It’s looking more and more like the Oakland Raiders may not be the Oakland Raiders for a whole lot longer. Ever since signing a one-year lease extension with the Oakland Coliseum last November, there have been rumors about nearly every possible home for the Raiders in 2015. From Oakland to Los Angeles and even to San Antonio, there has not been a lot of actual news, but there have been plenty of tidbits to latch onto.
Yesterday Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweeted this:
The Oakland #Raiders have a much better chance of moving to Los Angeles this year than I realized. That possibility is very legitimate.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 10, 2014
Rapoport did not follow up with an explanation as to what changed his mind. However, there are currently owners meetings going on in Dallas, which Rapoport is covering, and he is a guy who is known for being pretty good with his information.
But Rapoport isn’t the only one who chimed in:
To follow up @RapSheet‘s Tweet on Raiders/LA: There is no new momentum to get a deal done in Oakland, that I’ve heard…
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) December 10, 2014
And Mark Davis does not want to go to Santa Clara even temporarily. Does not want the Raiders playing there. So…
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) December 10, 2014
It is interesting that Kawakami believes that Santa Clara is not an option, even in the short term, considering he made comments on a recent episode of the BASGCast made it appear that Levi’s stadium was still a possibility. This is significant because the Raiders do not have a new stadium (or anything close to a stadium deal), and by all appearances, the Coliseum may be the only place they can play until they do have a new stadium.
L.A. broadcaster Jeanne Zelasko said last week that the Rose Bowl and the Los Angeles Coliseum don’t want to house the Raiders, and the NFL’s hope is to move the Raiders to Los Angeles after getting Mark Davis to sell the team. Rapoport refuted the claim that the NFL doesn’t want the Raiders in L.A. due to the reputation of their fans, along with the idea that they’d only push for a move down south if Davis was no longer the team’s owner.
Either way, all signs point to the Raiders needing a stadium deal as soon as possible. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Raiders already have a good idea of their future, but are just waiting until the offseason to announce it. If that is true, the recent rumors surrounding Los Angeles could be a sign of what that announcement might be.
