 49ers and Raiders had a chance to work together before. Neither team was thrilled about the prospect. The 49ers color scheme and themes are pretty well baked into the team’s Levi Stadium home park. It would be quite an indignity for the Raiders to play under those colors; the bulbing 49ers cannot fill their own stadium, so expecting the luckless Raiders to attract fans to a hated regional rival's park seems like a stretch. But if this is the best option for one year, then theoretically it could be done.
MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas
Here is one I haven’t seen anyone else mention. Turn the Raiders into an arena-league team and hold the games indoors in this venue that is more commonly used to stage boxing/martial arts fights or concerts. Or have them play the actual game in the parking lot outside and beam in the live images to the crowd with plenty of theatrics.
MGM Grand Garden Arena. Source: MGM Grand.
Isn’t that what the NCAA is doing with the halftime show at its upcoming National Championship Game, a concert which will be held 50 miles away and beamed into the stadium and in to peoples’ TV screens around the world? This is entertainment and very little is real anyway, so who cares where the real game is as long as you’ve found the real party. Welcome to Las Vegas, where people swoon under fake plastic skies and rainbow fountains, taking pictures of scale models of iconic buildings from other parts of the world. No one will know the difference.
My Best Guess
San Diego. There are Raider fans in southern California, it's a (recently) former NFL stadium, there is a population there without a team, and it's closer to Las Vegas than the team is now (as well as being far enough away from the team's current toxic environment). Of all potential spots, this one has the most going for it and probably would require the least amount of money to get the stadium ready for games. No doubt the oddsmakers in Vegas have a line on the Raiders' next short term destination. I won't gamble on it, but if I were the Raiders, I'd be making this San Diego deal for 2019.
Somewhere, the ghost of the team's late owner, Al Davis, is asking the video guy to cue the overhead projector.
Al Davis, may he rest in peace. Source: bleacherreport.com.
References:
https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-raiders-rescind-offer-rent-033343367.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XIX
http://www.levisstadium.com/about-levis-stadium/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Boyd_Stadium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDCCU_Stadium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM_Grand_Garden_Arena
Top image: Oakland Coliseum. Source: Creative Commons via Wikimedia.com by BrokenSphere.