After a period of uncertainty, the Oakland Raiders have a home in 2019 and it is familiar ground.
The Raiders, who are scheduled to move permanently to Las Vegas in 2020, and the Coliseum Authority reached an agreement for the team to remain in Oakland for the 2019 season, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported, via sources informed of the situation. Rapoport added the hope is that the deal will be done and finalized by Wednesday.
"We’re optimistic that sometime very soon, we’ll be able to bring this to a conclusion," Scott McKibben of the Coliseum Authority told Rapoport.
The two sides are working out details in time for vote by the Coliseum Authority board on either Friday or next Tuesday, and it will include a team option for 2020 if the stadium in Las Vegas is not ready. The next step would be a city council vote around March 15 and then final approval at the annual league meeting in Phoenix on March 24-27. The team option for the 2020 campaign would have to exercised by April 1 of next year.
The timing of Monday’s agreement comes at a good time for the NFL.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said during the week of the Super Bowl that he preferred an answer on where the Raiders would play sooner than later because of scheduling purposes.
Still, Goodell has been steadfast that Raiders owner Mark Davis wanted to play in Oakland in 2019. The deal ensures somewhat of a happy ending and a chance for Raiders fans to bid farewell before the Raiders leave for good.