The Raiders have been a vagabond franchise for nearly their entire existence, with never a stadium to call their own. Their situation has never been as tenuous as in the last few months, with the team having essentially said goodbye to the Oakland Coliseum without a destination in mind for their home games in 2019. But that could all be coming to an end soon and the Raiders could spend one more year in Oakland, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Michael Gehlken, who since the Raiders announced their move to Vegas has been a reliable source of Raiders news.
An agreement between the Raiders and the board that oversees the Coliseum in Oakland could come within a week after negotiations were cleared to continue this morning during a closed session. Scott McKibben planned to call Marc Badain today “before lunch.” https://t.co/mgxUHlzN9X
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) February 15, 2019
Scott McKibben is the executive director and chief negotiator for the Coliseum Authority, and he’ll be the one to broker a deal with the Raiders and peace between the team and the city of Oakland. There is no deal in place currently, but according to the article, McKibben is optimistic that one will get done, though not before next week.
While the Raiders’ new digs in Vegas are currently under construction and seemingly on schedule, the speculation is that any deal with Oakland would include the 2019 season and an option for 2020 should the Vegas stadium be delayed.
McKibben was working on a similar lease extension last year with the Raiders before the city filed its suit, which caused the team to bolt from the negotiating table. But it appears that a deal may come soon for the 2019 season, which is sort of like your ex-girlfriend storming out of the house and then coming back because her car broke down and then leaving again when it’s fixed.
If there were any other place to go, such as Oracle Field or an acceptable stadium in Las Vegas (which Sam Boyd is not), this probably wouldn’t be happening right now. And the Raiders’ farewell to Oakland, which included beating the living crap out of the Broncos, was almost too perfect for words. But we may just be doing it all over again later this year.
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