The Raiders possible relocation to the southern part of California has been to local fans what Charles the toy clown once was to 80’s babies.
Recent national reports from those who are the most plugged in, though, are saying that the Raiders might be the odd team out, the Chargers and Rams getting first dibs, and that it might be the sweetest deal for Mark Davis and company.
Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times reports that “a consensus is building within the league for the St. Louis Rams and San Diego Chargers to share a stadium in Inglewood.”
Farmer, citing unidentified sources, adds that while Chargers owner Dean Spanos doesn’t want to backtrack on his agreement with Davis, it’s possible that a best case scenario be found in some outside the box ways.
Peter King of Sports Illustrated, in his weekly must-read column “Monday Morning Quarterback,” says that he believes the Raiders would get an excellent deal from NFL owners.
Writes King:
“I still think the most likely scenario is the Chargers and Rams moving to Los Angeles, with one of the most golden of parachutes being set up for the Raiders to return to Oakland with the makings of a sweet stadium deal for them in the East Bay. “Whoever is not going to Los Angeles,” said one official familiar with the league’s thinking, “will be generously taken care of. The league will create a safety net for that team.”
A lot of this has been echoed by Los Angeles Daily News correspondent Vincent Bonsignore, who has clearly been hard on the relocation grind for a while, and can be found here on Twitter.
Bonsignore has essentially been live tweeting updates and has been timely with every detail.
It has been the belief of the author that the Raiders have played their last game in the coliseum, but that doesn’t mean that the team will leave the Bay Area.
With options such Stanford Stadium, which was rebuilt in 2006 and not much smaller than the coliseum, it’s not terribly out of the question that the Raiders remain in the Bay for a while even if no resolution is immediately found.
Davis has said multiple times that he has no desire to share Levis Stadium with the 49ers, though most reasonable men would temporarily alter their stance if it meant a new stadium would be constructed.
The league is meeting in Houston this week to ideally come to a conclusion on what to do regarding Los Angeles, a market that has been without professional football for 20 years despite the near-certainty of instantly polarizing theater, and the cash that comes with it.
Jason Leskiw is SFBay’s Oakland Raiders beat writer and member of the Professional Football Writers of America. Follow @SFBay and @LeskiwSFBay on Twitter and at SFBay.ca for full coverage of the Oakland Raiders.
This website uses cookies.