The Oakland Raiders future home remains in flux following a league-wide vote earlier this month approving the Rams move to Los Angeles and giving the San Diego Chargers an option to relocate a bit further north.
At this point, it seems to be a near guarantee that the Raiders will be playing the 2016 season in Oakland. Outside of that, all options remain open.
If the Chargers decide against joining the Rams in Inglewood by the NFL-imposed deadline of next January, the Raiders would be given that right. If not, San Diego and San Antonio both seem to be options for the Raiders.
A lesser-known option — likely because the Raiders have been against the proposition in the past — is the team sharing Levi’s Stadium with the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara.
As his team prepares to host Super Bowl 50 at the newest stadium the NFL has to offer, 49ers CEO Jed York reiterated the fact that Levi’s itself was built for two teams:
"It's up to @RAIDERS to decide what they want to do. We built the stadium in Santa Clara to hold two teams" @JedYork on OAK sharing Stadium
— Chris Law (@ChrisLaw) January 28, 2016
This could be public posturing more than anything else. The Raiders would be seen as tenants of the 49ers at Levi’s — something that doesn’t seem sustainable for the Mark Davis and Co. moving forward.
In addition to this, Levi’s was built with solely the 49ers in mind. The team’s Hall of Fame is housed in the stadium and all the bells/whistles are 49er-centric.
By leaving open this possibility, York has given the Raiders another avenue to pursue outside of an unlikely move to either San Antonio or San Diego.
At the very least, it could give Davis and the Raiders some more negotiating power with officials in Oakland, mayor Libby Schaaf included.
The last thing Oakland wants is to lose the Raiders to another city in the Bay Area, especially a city within the heart of Silicon Valley. That would be a bad look for officials in Oakland.
This is magnified by the fact that the Golden State Warriors are slated to move to San Francisco in the near future.
It still seems unlikely that Davis would uproot his Raiders to Santa Clara on a permanent basis.
Though, sharing Levi’s with San Francisco could be a solid short-term power play as the Raiders continue to look for a full-time home.