Raiders Pay To Stay

A lease extension for the Oakland Raiders to stay in O.co Coliseum will set the NFL team back $3.5 million, more than tripling its rent from the previous $925,000.

Coliseum Executive Director Scott McKibben said the rent increase was due to increased costs for game-day security and other factors. The team’s lease to play in the Coliseum formally expired on Feb. 17.

The Raiders have since 2012 been negotiating lease extensions at the stadium on a one-year basis. Owner Mark Davis has been openly investigating options for moving his team from the California city to another willing to construct a new football stadium. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in January that the stadiums in Oakland, St. Louis and San Diego were “unsatisfactory and inadequate.”

Davis put in a bid to move the team to Los Angeles, but withdrew after the Rams’ migration to LA was approved. The city of Oakland is still paying off debt from renovations to the Coliseum in the ‘90s, and officials have been reluctant to commit the city to constructing a new stadium, be it football or baseball.

“I’m ready to kiss and say goodbye and help (Davis) pack his bags,” Oakland Councilman Noel Gallo told The Oakland Tribune.