Raiders stadium lease issues may leave team without a home for the 2020-21 season
Current impasses in negotiations between the Oakland (for now) Raiders and the Las Vegas Stadium Authority on a lease for the new stadium the Raiders will occupy could mean the Raiders will be without a venue to play their home games in for the 2020-21 season.
The negotiations on a Raiders stadium lease in Las Vegas aren’t close to being finished right now according to Adam Candee of the Las Vegas Sun, and that could leave the Raiders scrambling.
According to Raiders president Marc Badain, if a lease isn’t negotiated by the end of this month, the team could have to wait until the 2021-22 season to take occupancy of the new stadium in Las Vegas. This month is the cut-off because the NFL owners’ approval that green-lit the Raiders’ relocation to Las Vegas was conditional.
The condition that the owners put on their yes vote in March was that the Raiders would have a stadium lease agreement in place by the next owners’ meetings. Additionally, all stadium leases must be approved by a majority of NFL owners. The next owners’ meetings are May 22-23, but after that, the owners won’t meet again until October. Waiting until the October meetings to get the lease approved could mean that the team won’t be able to take up occupancy in the Las Vegas stadium as originally planned.
For Raiders fans clinging to some hope that the failure to negotiate a lease could mean the team won’t leave Oakland, it’s time to let it go. Las Vegas is deeply invested, and the NFL ownership is overwhelmingly in favor of the relocation. It’s not a matter of if that’s at stake in this matter, but rather when.
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While many points of contention have been agreed to as the deadline is quickly approaching, one major point remains to be settled. The Raiders will receive the rights to control the events that take place in the venue outside of their games, and the Authority has concerns about whether or not they will bring in enough events to meet the revenue projections that would make the state’s massive investment in the facility pay off. Right now it seems on the Raiders to convince the Authority that they have both the capability and will to do so.
A delay in taking up residence in Las Vegas could mean the Raiders would be homeless for at least one season. The team has an option to remain in The Coliseum in Oakland for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons that it plans to exercise, but that seems to be the desired end of the relationship for both parties. Where the team will be playing for the 2019-20 season is currently unknown, and the new stadium is projected to be ready for the 2020-21 season. If a lease isn’t in place soon, however, that could mean the new stadium won’t feature Raiders games until the 2021-22 season.
The possibility that the Raiders will play even one, much less two, seasons as the road team in all of their games is almost zero. Whether this means staying in Oakland for one more season, playing a season in San Antonio, Texas or using the current facility that hosts UNLV football games, Raiders “home” games will happen somewhere. The bigger issue at hand right now is lost revenue for both the team and the Authority that a delay until the 2021-22 season could mean.
The Raiders will play home games somewhere in the 2020-21 season. It’s just not certain if the new stadium in Las Vegas that is being built for them will be that somewhere.