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Report: Raiders’ Effort to Relocate Gaining Steam

This is likely going to be a weekly story around the Bay Area until the Oakland Raiders decide to either stay in Northern California or relocate. According to Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle, Raiders owner Mark Davis is apparently ramping up efforts to relocate the franchise. 

Raiders owner Mark Davis is stepping up his efforts to find a new stadium elsewhere. And it appears he has the NFL’s support, according to league sources.

The premise of this report is an indication from people close to the situation that there has been no progress in talks between the Raiders and the city of Oakland. Tafur goes on conclude that there will not be any further lease-extension negotiations between the Raiders and O.co Coliseum, which expires at the end of this season.

This comes on the heels of Raiders officials, Davis included, meeting with the powers to be in San Antonio back in July. While some have concluded that the visit was nothing more than a ploy to ramp up negotiations in Oakland, this latest news that Davis isn’t interested in an extension at O.co could very well tell us a different story.

In reality, a relocation to San Antonio is extremely unlikely at this point. Instead, the idea of the Raiders moving back to Los Angeles seems to be gaining steam. They practiced this week with the Dallas Cowboys in Southern California, at which point Davis spoke to reporters with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and mogul Michael Ovitz, who is a proponent of the Raiders moving to Los Angeles and has a stadium model already set forth.

The possibility of a new stadium being bult in Oakland just isn’t there right now. As Tafur reported, Oakland Councilman Larry Reid indicated that a $600 million funding gap existed for a football-only stadium in the city.

So here we are, one step closer to the Raiders moving out of Oakland. And it could very well happen following the upcoming 2014 season. If so, an announcement of some sort would have to be made within the next few months in order for the logistics to work out.

Photo: Fox Sports

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