Raiders owner Mark Davis tells fans he wants to keep team in Oakland
Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis told fans Tuesday he wants to keep the team in Oakland and is open to selling a minority stake of the team to a Bay Area group if that group can back the team's existing $400 million stadium funding gap, according to a Fox Sports report.
At the NFL owners meetings Tuesday Davis assuaged fans' concerns, saying to an assembled group holding signs urging the team to stay in Oakland, "Hey, listen, you guys are the best. I'm trying all I can do to keep this team in Oakland, OK?" according to USA Today.
Davis said he can pay $500 million of the $900 million required for the Raiders' current stadium lease. The team's remaining one-year lease at O.Co Coliseum has been approved, but where the team will play in the 2016-17 season remains unclear.
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Plans to construct a new stadium for the Raiders in the Bay Area are all but dead, the San Francisco Chroniclereported Monday.
Davis' statements come on the same day that the city of Carson, Calif., completed a deal to acquire land for a proposed NFL stadium that would be shared by the Raiders and the San Diego Chargers and almost require the Raiders relocate from Oakland.
On Monday, former San Francisco 49ers president Carmen Policy said he had been hired by the Chargers and Raiders to advocate for the Carson stadium plan. Policy will reportedly do this at the owners' meetings this week, the same site of Davis' rallying to keep the team in Oakland.
