IRVING, Texas – Raiders owner Mark Davis said he needs just two words to describe his team’s latest tangle with Oakland.
“One is ‘meritless,’ ” Davis said, “and the other one, the attorneys will understand, is ‘malicious.’
“I’ll leave it at that and I’ll let the attorneys do all the rest of the speaking.”
Beyond raw emotion, Davis and team president Marc Badain said Wednesday, the Raiders are still searching for answers.
The city of Oakland announced Tuesday it planned to file a federal antitrust and breach of contract lawsuit against the NFL, Raiders and each of the league’s 31 other teams. The lawsuit, city attorney Barbara J. Parker said, will seek damages including lost revenue that Oakland taxpayers invested in the Raiders. The suit alleges the Raiders violated federal antitrust law and NFL policy by “boycotting Oakland in the marketplace for hosting a football club.”
In 2017, NFL owners approved the Raiders’ 2020 relocation by a vote of 31-1.
The Raiders have played two seasons since in the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, with one home game remaining this year before their Coliseum lease expires. With the city lawsuit, the Raiders’ $7.5 million rent offer for the 2019 season is “now off the table,” Badain said.
What’s on the table?
Badain and Davis said “we have a number of options” and are “not ruling anything out.”
San Diego, Santa Clara (where the 49ers have played since 2014), Berkeley and an early, temporary home in Las Vegas are all possible, Davis said when asked of each. The Alamodome in San Antonio, a major city without an NFL franchise, is less appealing to Davis.
“Turf,” said Davis, whose team shares a grass-and-gravel Coliseum surface with the Oakland A’s, “I’m not really a fan of.”
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