Raiders Likely To Remain In Bay Area For 2019 Season

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, citing league sources, reports that the Raiders still have not made significant progress toward finding a home for the 2019 season.

However, La Canfora says that the Raiders staying in the Bay Area is considered to be the “most likely scenario.”

The Raiders have a few options in the Bay Area including sharing Levi’s Stadium with the 49ers or AT&T Park.

While Raiders’ officials are reportedly against playing in the 49ers’ stadium, La Canfora mentions that owner Mark Davis has limited leverage at this point and the NFL views Levi’s Stadium as an option that makes the most sense.

“The Raiders don’t want to play at Levi’s, but from the league’s standpoint this really would be a layup,” a source with knowledge of the situation tells La Canfora. “All of the infrastructure is already there. It would be the cheapest and the easiest.”

A source with knowledge of the situation tells La Canfora that he would strongly bet on the team playing next season at one of those two stadiums.

Although, La Canfora adds that it’s still not out of the realm of possibility that the team plays one more season in Oakland. This would, however, require the Raiders and the city of Oakland to resolve some issues with the lease and the pending lawsuit against the team.

As for the idea of the Raiders playing at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, La Canfora reports that the team is monitoring the possibility, but there doesn’t appear to be strong support in the league office for the idea.

La Canfora confirms that the NFL has discussed the idea of the Raiders playing their home games in London, but there issues in terms of the cost and difficulties that would be incurred with having a West Coast team play a full-season home schedule overseas.

“I will call it an extreme long shot, if even that,” a source with knowledge of the situation tells La Canfora.

San Antonio has also been discussed as a temporary home, according to La Canfora.

The NFL would reportedly like to have the Raiders’ temporary home resolved by shortly after the Super Bowl.