Oakland stadium director: No desire to host Raiders in '19

ESPN logo
Wednesday, March 29, 2017

While the Las Vegas-boundRaiderswill spend the next two seasons in Oakland,Scott McKibben, executive director of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, said it's unlikely they'll be welcomed back in 2019.

"I would say to you with the highest level of confidence, my opinion and recommendation, and that of my board members -- I don't believe there is any appetite for a third season [in Oakland]," McKibben told USA Today Sports on Tuesday.

NFL owners approved the Raiders' move to Las Vegas on Monday by a 31-1 vote. The team's new home, a $1.9 billion domed stadium, is not expected to be completed until 2020. The Raiders will remain in Oakland for the next two seasons as they hold a pair of one-year options.

Owner Mark Davis said he was open to extending the team's lease and playing the 2019 season in Oakland.

"If they want us, we'd seriously consider it," Davis told ESPN on Monday. "... We plan to play at the Coliseum in 2017 and 2018, and hope to stay there as the Oakland Raiders until the new stadium opens. We would love nothing more than to bring a championship back to the Bay Area."

The feeling, it seems, isn't mutual.

"It's actually financially to our benefit if they didn't exercise the options and play here even in the two years they've got [in 2017 and 2018]," McKibben told USA Today Sports.

Other than for possible preseason games, Davis has all but ruled out using UNLV's current home -- the 35,500-seat Sam Boyd Stadium, about nine miles southeast of the university's campus -- due to outdated locker rooms and lack of a proper security border around the facility.

"I want to come into Las Vegas clean," Davis has said.

Other speculative options for the Raiders in the Bay Area include Santa Clara's Levi's Stadium, Cal's Memorial Stadium or even the San Francisco Giants' AT&T Park.

NFL owners would like to see the lease and development plan for the Las Vegas stadium completed as soon as possible.

It will be the third time in franchise history the Raiders will have moved. In 1982, the team relocated to Los Angeles before returning to Oakland in 1995.

Related Video

Copyright © 2024 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.