Oakland Raiders Rumors: Team Could Make Layover In San Antonio Before Moving To Los Angeles

The Oakland Raiders are rumored to be headed back to their home in Los Angeles, but they may have a layover in San Antonio first.

The Texas city, which has long been floated as a destination for an NFL team, is reportedly willing to provide a temporary home for the Raiders should they decide to make a move to Los Angeles. On Friday, San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor said her city is able to host an NFL team in the interim period until a stadium is completed in L.A., SFGate.com reported.

But Taylor tempered her talk, noting, “some other things that may be more accessible and feasible in a shorter time frame like Major League Soccer and baseball.”

There are currently three NFL teams rumored to be looking into Los Angeles as a destination, all with connections to the city and problems with stadiums in their current location. Aside from the Oakland Raiders, the St. Louis Rams — who, like the Raiders, once played in Los Angeles — and neighboring San Diego Chargers are rumored to be looking into the move.

Raiders owner Mark Davis didn’t comment on the news that the team could make a temporary home in San Antonio, has reportedly grown frustrated with the state of negotiations with the city of Oakland to build a new stadium and keep the team.

The process appears to be headed for a confrontation, with Rams owner Stan Kroenke backing a stadium proposal in Inglewood, while Davis and Chargers owner Dean Spanos are supporting a project in Carson. The NFL is expected to only approve one stadium.

“I guess you could use the metaphor of musical chairs, and there’s a bit of that going on,” Steve Tisch, co-owner of the New York Giants and a longtime L.A. resident, told the Los Angeles Times. “The home [markets] haven’t made their presentations to their respective clubs, so that’s still a bit of a moving target. The presentations made today were really well done.”

Tisch said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is trying to be sensitive to the prospect that the clubs could be hurt if they apply to relocate to Los Angeles but are denied the move.

“At some point that’s going to be inevitable,” he said. “I think Roger has thought about it, the L.A. stadium committee has thought about it, and though we’re not ready to cross that bridge yet, it is something that at the appropriate time it will be handled very sensitively.”

This is not the first time the Oakland Raiders have been rumored to move to San Antonio. Last year, Davis met with city officials to talk about a potential move. The visit was largely seen as a bargaining tool for Davis to use in negotiations with Oakland officials on a new stadium.

[Picture by Ezra Shaw / Getty Images]