Raiders owner Mark Davis has called playing on a gridiron equipped with a dirt infield a “travesty.” He has voluntarily chosen to continue participating in the travesty, for at least one more year.
Earlier this week, the Raiders and the A’s both extended expiring leases at the Coliseum in Oakland, which means that they’ll jointly share the sewage-infested facility for at least one more year.
The A’s, which had multiple incidents with brown liquid in the Black Hole, nevertheless agreed to increase their rent from $800,000 in 2013 to $1.75 million in 2014 and 2015. The Raiders, in contrast, received a major break on the rent, with their obligation plummeting to under $1 million. In 2013, the Raiders paid more than $3 million.
The Raiders’ one-year lease also allows them to play one game elsewhere next year, which will happen when the Raiders play in London.
Meanwhile, Oakland and Alameda County will pay $14.6 million in 2013 and a minimum of $10 million per year through 2025 in connection with renovations made in the 1990s to lure the Raiders home from L.A.
With the Raiders under contract to play in Oakland for only one-more year and with a long-term solution not yet on the table, the Raiders could be back in L.A. long before the city and county stop paying the cost of getting them to leave L.A. in the first place.