The best way to keep the Raiders in Oakland may be simple: don’t let them leave. Or more specifically, don’t give them another option. According to NBC Sports’ Mike Florio, the “sense” around the league right now is that the Raiders will be the “odd man out” in the race to Los Angeles.
Everything is kind of on hold right now publicly. Wheels are moving behind the scenes. There’s an emerging sense that how this will play out is that Inglewood, Hollywood Park as the winner of the location over Carson and Rams, Chargers as the two teams playing in Inglewood with the Raiders the odd man out. That’s the sense right now. It goes completely against the way the planets are aligned, because it’s Rams in Inglewood and Chargers-Raiders in Carson. I think at some point, though, the Chargers are going to say to the Raiders, ‘Hey, thanks for your help in trying to get to L.A. — sorry you can’t get to L.A., have fun in Oakland. We’ll see you twice a year on the field.’
Despite the fact that Mark Davis has been gaining respect among NFL owners, the deep-pockets of Rams’ owner, Stan Kroenke, have always made him the favorite to win the race to Los Angeles – a scenario that would not bode well for the Raiders’ relocation efforts.
Many believe Davis’ only realistic path to Los Angeles is through his joint proposal with the Chargers. If Kroenke is able to strong-arm the Rams to Los Angeles, the ‘Raiders-to-LA’ conversation could end abruptly.
In that case, Oakland would once again (by default no less) be the favorite to land their own team – and likely drag this process out another year or two.
