NEWSLETTER
Because it’s looking unlikely that the Raiders will play in Oakland in 2019, and their Las Vegas stadium won’t be ready until the 2020 season, it will take some outside-the-box thinking to find a temporary home for the silver and black attack.
And I suppose it doesn’t get more outside-the-box than this:
Exclusive: #Raiders and #SFGiants remain in talks re: #ATTPark. Raiders could play in SF for 2019 season. Team source tells me ‘this is a distinct possibility’. #NFL pic.twitter.com/xhoHf5awJ2
— Raj Mathai (@rajmathai) December 21, 2018
The #SFGiants confirmed with me that they’ve had initial dialogue with the Raiders regarding playing at AT&T Park in 2019. Here’s their statement. pic.twitter.com/lJpU6DejOK
— Kerry Crowley (@KO_Crowley) December 21, 2018
Football inside a baseball stadium? What a time to be alive!
It’s not as if football at AT&T Park would be a brand new adventure. Not only did Cal play its home games at the house that Barry Bonds Built back in 2011, the stadium hosted college football bowl games (San Francisco Bowl, Emerald Bowl, Fight Hunger Bowl) from 2002 until 2013. If you’ve watched even just a minute of Giants baseball, you know how spacious that park is and how much green grass resides between one foul line and the other.
Seriously, that was a thing:
Of course, there are options that could become available that aren’t in the Bay Area.
Back in September, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported the Raiders asked about playing the 2019 season in San Diego while they waited on their Vegas digs to be completed. Earlier in December, David Debolt of the Mercury News reported that Santa Clara officials were preparing for the possibility of the Raiders sharing Levi’s Stadium with the San Francisco 49ers for the 2019 season.
Fans of the Chicago Bears should keep an eye on where the Raiders land in 2019. The Bears are slated to play a road game against the Raiders, but as of now, don’t know where that game will be played. A road trip to San Francisco or San Diego would certainly be enticing for those of us who like to travel to see our favorite teams play. And for fans who want to travel into foreign territories, the Raiders are scheduled to be a designated home team in one of the international games next year.
Let’s put a pin in this and see how things shake up. Because the only thing that would make a Khalil Mack revenge game against the Raiders that much better would be a trip that turns a road stadium into a home game for the Bears.
