The leader of the Coliseum authority board said it loses money on Raiders games and he has no interest in having the Las Vegas-bound team play in Oakland, Calif., beyond the 2018 season.
The Raiders have legally binding options with the board to play at the Coliseum in 2017 and 2018, but Coliseum authority executive director Scott McKibben said he has no desire to house Mark Davis' team in 2019.
"I would say to you with the highest level of confidence, my opinion and recommendation and that of my board members _ I don't believe there is any appetite for a third season (in Oakland)," McKibben told USA Today.
"It's actually financially to our benefit if they didn't exercise the options and play here even in the two years they've got (in 2017 and 2018)," added McKibben.
McKibben told USA Today that the Coliseum brings in roughly $7 million per year in revenue from Raiders home games, which includes the team's $3.5 million in rent. However, the Coliseum spends more than $8 million per year to enable the Raiders to play there _ including game-day operations such as security and sanitation. McKibben said those costs include the $450,000 it takes to convert the field from baseball to football and back, which usually happens three times per year.
Davis, who was granted approval from fellow NFL owners on Monday to move to Vegas, had left open the possibility of spending the next three seasons at the Coliseum.
"If the fans would like us to stay there, we'd love to be there for that and possibly talk to them about extending it for maybe 2019 as well, and try to bring a championship back to Oakland," Davis said Monday.
The question is whether the fans will feel the same way as the Coliseum authority does about having the Raiders stay an extra year before leaving?
