The Oakland Raiders are headed to Las Vegas in the near future, with construction underway on what should be an impressive venue in the team’s new home. However, there is some uncertainty about where the Raiders will be playing their football games during the 2019 season, driven by the potential of a lawsuit from the city of Oakland, and that weirdness further emerged this week.
On one hand, a San Francisco Chronicle report stated that the team could seek refuge in nearby Sam Boyd Stadium, which is currently the home of the UNLV Rebels.
Playing at the Giants’ AT&T Park for an entire season doesn’t appear to be a realistic option given the toll on the field and the cost of converting it from football to baseball and back.
Which means if the Raiders can’t reach a deal with East Bay officials for the Coliseum, odds are they wind up playing for a year or two at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Sam Boyd Stadium until their new home is ready, league sources say.
In addition, the report noted that the current deal with the Oakland Alameda Coliseum Authority “included an ‘out’ if any lawsuit were filed” and that could, in turn, leave the Raiders without a natural venue even locally.
With that said, a Las Vegas Review-Journal report paints a different picture, saying that “Sam Boyd Stadium is not considered a contingency site for home games in 2019 should the franchise’s lease with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum not be extended.” That would be leave local options at the forefront of the chatter and, to put it plainly, the reporting from Sin City indicates that 2020 is the earliest possible arrival for the Raiders franchise.
The Raiders will likely find a home in the Bay Area somewhere, even if reporting dictates that the uncertainty is very real at this point. It is a less than ideal situation but, even with the caveat that the franchise will, in fact, host games in 2019, the weirdness level could skyrocket if things escalate in negotiations between the team and its current venue.
