With their home venue for 2019 still undetermined, the Daily Mail recently reported that the Oakland Raiders are in talks about using the new Tottenham Stadium.
Designed to specifically accommodate the NFL in addition to Tottenham Hotspur F.C. of the Premier League, the new Tottenham Stadium is expected to begin hosting NFL action next season after construction delays prevented it from doing so in 2018. Part of the NFL’s agreement concerning the new stadium requires a minimum of two regular-season games there annually for 10 years, but the facility could play a significant role for the Raiders next season.
The Raiders do not have a lease for the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum to cover 2019, and a recent lawsuit filed by the City of Oakland against the team and the NFL has left serious doubts about the viability of an extension. Without a lease extension, the team will need a venue that can stand in as a home for one season before its new Las Vegas stadium opens in 2020, and it appears that Tottenham could be an option. Tottenham and the Raiders are reportedly in discussions about sharing the facility during the 2019 NFL season, though the complicated logistics of having a single team in London with the other 31 NFL clubs based in the United States is one issue that would need to be resolved. More from The Daily Mail:
The 62,000-seater new Tottenham Stadium features a full NFL field — the artificial surface sitting below the retractable grass pitch.
This would avoid a repeat of the muddy pitch seen at Wembley this autumn following an Anthony Joshua fight, three NFL games, Tottenham’s Premier League fixtures and England internationals.
NFL commentator and writer [J]ay Glazer revealed: ‘London is now an option for the Raiders. It is being discussed for them to play there next year. They are still trying to figure it out. The Raiders are discussing it. Do they play four home games, four away games, and back and forth again?
Tottenham is not the only venue linked to the Raiders in their ongoing search, as the use of San Francisco’s AT&T Park has also been reported as an option. There are still many questions left to be answered regarding the Raiders 2019 home, so the club will need to work over the early stages of the new year to come up with a solution.
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