With all the talk about NFL relocation, this recent report from the San Antonio Express-News should definitely raise some eyebrows around the league.
According to the report, former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros will lead a contingent of local officials to Oakland to meet with Mark Davis and other Raiders officials. Cisneros is said to view the potential of Oakland moving to San Antonio at 50 percent.
This comes months after Raiders owner Mark Davis met with officials in San Antonio about a potential move to Texas. Since then, the Raiders have deemed the Alamodome as a NFL-ready venue.
There could be some potential issues with the Raiders uprooting to San Antonio, among them the likely lack of support from one Jerry Jones, who doesn’t want a third NFL team in Texas. It’s also unknown whether Oakland would agree to move to San Antonio without a guarantee of a new stadium being built in the not-so-distant future.
Interestingly enough, Jones is part of a group of NFL owners who have pushed for the league to relocate a current team to Los Angeles. Recent indications are that the St. Louis Rams may very well be that team. This would leave the Raiders out in the cold as it relates to finding a new city to play host to the franchise. And in reality, that is where San Antonio might come into play.
There are so many moving parts here that it’s really hard to come to a real conclusion about whether Davis and the Raiders are using this meeting as anything more than a power play to get the city of Oakland and O.co stadium officials to budge on a new home for the team.
A few things are clear here.
*The Raiders are not happy about their situation in Oakland.
* The Raiders lease with O.co expires following the current NFL season.
* The Rams lease with Edward Jones Dome also runs out following the current NFL season.
* Both teams seem interested in the possibility of moving to Southern California.
* The Raiders have had multiple meetings with officials in San Antonio.
* Key owners are meeting this month to potentially discuss NFL relocation.
* All 32 owners will meet multiple times next month.
All the indications here are that a current NFL team will be calling Los Angeles home next season. It now remains to be seen if that team will be the Raiders. If not, is Mark Davis fully prepared to uproot the franchise from California completely?
At the very least, this meeting set to take place on Friday might be a step in that direction.