Las Vegas Raiders

Roger Goodell rejects Oakland's last-ditch attempt to keep Raiders

Published Mar. 25, 2017 9:05 p.m. ET

Andre Vergara

Oakland submitted a revised stadium financing plan to the NFL on Friday in a last-ditch attempt to keep the Raiders from moving to Las Vegas, but league commissioner Roger Goodell reiterated that the city has "not yet identified a viable solution."

“Despite all of these efforts, ours and yours, we have not yet identified a viable solution,” Goodell wrote to Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf, according to the San Jose Mercury News. “It is disappointing to me and our clubs to have come to that conclusion.”

Oakland's proposal for a $1.3 billion, football-only stadium to be built on land adjacent to the Coliseum was revised to include a $600 million loan from Fortress Investment Group. The Raiders and NFL would provide $500 million while the city would provide $200 million in infrastructure improvements and Fortress would advance $150 million in land, which local government would repay.

The NFL previously objected to Fortress controlling seat licensing, sponsorships and suites, ESPN's Jim Trotter reports. But the revised proposal limits Fortress' involvement as a partner to providing a traditional loan, similar to what Raiders owner Mark Davis got in a commitment from Bank of America for the proposed move to Vegas.

However, Goodell wrote that the Oakland Athletics' Coliseum lease, which runs through 2024, "remains a significant complication," among other issues.

“We have been prepared for nearly two years to work on finding a solution based on access to land at a certain cost, without constraints on the location of the stadium or timing of construction, and clarity on the overall development,” Goodell wrote. “However, at this date, there remains no certainty regarding how the site will be fully developed, or the specific and contractually-defined nature of the participation by Fortress or other parties. In addition, the long-term nature of the commitment to the A’s remains a significant complication and the resolution of that issue remains unknown.”

Las Vegas already has approved $750 million in public financing for a $1.9 billion stadium on the Strip that the Raiders would share with UNLV. Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer reports that while the NFL would prefer to keep the Raiders in the Bay Area (the sixth-largest TV market in the U.S.) over allowing them to move to Vegas (the 40th-largest TV market), the league does not consider Oakland's stadium plan to be an acceptable alternative, which Goodell again hammered home.

Schaaf and Raiders fans, meanwhile, rallied Saturday in support of Oakland.

https://twitter.com/RaiderPosts/status/845771462938058752

A vote on Vegas could come next week at the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix, which begin Sunday. Davis needs at least 24 of the 32 owners to approve the move.

The Raiders applied to move to the Los Angeles area last year, but the league turned down that request in favor of the Rams moving from St. Louis. The Chargers will join the Rams in the Los Angeles area this season and the teams will share a stadium in Inglewood, which is expected to open in 2019.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.