Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis blames A’s for stadium mess

If the Oakland Raiders move to Southern Nevada, then Las Vegas can indirectly thank the team's current neighbor, the Oakland A's.

Raiders owner Mark Davis on Thursday blamed baseball's Oakland Athletics for holding up progress on a new stadium in the East Bay.

In the short term, the Raiders announced Thursday the signing of a one-year lease to remain in Oakland and play 2016 games at O.co Coliseum, the team's home since it moved back from Los Angeles in 1995. The Raiders and the A's are the only NFL and MLB teams that share a stadium.

The A's signed a 10-year lease on the old stadium in 2014.

"There's an elephant in the room, and that's the Oakland A's," Davis told CSNBayArea.com after Thursday's news conference. "They have to make a commitment to what they want to do.

"That's the problem. They signed a 10-year lease while we were negotiating with Oakland officials, and it kind of put somebody right in the middle of things. There isn't much you can do. They've tied our hands behind our back. Now it's up to the A's to make a declaration of what they want to do. If they don't do that, I don't see how we can make a deal."

While Davis said his long-term plan is for each team to have a new stadium on the current site, the Athletics prefer to play at O.co Coliseum and build a ballpark next to it.

"We like the game day experience of tailgating on that parking lot. We don't want to give that up," Davis said. "People have not listened when I've said that I don't mind building two stadiums on that site. The A's stadium would take about 12 acres, and a Raiders stadium would take 15-17 acres. That's fine with me, but I don't want to give up the parking.

"What I do not want to do is build a football stadium in a corner of a parking lot while the Oakland Coliseum is still standing and, once we have a brand new venue, we begin to tear down the old stadium and build a new ballpark, disrupting the ingress, egress, parking and tailgating experience for Raiders fans on game day."

The St. Louis Rams were approved to move to Los Angeles in January and the San Diego Chargers have an option to join the Rams at their yet-to-be-built stadium in Inglewood, California. The Raiders might move after next season but must wait until after the Chargers make a decision on whether they want to join the Rams.

In the meantime, Davis last month visited Las Vegas. Davis said he met with casino giants Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn, Ultimate Fighting Championship owner Lorenzo Fertitta, UNLV president Len Jessup and former school president Donald Snyder. Adelson's Sands Corp. has proposed building at $1.2 billion domed stadium that could house an NFL team.

The A's responded to Davis' comments with a statement on Friday. And they weren't happy.

"It is unfortunate Mr. Davis decided to bring the A's into his discussion about the Raiders' stadium lease," the statement read. "We respect his right to explore his options in and out of Oakland, including his widely reported consideration of Los Angeles and other markets.

"The A's signed a 10-year lease at the Coliseum because we are committed to Oakland. Mr. Davis has said he is fully committed to do a new football stadium in Oakland and there is nothing in our lease that precludes Mr. Davis and the Raiders from building on the Coliseum site. As we stated yesterday, the A's are aggressively working with the city to evaluate venue sites in Oakland."

The Review-Journal contributed to this report.

The Review-Journal is owned by a limited liability company controlled by the Adelson family, majority owners of Las Vegas Sands.