Raiders in Oakland in 2019 now official

With the Raiders and the Coliseum Authority reaching an agreement on the terms of a a lease for the 2019 season, Friday the Coliseum Authority held their official vote. The vote is in, the board has approved it, and the Raiders will indeed be playing the 2019 season in Oakland.

After the terms had been agreed to, there was a hitch that involved the Raiders practice facility in Alameda that needed worked out, but they worked it out and the deal is done. We can finally put this whole thing to bed.

Under the new lease deal, the Raiders will pay $7.5 million to play in Oakland for the 2019 season with an option to play in the Coliseum in 2020 should the new stadium in Las Vegas not be ready in time for the 2020 season. Should the Raiders exercise that option, the rent would increase to $10.5 million for that season.

Also under the new deal, the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Authority will get 100 percent of any money for naming rights on the stadium. In the previous lease the Raiders got half of that revenue.

The Raiders were originally scheduled to play this season in Oakland on that same one-year $7.5 million lease before moving into their new stadium in Las Vegas schedule to be ready for the 2020 season. The Raiders backed out of the deal after the City of Oakland filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the team and the NFL. They explored several other options for places to play next season, but in the end their best (and perhaps only) option was to stay in Oakland this season.