THE OAKLAND RAIDERS, whose stadium lease expires next year, are reportedly looking at San Antonio as a possible new home should the National Football League team decide to relocate.
The San Antonio Express-News, citing unnamed sources, said Raiders owner Mark Davis and two others with the team met with key people in the Texas city, including former mayor Julian Castro and city manager Sheryl Sculley.
The Raiders would play in the Alamodome, which opened in 1993 and seats 65,000 for American football.
Also reportedly in the talks was former US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros, who was San Antonio’s mayor from 1981-1989 and led the push to construct the Alamodome.
Davis said he would ask the city to build a new stadium once the Raiders prove themselves.
The Raiders have not had a winning season since 2002, which ended with Oakland losing the 2003 Super Bowl to Tampa Bay.
Any relocation would have to be approved by 75 per cent of the NFL’s 32 club owners.
The Raiders are the only NFL team that shares a home stadium with a Major League Baseball club. The Oakland A’s, who were also looking at potential new stadium sites in the area, signed a 10-year lease to remain in the stadium earlier this month.
A move to Texas would not be the first for the franchise, which played in Oakland from 1960 to 1981, relocated to Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 and then went back to Oakland for the 1995 campaign.
San Antonio has been in consideration as the home of an NFL club before, most notably in 2005 when New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson spoke with city officials about hosting the team after the Superdome, their home stadium, was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
The Saints played three games in the Alamo dome but returned to Louisiana the next year. The Raiders have won three Super Bowl titles, claiming the crown in 1976, 1980 and 1983.
