Barber: Raiders should play at Levi's Stadium in 2019

Anybody have any good leads on office space? I have a friend who’s looking for a place to set up shop in 2019. He needs seating for at least 50,000 people, 57,600 square feet of grass and such amenities as giant TV monitors and catering - preferably, without drowned mice in the soda fountain.

The friend is Mark Davis. He owns the Oakland Raiders, and he needs a place to play football games next season. Won’t you help?

Davis’ lease with the committee that oversees the Oakland Coliseum is about to expire. His stadium-to-be, rising from the desert floor like a mirage, or like an Egyptian pyramid, or - sorry, the Las Vegas casinos have co-opted all the cliches - won’t be ready until 2020. So the Raiders are looking for somewhere to play in 2019.

All along, most of us have figured that somewhere would be Oakland, that the Raiders and the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority would meet in the middle on their negotiations and figure out a plan for one last, awkward lame-duck season off of I-880.

But the city of Oakland pulled the tablecloth from underneath that scenario Tuesday when it announced a federal lawsuit against the Raiders and the NFL, alleging violations of antitrust law and the league’s own bylaws. The claim seems like a long shot. But it threatens to muck up the final chapter in Oakland Raiders history.

Soon after the city’s declaration, the Raiders rescinded their offer of $7.5 million to play in the Coliseum next year. That was expected. Davis previously said he would be loathe to pay rent to a public entity that is in the process of suing him. He softened his stance a bit at the NFL owners meetings in Dallas this week, saying he would look at all options. Those presumably would include Oakland, San Diego, St. Louis, Reno, Portland, London, Sao Paulo and the same Hollywood-studio sound lot where they faked the moon landing.

The Raiders are in limbo, and the NFL wants an answer by late January or early February, in time to construct its 2019 schedule. So the Raiders have some big decisions to make.

If only there were another Bay Area stadium they could use for a year. If only there was an existing facility less than 35 miles from Raiders headquarters, a building with luxury suites, lounges, a seating capacity of 68,500 and ample parking for NFL Sundays.

Wait, I just remembered Levi’s Stadium! Have you thought of this, Mark?

Yeah, I’m sure he has, and I’m sure someone from the league office is in Davis’ ear about it right now. Because the NFL always wanted the 49ers and Raiders to share a playing field.

Back in 2010, each of the two Bay Area teams was in the hunt for a new home. The 49ers, still playing in Candlestick Park, were looking at Santa Clara while holding out some hope for a fresh stadium in San Francisco. The Raiders were mostly focused on new construction at the Coliseum site. The NFL wanted them to team up.

“Well, I’d encourage them to evaluate it, because it has worked in New York,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in October of that year. “Getting a stadium built is a challenge, particularly in this environment.”

Let’s be honest, it was always the most sensible option. NFL stadiums are used for 9-12 games a year. You can add some concerts and one-off sporting events (like soccer friendlies) to the calendar, but it still leaves a lot of downtime. It makes perfect sense to share space, as the Jets and Giants have done in New Jersey for years, and as the Rams and Chargers will do in Los Angeles starting in 2020.

But the Raiders were owned by Al Davis at that time, and he wouldn’t hear of it. That was especially true when the Levi’s project began to progress, and it became clear the Raiders would be a tenant of the 49ers rather than an equal partner. Davis, the team patriarch, had a love/hate relationship with the Niners, and he abhorred the thought of driving up to the stadium on game day and seeing banners of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice while surrounded by all that red.

I get it. Modest people don’t buy NFL teams (or portions thereof). And who knows, maybe it would have somehow hurt the Raiders’ branding if they didn’t have their own castle from which to fly a pirate flag.

But times have changed, and so has the Davis family hierarchy. Mark doesn’t cling to grudges as desperately as his father. And apparently he isn’t as turned off by the idea of sharing space with another team. The Raiders and Chargers petitioned the NFL to build a stadium in Los Angeles together back in 2015, but the NFL rejected their proposal and gave first rights to the Rams, instead.

Why would Davis categorically refuse the 49ers if he was all right with the Chargers?

There simply is no ideal situation for the Raiders in 2019. The best would be another year in the Oakland Coliseum. If pride scuttles that opportunity, the remaining options are all problematic. Sam Boyd Stadium at UNLV doesn’t meet NFL standards, and anyway, Mark Davis doesn’t want to go to Las Vegas a year early; he is intent on making a grand splash at the new stadium in 2020. If the Raiders were to play in, say, San Diego or Reno, it would be a logistical nightmare for a team still headquartered in Alameda. I haven’t heard that Cal or Stanford is interested in opening its doors to the Raiders, and even if one of the universities were amenable, the NFL traffic flow would be oppressive.

Levi’s is the only logical alternative to Oakland. The 49ers would have to agree to the two-team plan, of course, but I’m guessing there’s a dollar figure that would convince the York family of its moral strength.

I wish Al Davis had agreed to move into Levi’s Stadium when it opened in 2014. The fans of Oakland may have grumbled a bit at the marriage, but at least their football team wouldn’t currently have an expiration date. Santa Clara can’t claim Oakland’s gritty charm, but at least it’s in the neighborhood.

Mark Davis has a chance to compensate for his father’s mistake. Mark, you’ll be the toast of Sin City soon, hailed as a hero at the keno tables. Please, do your best to reach an agreement with the Coliseum authority. And if that fails, swallow your pride and book some home games at Levi’s Stadium in 2019.

Your Oakland fans would rather sit in red seats than watch your home games on TV in 2019.

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.