Oakland Raiders: Relocation To San Antonio Just A Texas Sized Illusion

Following the Oakland Raiders’ failed bid to move to LA, wild rumors are swirling about where the team might land – such as San Antonio.

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The moment the team still currently known as the Oakland Raiders withdrew their bid to move to Los Angeles, wild speculation and rumors began burning up the Internet about the next place they’d call home. Of course, all of the usual suspects were trotted out – St. Louis, Santa Clara, San Diego, Portland, Las Vegas, and of course, San Antonio. The Raiders have been attached to landing spots everywhere except Mars – though, that rumor is probably firing up pretty soon.

You can’t really blame folks for speculating about their possible destination. After all, it’s not every day you have an NFL franchise – one as storied as the Raiders at that – who are essentially homeless. The owners voted to give Stan Kroenke and the Rams anything and everything he wanted – with the by-product of making the Raiders a vagabond franchise.

The trouble with most of the rumors is that they’ve already been debunked, shot down, or were never really seriously being considered by Mark Davis. Take St. Louis for example. Though some continue to insist that the Raiders are – or at least should be – headed for St. Louis, Davis has already shot down the notion on multiple occasions, saying he has “no interest” in moving his franchise to the Midwest.

San Diego is another popular landing spot that’s been cited more times than Hillary Clinton’s name was mentioned in tonight’s GOP debate. While it’s not entirely out of the question, Davis most certainly would have to worry about how the team is embraced – and the financial impact it would have on the club. After decades of being one of their most hated rivals, how likely is it that San Diegans – having just been stripped of the team they love – would throw open their arms, welcome their long time nemesis in, and call them their own?

The answer? Not bloody likely.

Though some Chargers alumni appear to be embracing the idea, the fans have a slightly – different view. NBC7 San Diego posted on their Twitter page, asking about the idea and the response was – oh, how to put this delicately? – overwhelmingly negative.

So with St. Louis out of the running and San Diego possible, but not likely, the next most popular landing spot mentioned has of course been, San Antonio.

The recent report that Davis has secured land about halfway between Austin and San Antonio has only fueled the speculation that the Raiders will be headed for the Lone Star state sooner rather than later. Davis and San Antonio officials flirted with one another before, but things never really developed.

However, with the LA issue settled and the Raiders not being given a seat at the table, Red McCombs and Henry Cisneros – former mayor of San Antonio – are pulling out all the stops to get Davis to move from flirtation to a committed relationship.

In an article that appeared in the San Antonio Business Journal, Cisneros said:

"“The stakes are so high for a city like San Antonio that is on the cusp of being an NFL market that it is worth making every effort. This may be our best chance in decades.”"

In making his pitch, McCombs went one better than Cisneros and is dangling the financial assistance – not to mention multiple corporate sponsors lined up and ready – that Davis needs to get a stadium built and get the Raiders a permanent home.

"“We would be happy to be investors if that what he wants. We have investors lined up if that what he wants. If he wants to keep it all to himself, that’s OK too.”"

On the surface, it seems like a good deal for Davis and the Raiders. They get the financial support, corporate sponsors, and all of the things they’d need to build a permanent home. It’s everything that Raiders fans in the East Bay don’t want to hear.

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But the possibility of this coming to fruition doesn’t seem very likely. If there’s one thing that we know about Jerry Jones, it’s that he is beholden to the Almighty Dollar. He loves money more than anything else on the planet. It ruffled his feathers to have to share the state of Texas with Bob McNair and the Houston Texans when they came into being in 2002.

The idea that Jones would now be okay with dividing the Texas money pie – not to mention the hearts and minds of Texas residents – three ways between the Cowboys, Texans, and Raiders seems to run counter to his very being.

Jones’ favored outcome out of the whole Southern California gold rush was to have the Rams and the Chargers in the City of Angels, with the Raiders staying in the East Bay. He is undoubtedly hoping and praying that Libby Schaff and the Oakland politicos can get something done to keep the Raiders in California.

The fallback plan of course, is that if the Raiders are unable to work out a deal to stay in Oakland, they will have to petition to relocate – which means, the owners will again have to vote on the issue. Is there any doubt in anybody’s mind that if Jones can finagle his way to 30 votes to get Kroenke and the Rams to LA – and don’t be fooled, that was very much a Jones driven outcome – that between he and his ally McNair, they can get the nine votes necessary to block a Raiders move to the Lone Star state and keep the Texas money pot a two-way instead of a three-way split?

Mark Davis can and is rattling his saber for all its worth in using the threat of relocation as leverage against Schaff and Oakland officials. And there are cracks starting to show in their hard line stance against offering assistance of any kind – Schaff has gone on record as saying they are willing to make certain concessions to keep the Raiders in the Bay Area.

Next: Owners Vote To Get Over On Al Davis One Last Time

It’s a good start, but Davis and the city of Oakland still have a ways to go to secure the future of the Raiders in the East Bay. He needs to keep the pressure on if he truly means what he says about wanting to keep the team there. But a move to San Antonio seems to be something of a non-starter given that Jones and McNair will likely be able to prevent that from ever happening.

So, while the future of the Raiders in Oakland may seem bleak at the moment, there is a small sliver of hope remaining that they can get something done. Raiders fans in the Bay Area just have to hope Schaff doesn’t figure out that Davis taking the team to San Antonio is likely nothing more than an illusion as big as the state of Texas.

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