A complex land deal finalized Tuesday marks another step toward development of a shared stadium near Los Angeles for the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders, officials said.
Still, Raiders' owner Mark Davis told NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport that he still wants to stay in Oakland, deferring to the city and Alameda County for the holdup on building a new stadium in the East Bay.
“We're trying to get something done in Oakland,” Davis said. “If we can get something done in Oakland, we're staying in Oakland."
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said she wants to keep the Raiders but said the city can't help fund a new stadium.
And, Davis also dismissed potentially sharing Levi's Stadium with the 49ers in Santa Clara, saying it would take him just as long to drive to Silicon Valley as it would to fly to Los Angeles.
Raiders fans may have reason to worry. Raiders & Chargers plan to build joint stadium in So Cal move a step forward. pic.twitter.com/tLBl9zJIhh
— Jodi Hernandez (@JodiHernandezTV) May 20, 2015"It's not a Raiders type of area," Davis told reporters. "It's not going to work for the Raiders."
He said if they were going to share space, he'd rather it be with another No. 1 team like the Chargers, where both teams could design a new stadium together.
The transaction involving about 160 acres of land in Carson, a city of 93,000 people, could provide the footprint for the proposed $1.7 billion venue. Both the Raider and the Chargers are seeking public subsidies for new stadiums in their respective home markets, but they are pursuing the Carson proposal in case they are unable to finalize any deals.
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The deal closed a day after the teams hired former San Francisco 49ers President Carmen Policy to spearhead the next stages of their push to move to the nation's second-largest media market.
Los Angeles has become the center of a fierce rivalry that could bring professional football back to the region two decades after the departure of the Raiders and Rams.
The Carson site is one of two prominent proposals that have emerged. St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke is part of a development group planning to build a nearly $2 billion, 80,000-seat stadium in the city of Inglewood, roughly 10 miles from downtown Los Angeles.
The deal would send the deed for 157 acres of a former landfill to an entity controlled by the city. That entity would own and control the site and lease it to a stadium authority, similar to a model used by the San Francisco 49ers for a new stadium in Santa Clara.
A separate, 11-acre parcel would remain under the control of the teams and is expected to be developed for parking.
The Kroenke plan envisions a stadium rising on the site of the former Hollywood Park horse track, as part of a sprawling development of homes, parks and office space.
Chargers attorney Mark Fabiani said in a statement that if, for whatever reason, the stadium is not built, Carson would retain control of the 157 acres at no cost to the city and could develop the site for other uses.
NBC Bay Area's Lisa Fernandez, NBC San Diego and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
