Oakland Lawsuit Could Prompt Early Raiders Departure: Report

The Raiders are set to leave Oakland a second time, and will move to a publicly funded stadium in Las Vegas in 2020. Now, the city of Oakland planning to file a lawsuit against the team.

The Oakland City Council approved an antitrust lawsuit against the Silver and Black, as well as the NFL, over the Raiders' eventual move to the desert.

In turn, the Raiders would not sign a lease extension to play at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum beyond this season, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority executive director Scott McKibben said.

"I would guess it’s just that anybody who is suing you, you don’t want to do business with," said McKibben, whose job is to keep the Raiders in Oakland as long as possible. "If they leave our facility, we’re going to lose about 3,000 people that were working here on game day."

Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo said the lawsuit will be filed in the coming days, and likely before the Raiders' season opener against the Los Angeles Rams at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The suit will seek $300 million to $500 million in damages for the team's exit.

The Raiders' lease with the Coliseum expires after this season. They have been working on a deal to stay in the Coliseum through 2019 -- and potentially 2020 if the Las Vegas stadium isn't ready. McKibben said last year that he [didn't believe] there is any appetite for a third season" after the Raiders announced their move to Sin City.

Oakland and Alameda County still have to pay off $75 million in bond debt on renovations to the Coliseum that brought the Raiders back to Oakland from Los Angeles in 1995.