The clock is ticking loudly on whether the Raiders will be playing in Oakland this year.
As noted by Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Oakland-Alameda County Authority hopes to know the team’s plans for 2019 by February 13. That’s when the stadium lease expires.
The Authority needs to determine its calendar of events for 2019, and it makes sense to request clarity by the time the Raiders become free agents.
Gehlken’s latest note regarding the situation comes at a time when Larry Beil of KGO-TV in San Francisco reports that the Raiders and the Authority have resumed negotiations on a lease for 2019. Gehlken, in a separate tweet, disputes that claim.
Whether they’re negotiating or not, they need to get things started soon, if the Raiders will be playing in Oakland. Apart from the Authority’s planning needs, the NFL needs to know where the Raiders will be playing so that the 2019 schedule can be made.
