Raiders yet to talk to 49ers about playing in Santa Clara in 2019
By Jason Cole
Wandering Raiders try to work through the issue of where they will play next season before moving to Las Vegas.
San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York said Saturday he has had no discussions with the Oakland Raiders about playing at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
That reinforces the idea that the Raiders will try to play at Oracle Park in San Francisco or end up back at the Oakland Coliseum for their final season before moving to Las Vegas.
“I have no idea what they are planning to do, they haven’t talked to us,” York said. “Not at all.”
York did say that Levi’s Stadium could and would accommodate the Raiders if the team asked. The Raiders are trying to not play at the Oakland Coliseum in 2019 after the City of Oakland filed an antitrust lawsuit against the team in December. The city is asking for roughly $500 million in damages that could be trebled to $1.5 billion.
The Raiders have been invited to play in San Antonio by city officials and another NFL owner said Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill invited Raiders owner Mark Davis to play in Phoenix. Davis was also told that Los Angeles Chargers owner Dean Spanos would not stand in his way if he wanted to play in San Diego. However, the stadium in San Diego is considered unworkable.
In addition, several owners encouraged Davis to have the Raiders play in London. Davis told one person he would consider it if the NFL subsidized the cost of playing overseas, which is unlikely. In addition, the Raiders coaching staff and football operations people strongly encouraged Davis to not play in London,
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday that the league is hoping to hear this month where the team plans to play next season. The league needs to know for the sake of writing a schedule for 2019. Goodell also indicated he thought the Raiders would ultimately end up playing somewhere in the Bay Area.