Could The Oakland Raiders Be On The Move Again?

By Kevin Saito
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

If you’ve ever been to or seen the O.co Coliseum, the broken down pit of despair the Oakland Raiders call home, you know that it needs to be upgraded. Badly. Actually, the preferable option would probably be just tearing it down brick by decrepit brick to make way for something completely new and improved. And that’s exactly what Raiders owner Mark Davis has been trying to get done in Oakland for a little while now, but the process has dragged on, with very little progress being made. Davis wants to get a deal in place to keep the Raiders in Oakland, but as city and county officials continue to drag their feet, his frustration levels are growing.

 Whether there’s a sense of urgency or not, I know there is on our side. We have to find out how urgent on their side.”

In an interview with ESPN.com back in September, Davis said that he wants to build a new stadium on the current site of the severely outdated O.co Coliseum, but has yet to reach any sort of agreement with city or county officials. Davis went on to say that if they couldn’t reach a deal, a day of reckoning was coming very, very soon, and the Raiders may once again, find themselves on the move.

“I don’t want to call it a last-ditch effort, but it does seem to be the last chance that Oakland is going to get. We can’t continue to play in that stadium, with the baseball field and all of that stuff.”

Aside from their house being old, outdated and on the verge of falling down on its own, the Raiders have the distinction of being the only NFL team still sharing a space with an MLB team, the Oakland Athleticss. Raider fans are reminded of that fact every time they see Sebastian Janikowski lining up to kick off the dirt in the middle of the field. Davis has been willing to work with the city of Oakland to secure a new deal, but he’s growing tired of waiting.

“They brought in Colony Capital and based on that, I decided to go ahead and do a one-year extension with them. We will play in the Coliseum next year. But there’s been no progress. I had high hopes when Colony Capital came in. I still do have hopes, but they’re not as high because I haven’t really heard anything positive from either group. It’s gone silent again. We have to get something done.”

He’s gone out of his way to say that he’s not threatening the city, but he signed a one-year lease and has expected to be able to move forward with a new stadium deal. The Raiders are committed to play at the O.co Coliseum until the end of 2014 and if a deal isn’t done by then, the Raiders may once again be looking for a new home.

 “I don’t want to call it a last-ditch effort, but it does seem to be the last chance that Oakland is going to get. We can’t continue to play in that stadium, with the baseball field and all of that stuff.”

Davis wants a new home for his team. Now that Al Davis is gone, Mark is looking to move the organization in a new direction, to put his own stamp on the once proud franchise. He wants more than anything, to return it to the glory it once knew. But he has also been clear that he wants to do it in Oakland. He just wants the city to work with him and hold up their end of the bargain.

“I wouldn’t talk about Plan B’s or anything like that. I don’t want to talk about using someplace else for leverage. If I get something done in Oakland, I am staying.”

If Oakland wants to keep the Raiders where they are, they’re going to have to work fast and show the sort of commitment Davis is showing to the city. And Raider fans in the Bay Area hope a deal gets done, and gets done soon. Though there is a rather large contingent of the Silver and Black faithful who think the Los Angeles Raiders has a nice ring to it.

Kevin Saito is a fiction writer, sports junkie, history nerd, and NFL Contributor for www.RantSports.com  He’s just a “clown with an opinion” and you can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, or on Google.

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