NFL News: Oakland Raiders Look Toward San Antonio or Los Angeles Relocation
The Oakland Raiders are at it again, looking at two different cities as possible relocation sites after deciding they will not seek an extension on their current deal with O.co Coliseum set to expire at the end of the season.
The Raiders, who previously left Oakland and called Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum home from 1982 to 1994, are looking at move back to LA while also talking with the city of San Antonio about a potential move to Texas.
The San Antonio Express-News reported that Raiders owner Mark Davis, team COO Marc Badain and business manager Larry Delsen met with city officials according documents obtained via Texas' state's open-records law.
Davis confirmed the meeting occurred to San Francisco Chronicle during last Tuesday practice.
"It was a serious conversation," Davis said. "I don't waste my time just having meetings. But we continue to try to get something done in Oakland."
The San Antonio Spurs were believed to be a stumbling block for Raiders move -- which is considered a bit of long-shot -- but the San Antonio Express-News reports that the current National Basketball Association (NBA) champions are on-board with a potential relocation with Spurs owner Peter Holt having met with Davis at Holt's home on July 19.
"Peter assured Mark that (the Spurs) would not be a roadblock to the Raiders relocating to San Antonio and would find ways to work with them," reported the Express-News.
Los Angeles is also a possibility for the Raiders with Farmers Field, AEG's new $1.5 billion 64,000-seat retractable-roof stadium that will connect to the expanded Los Angeles Convention Center. Los Angeles would love for professional football to return since the Raiders and St. Louis Rams left town (The Rams left in 1994 after having called LA home since 1946).
Big money is being thrown around at the prospect of pro football returning to LA with Farmers Insurance Group having signed a 30-year, $700 million naming rights deal with AEG in 2011, before breaking ground on the site with the sponsorship money ballooning up to $1 billion if a second team relocates and uses the site as their home field.
Former Los Angeles Laker great, Magic Johnson, who has known the Davis family since his days of playing with the Los Angeles Lakers, is optimistic that the National Football League (NFL) will return to the city and scoffed at the idea of the Raiders moving to San Antonio while visiting the team's training camp on Wednesday.
"Mark knows there's only one place he can go -- that's LA," the NBA Hall of Famer said. "San Antonio? Come on now. Come on."
Johnson believes that the Raiders would be a natural fit for the teams since the ownership already has ties with city officials, business leaders and football fans from their previous stay in town.
"It would be great to have the Raiders back in LA," Johnson said. "I would love for that to happen. But that's going to be up to Mark and the Raiders and the NFL. But I would love to have the Raiders back in LA, where they belong. We just want a team. We want a team in the worst way."
Should the Raiders return to LA, Davis does not think getting Los Angeles fans excited about the team's return will be a problem for the franchise.
"I think we'd be well received if we ever moved back (to Los Angeles) #Raiders nation is strong in SoCal," Davis said, according to Los Angeles Daily News columnist Vincent Bonsignore.
#Raiders owner Mark Davis; "I think we'd be well received if we ever moved back (to Los Angeles) #Raiders nation is strong in SoCal"
— Vincent Bonsignore (@DailyNewsVinny) August 13, 2014
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