With all signs pointing to the Raiders rolling snake eyes in their quest to relocate to Las Vegas, the question now becomes where do the Silver and Black go from here?
In a tasty slice of irony, could the city the Chargers just fled to move to Los Angeles now open up to the Raiders?
If you think the “San Diego Raiders” is out of left field, you haven’t been paying attention. With the Raiders having lost all faith anything can work out in Oakland, their backup plan to Las Vegas always centered on Southern California and tied into whatever decision the Chargers made on their long-term future.
Had the Chargers stayed in San Diego, the Raiders would have looked to Los Angeles had things fallen apart in Las Vegas.
But when the Chargers relocated to L.A., San Diego immediately jumped to the forefront as Plan B.
The feeling seems to be mutual.
According to multiple sources, San Diego officials have already reached out to the Raiders and NFL to gauge interest. And if the Raiders’ hopes in Las Vegas permanently fade away, count on San Diego ratcheting up its efforts.
That makes sense as San Diego is still reeling from losing the Chargers and eager to fill the void.
Theoretically they can circle back to the Mission Valley stadium deal the Chargers rejected before fleeing to Los Angeles, or potentially add a Raiders stadium to the MLS stadium plan local investors are proposing.
Boy did that change in a hurry.
A week ago the smart money was on the Raiders closing the deal on their relocation to Las Vegas, where a $1.6 billion stadium plan fueled by $750 million from the state of Nevada, $650 million from Las Vegas Sand Corp. chief Sheldon Adelson and $500 million from the Raiders sat waiting like a desert oasis.
But all those hopes came crumbling down over the last 48 hours when Adelson, miffed at the Raiders’ partnership demands, pulled his $650 million off the table and Goldman Sachs, the back-up funding partner, reportedly did the same.
Barring a last-minute change of heart from Trbet Adelson to at least return to the table to talk – and a source told me Tuesday the odds of that happening stood at five percent – or the Raiders securing another funding partner, their Nevada quest just overheated at the state line.
Now what indeed?
The Raiders could turn their attention back to Oakland to pursue a new home on the site where their shared stadium with the Oakland A’s currently sits. But that would require an about face by Bay Area leaders, who are working on an exclusive rights basis with a group led by former NFL great Ronnie Lott and backed by Fortress Investment on a mixed use development deal at that site.
Lott and Fortress are hoping to reel in the Raiders by promising a spot for a new stadium, but the Raiders aren’t interested and the NFL has expressed serious misgivings about the proposal’s direction.
At the core of the concerns is what Fortress is seeking in terms of ownership stake or what revenue streams they’d tap into to recoup their investment – if that sounds familiar, it’s because those are the exact issues that led to the Raiders fallout with Adelson. Other issues include a stated solution for the A’s, who have a long-term lease at the Oakland Coliseum, a firm date to begin construction and what exactly Lott and his partners would expect out of the deal.
The NFL has waited nearly two months for answers to those questions, but none have emerged.
None of which would have been an issue had the Raiders and Adelson agreed on a deal. But that didn’t happen, and it set forth a domino effect in which Goldman Sachs might back out as well.
As a result, rather than closing in on NFL approval to move to Las Vegas, the Raiders might have to turn their attention back to Southern California.
This time, San Diego.
It’s not L.A. but close enough. The Raiders have a strong foothold throughout the Southern California region – their fans took over Qualcomm Stadium last season when they played the Chargers – and it’s easy to envision them being well supported if they relocated to the area.
It all seemed like a long shot a week ago.
But as NFL relocation has shown us, things can change in a hurry.
Contact the writer: vbonsignore@scng.com
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