Both the Oakland Raiders and Oakland Athletics are playing in a rundown, two-sport stadium that is among the worst in the entire professional sports world. While the Athletics attempt to potentially get something worked out with O.co, the Raiders don’t seem to be too confident that anything is going to happen when it comes to building a new stadium in Oakland and don’t seem to keen on the status quo.
Owner Mark Davis had this to say (via CSN Bay Area).
All the talks we have with them are positive,” Davis said, “but there’s no progress after the talks.
I can go ahead and have a conversation with someone in the opposition party (political talk), but if no progress is made afterwards, that conversation is rather meaningless. While there have been plans and more plans of a potential stadium for the Raiders in Oakland, nothing seems to be working out on a larger scale at this point.
The Raiders lease with O.co ends following the 2014 season, which means that theoretically the Raiders would be free agents and able to relocate to another city. For his part, Davis is not keen on the idea of a lease extension without a deal for another stadium being put into place before signing on the dotted line.
And nor should he be.
O.co is a travesty of a football stadium and represents the bottom of the barrel when it comes to fan exeperience. It’s also the only shared MLB/NFL stadium remaining, which isn’t exactly the best of distinctions.
Davis and the Raiders continue to hold out hope.
Everybody is trying,” Davis said. “Whether it can get done, I don’t know.
But something needs to get done quickly or the city of Oakland faces the real possibility of losing the Raiders. What that is, no one really knows at this point.
Photo: Raiders.com