On Monday, the NFL owners voted 31-1 in favor of the relocation of the Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas, Nevada. The Raiders hope to move to their new $1.9 billion domed stadium near the infamous Las Vegas Strip in time for the 2020 season. In the meantime, owner Mark Davis said that he would like to remain in Oakland until that time comes.
The Raiders have two years remaining on their lease at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum. That would get them through the 2018 season if they choose to remain there for both seasons. That possibly leaves the 2019 season up in the air. One possibility would be an upgraded UNLV stadium where the Raiders could play for a season. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported another possibility. He stated that one potential temporary home for the Raiders could be Levi's Stadium, which they could share with the San Francisco 49ers.
"One option, I'm told, is Levi's Stadium," Rapoport said Monday on NFL Network. "For 2019 – certainly is an option. For 2018 – believed to be an option as well. It's not something, from my understanding, that the Niners would oppose. They've been very vocal about welcoming the Raiders if that is necessary. So that would be a potential option for the Raiders if Las Vegas is not ready to actually join forces with the 49ers for a year or two."
On Monday night, 49ers CEO Jed York told CSN Bay Area that sharing Levi's Stadium with the Raiders is purely conjecture at this point.
"If that was an opportunity, we'd certainly sit down and discuss it," York told Matt Maiocco via his podcast. "But I think there are a lot of moving pieces right now that it's really conjecture to talk about 2019 at this point when they'd still, obviously, prefer to be at the Coliseum."
Earlier in the podcast interview, York did indicate that the 49ers might be willing to assist the Raiders should they need any help. York explained the origin of his deep respect for the late Al Davis, who is the father of current owner Mark Davis.
"Al Davis is really the person that brokered the deal between the Morabito family and my grandfather," York said. Tony Morabito was the founder of the 49ers. "So I have a lot of respect for Mr. Davis and certainly anything we can do to be helpful with Mark, we try to have a real professional relationship and if we can help each other, we certainly try to do that. I think we'll continue to do things together in terms of being partners and it remains to be seen how that all works together with the Raiders moving to Las Vegas of, sort of, what we do in the long run with them in the Bay Area."
You can listen to the entire interview here.
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