San Francisco Mayor tells Giants ‘Oakland Raiders should play in Oakland’

That report that the Raiders would be playing the 2019 season in Oracle Park in San Francisco is looking farther and farther from reality with each passing hour. Shortly after the report came out that the Raiders had agreed to terms with the Giants to play at their baseball park, cold water was dumped on it by reports the 49ers had not signed away their territorial rights and the NFL hadn’t approved it either.

It wasn’t long before even the supposed agreement looked like it was still not locked in either. Making the whole report look premature at best and potentially just a leverage test balloon.

Tuesday, not 36 hours since the initial report, the San Francisco Mayor appeared on local television to voice her extreme disapproval of the idea the Raiders would come to town even for a season. And she said she has made he position clear to the Giants as well.

“As far as I’m concerned, the Oakland Raiders should play in Oakland,” said mayor London Breed. “In San Francisco we have a number of challenges that we need to address with the Warriors coming to the new Chase Arena, the housing 1400 units that’s going to break ground in that area, our transportation system, our ferry landing... We have a number of things for years that we’ve been working to prepare for and we don’t need another layer to add to what we already have in terms of an area that’s really congested, filled with construction and will host a number of concerts and games for both basketball and baseball over the coming months.”

In addition to the City of San Francisco not being onboard with this move, the question becomes why the 49ers would relinquish territorial rights? They would have no issue sharing their stadium in Santa Clara for a season. Levi’s stadium is well-equipped with additional locker rooms which the Raiders could use exclusively, and it would mean extra money for the 49ers organization.

Why would they let another team move in on their territory if the other two options are getting paid rent or kicking them back to the other side of the Bay? It’s hard to see Roger Goodell trying to force the 49ers to sign off on the Raiders playing in San Francisco because what would the league have to gain from that?

Goodell wants an answer very soon. LIke yesterday. Mark Davis doesn’t want to pay to play in Oakland due to the antri-trust lawsuit the City filed against him and he doesn’t want to be a tenant to his longtime cross-bay rivals, but in the end he may have to decide which bullet he wants to bite.