Raiders continue their efforts for a new stadium in Oakland

The City of Oakland has a grandiose idea of a Coliseum City complex in the heart of the city based around their sports teams. Unfortunately for them 2 of the 3 professional sports teams that the city boasts have already started plans on moving out of town if possible, and the third is a leased tenant whose lease comes to an end after next year.

The plan that the city is working on is to have a stadium district, preferably with all three sports teams but even just one team might have to do, and surround it with shopping and hotels. It would be on the same site area that the O.co currently inhibits so it would not require substantial changing to their public transport systems.

Oakland is not giving up on their idea of keeping all three teams in the district but they understand that the bigger vision of those teams staying will have to be digested in pieces instead of all at the same time. With that in mind in comes the leased tenant trying to get a new stadium, the Oakland Raiders. They also are the only one out of the three that really want to stay in Alameda County.

The Raiders owner Mark Davis wants to stay in town but he needs the promise of a much needed new stadium in order to do so. That stadium proposal now is for a $800M stadium with a 50,000 seat capacity, which would be the smallest stadium in the NFL. It would be 11,500 less capacity than the current smallest stadium in Chicago's Soldier Field, and also less than the current capacity of the O.co which is still at 53,000 even after the tarpping off of Mount Davis.

It doesn't really matter if it is the smallest stadium though, the important thing is simply getting a new one. Yes, we all would love something like the 1.3 billion dollar stadium that the 49ers just built in Santa Clara but even if it is a less magnificent building it will still be state of the art. The Raiders have been playing in below NFL grade stadiums forever so having a new stadium even if small would be amazing. Lets face it, right now even just not playing on a baseball field for half the season would be amazing.

The Raiders are willing to put up $300M of the $800M project and they believe the NFL would contribute another $200M leaving the City of Oakland on the hook for the other $300M for the new stadium. Previously the City had been set in stone about not helping pay for the new stadium but with the prospect of losing all three professional sports teams in the area if they don't help their stance is softening.

This is a good sign for the Raiders chances of staying in Oakland, which is their rightful home. They do not want to sign another lease with the O.co though without knowing that they will get a new stadium, especially not with a 75,000 seat stadium in the City of Industry outside of LA having a stadium plan in need of a team. The Raiders want to stay in Oakland, but they want a new stadium more. Hopefully this is a sign that they will be able to get both in the near future.

Here is a map of the area that the City wants to use for the Coliseum City plan: