Raiders Owner Mark Davis in the second of a two-part Q&A with Vic Tafur of the S.F. CHRONICLE discussed the team's ongoing stadium saga and if he had any "second thoughts" about not sharing Levi's Stadium with the 49ers. Excerpts of the Q&A are below.
Q: Any recent developments with getting a new stadium in Oakland?
Davis: Nope. [The city] brought in Colony Capital and based on that, I decided to go ahead and do a one-year extension with them. We will play in the Coliseum next year. But there’s been no progress. I had high hopes when Colony Capital came in. I still do have hopes, but they’re not as high because I haven’t really heard anything positive from either group. It’s gone silent again. We have to get something done. This one-year extension is really based on the hope that Colony Capital can [get] something done. I don’t want to call it a last-ditch effort, but it does seem to be the last chance that Oakland is going to get. We can’t continue to play in that stadium, with the baseball field and all of that stuff. The A’s have two years left, and are talking about a 10-year extension. We can’t keep getting pushed off, off, off, off.
Q: Do you have any second thoughts about not going in with the 49ers on the Santa Clara stadium, back when that was an option?
Davis: No, not at all. ... I really believe with the 49ers moving down to Santa Clara, and leaving the San Francisco Bay Area, that it leaves it wide open for someone to say, ‘Wow, this is really a good opportunity for Oakland.’ It opened up the market quite a bit.
Q: Oakland Mayor Jean Quan is up for re-election this November. Might that spark activity or further slow it down?
Davis: The developers now are going to sit there and wait on the fence until November. So, we’re just sitting there with (puts his hands up.) And we’re the one of the three Oakland teams that has said we want to stay (SFGATE.com, 2/26).
