The Raiders may have been the odd team out of the NFL’s mad dash to Los Angeles with the Rams and Chargers getting favorable treatment, but Mark Davis apparently has a plan B already lined up.
He has, according to Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole, already bought a parcel of land about halfway between San Antonio and Austin, which in theory would be able to house a new stadium for the Raiders. The region encompassing the two cities has about 2.5 million people living in it and only one major league team in the area: the San Antonio Spurs. In theory, the people of the region would be hungry for professional football in a state that lives and breathes the sport.
But, there are still questions about this, and by no means is this a sign that Davis is packing the vans for Texas. Davis does not have the coffers that a Stan Kroenke or even Dean Spanos does, including league assistance, so this could easily be a leverage play to bounce Oakland off of San Antonio off of St. Louis, etc. San Antonio has also never made a serious play for an NFL franchise, even though the Alamodome did play as a temporary home during the 2005 season for the Saints.
And also playing into this is that the Raiders, even if they wouldn’t have to pay a relocation fee, would have to pay a fee to Jerry Jones and possibly Bob McNair for entering the exclusive TV territory for both the Cowboys and Texans. The likelihood that Jones would waive that to help the league isn’t known, but that is another item that would have to be sorted. And then there is the whole building the stadium thing, too, and whether the towns between San Antonio or Austin or one of those cities themselves would have to pony up.
Whatever the motivation, it appears that Mark Davis is already lining up the next move for the homeless Raiders.
[Bleacher Report/Express-News]
