The Raiders have extended their lease at the O.co Coliseum in Oakland for another year, giving time for the city and team to work on an agreement that would keep the Raiders in town for a much longer period of time.
Raiders owner Mark Davis said that the Oakland A’s are a major impediment to that effort because they signed a 10-year lease at the Coliseum in 2014. Davis said the A’s have “tied our hands behind our back” because they haven’t declared their intentions beyond that point and that the Raiders don’t want to build a stadium in another part of the site only to have “the ingress, egress, parking and tailgating experience” disrupted should the Coliseum subsequently be torn down to build a baseball stadium.
The baseball team responded to Davis’ comments on Friday.
“It is unfortunate Mr. Davis decided to bring the A’s into his discussion about the Raiders’ stadium lease,” A’s owner Lew Wolff said in a statement. “We respect his right to explore his options in and out of Oakland, including his widely reported consideration of Los Angeles and other markets. The A’s signed a 10-year lease at the Coliseum because we are committed to Oakland. Mr. Davis has said he is fully committed to do a new football stadium in Oakland and there is nothing in our lease that precludes Mr. Davis and the Raiders from building on the Coliseum site.”
There are also funding issues unrelated to the A’s that will need to get worked out before the Raiders can move forward on a new stadium in Oakland, so it’s probably a good thing for everyone involved that there’s more time to figure out solutions before any final decisions about the Raiders’ home are determined.