City of Oakland Files Lawsuit Against Raiders, NFL Over Team’s Planned Move to Las Vegas

The city of Oakland has filed a federal lawsuit against the Raiders and the NFL over the team’s planned move to Las Vegas, raising the prospects that the team may not play their home games in Oakland next season.

The Raiders are expected to move to Las Vegas in 2020. However, the team does not currently have a lease for a home stadium for the 2019 season, and owner Mark Davis has previously suggested that he would not want the team to play in Oakland if the city went through the process of filing a lawsuit.

Oakland Seeks Compensation, But Won’t Stop Move

The lawsuit accuses the NFL of violating federal antitrust laws and the league’s own relocation rules. It seeks the maximum possible financial damages – which can be tripled in a federal antitrust case – but does not ask the court to prevent the team from moving.

“The Raiders’ illegal move lines the pockets of NFL owners and sticks Oakland, its residents, taxpayers and dedicated fans with the bill,” Oakland City Attorney Barbara J. Parker said in a press release. “The purpose of this lawsuit is to hold the defendants accountable and help compensate Oakland for the damages the defendants’ unlawful actions have caused and will cause to the people of Oakland.”

At the NFL owners meetings in Dallas, Davis told ESPN on Tuesday that while he found the lawsuit “meritless and malicious,” he would not be making any other statements on the subject.

“My feeling is we’re 3-10 and we’re still relevant,” Davis told ESPN. “It’s a legal issue, and I’ll let the attorneys make any further comment.”

Raiders May Need to Scramble for 2019 Home

If the relationship between Oakland and the Raiders deteriorates to the point where the team won’t play in the city next year, there may be a few options for the team – though none of them seem ideal.

With the Chargers having recently moved, San Diego would be an obvious choice, as the Raiders have a large fan base in the city, though that could create a logjam of three teams in Southern California. Sharing a stadium with the San Francisco 49ers for a season might be more desirable for the NFL, though Davis has come out against the idea.

Another obvious solution would be to simply allow the Raiders to move to Las Vegas a year earlier than scheduled. However, Clark County Commission Chairman – and Nevada governor-elect – Steve Sisolak has said that it would be too expensive to renovate Sam Boyd Stadium and make it NFL ready for 2019.

Reno could be another option. The University of Nevada, Reno has Mackay Stadium on campus, which might be sufficient for a single transitional season.

While the city may be hoping to get some value out of the Raiders’ decision to move to Las Vegas, legal experts told the Las Vegas Review-Journal they they’re not sure the lawsuit has merit.

“Typically, these kinds of actions have never been filed by cities,” Syracuse University law professor John Wolohan told the Review-Journal. “I can see the breach of contract, but it’s hard to see the antitrust.”