Raiders Owner Mark Davis: “We Want To Stay Here In Oakland”

Raiders owner Mark Davis mentioned in a phone interview with Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network that they are “trying everything possible to get something done in Oakland.”

“We are trying everything possible to get something done in Oakland right on the same exact site we’re on right now,” Davis said. “And I’d say 99 percent of my interests and energy are going towards getting something done there. That’s really the crux of it right now. People want to know about the other sites and there are always options. But we want to get something done in Oakland.”

The Raiders lease with O.co Stadium is set to expire after the 2014 regular season and there has been plenty of reports suggesting that they could relocate to Los Angeles in the coming years.

In fact, some have pegged the Raiders as one of the favorites to end up in L.A. along with the Rams.

Davis has confirmed that he has met with city officials from San Antonio about the idea of possibly moving the team to southern Texas, but it doesn’t appear to be a serious option. Teams have met with prospective cities to gain some leverage with local governments in stadium negotiations, so for now, I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in San Antonio being a realistic option.

According to Davis, getting a stadium built in Oakland remains their top priority.

“We want to stay here in Oakland,” Davis said. “There’s other opportunities that would be much more lucrative for us, to be real honest. But we are really trying to get something done in Oakland. We want a stadium the fans and the team can be proud of.”

The Raiders have been operating under one-year extensions, but Davis made it clear that this is not something he wants to continue doing in the coming years.

“What I don’t want to do is get caught up in an endless cycle of one-year extensions,” Davis said. “Those lease extensions, they tend to give comfort.”

I’m sure we’ll be hearing much more about this situation in the coming months.