This is fun. At least if you’re not a Giants fan who doesn’t feel like seeing the yard lines and endzones of a football field painted on your team’s otherwise gorgeous ballpark: the Oakland Raiders are in talks with the Giants about playing their home games next season at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
Nothing is final yet. NBC Bay Area reported that an announcement of the Raiders’ plans to play in San Francisco will be made this week. The Associated Press was the first to learn that the football and baseball teams were in discussions.
The Raiders, who are set to move to Las Vegas for 2020, need a place to play for their final season in the Bay Area. The City of Oakland has sued the Raiders for moving to Las Vegas and there is thus no lease for next year. Those negotiations could resume, of course, and maybe San Francisco is a bargaining chip. Another possibility would have them sharing Levi’s Stadium with the San Francisco 49ers, though the Associated Press reports that owner Mark Davis does not want to share with the 49ers and that the team still plans to practice in Alameda, which is kind of a hike from Santa Clara.
Oracle Park, formerly AT&T Park, has been used for University of California games and for bowl games in the past. As you can see from the photo above, there are worse football setups in baseball stadiums, though it’s obviously not ideal.
I suppose the Raiders can’t mess up that park the way they messed up the Oakland Coliseum given that, at most, they’ll be there for only a year, but I’d never say anything is impossible with those guys.
