A Potential New Home for the Raiders? Owner Mark Davis Meets with San Antonio Officials

In a move that seems straight out of the Madden NFL video game series, Mark Davis of the Oakland Raiders met with San Antonio officials to potentially discuss the move of Raiders.

According to NFL.com, the Raiders' current lease at O.Co Coliseum expires at the end of the 2014 season. This would leave them looking for a new lease, new stadium, or a new home in general. Over the past few years, the Raiders have looked at various options including sharing a stadium with the 49ers, moving to Los Angeles (again), and a new stadium in Oakland.

The issue? Nothing is moving outside of time, and the Raiders time at their current stadium is running out. With the Oakland Athletics signing a new lease (and being the primary holder of the stadium thus giving the A's majority revenue), the Raiders know they have to get something done quick. Davis met with San Antonio officials yesterday to discuss moving his team to the Alamo City, and don't let him fool you into thinking he didn't.

By structure, San Antonio would not be a bad selection for the Raiders to move to. Already sitting in the city is the Alamodome, which seats 65,000, but the Alamodome cannot be a permanent stadium. The Alamodome, however, can be used as a short-term solution while a stadium is specifically built for the Raiders. That of course being if the two sides go that way.

According to Forbes, the Raiders would be giving up quite a bit by moving to San Antonio.

"Oakland is the country’s fourth-largest media market, compared with 36th for San Antonio. The number of big corporations in the Bay Area out number the Alamo City by 30 to five. Once Oakland’s economy rebounds the city will be able support much higher premium seating and sponsorship revenue than San Antonio."

When looking at those numbers, it would appear that it wouldn't be a good move for the Raiders. If San Antonio embraces the Raiders by building them a multi-million dollar stadium with luxury boxes and corporate sponsorships, how much of a hit would they really take? Just the new stadium alone would be more than what Oakland is offering right now. Include the rights to being the primary tenant and the extra revenue associated with that (what they don't get at O.Co right now due to the Athletics), it might become more of an even move than it appears. That's speaking generally, as it's hard to know without having concrete numbers.

The biggest hurdle might be the NFL itself. With two teams in Texas already, the chances of getting owners to completely buy into a third team might be low. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would be the biggest obstacle in the sale, and I cannot imagine that he would ever vote to put a third team in his "Cowboys State."

With all the questions surrounding a potential move, and with the fact that Oakland is still working with the Raiders organization for a stadium, the likelihood of this happening very soon seems unlikely. The Raiders, if anything, are using this as a push for progress and I can't blame them for that.