Former Minnesota Vikings owner Red McCombs wants to help the Oakland Raiders move to San Antonio after their bid to move to Los Angeles fell through, he said in a radio interview with ESPN San Antonio on Wednesday.
The Raiders withdrew their application for relocation to Los Angeles after the Rams were selected as the team to move at the NFL owners meeting Tuesday in Houston. The Chargers were given a year to work out a partnership to join the Rams in Los Angeles, after which the Raiders would have been given the opportunity to strike a deal had they not retracted their application.
In his radio interview, McCombs said he has found 12 corporate sponsors who are seriously committed to investing in the potential San Antonio Raiders, and that the city has multiple locations where a stadium could be constructed. Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole reports that Raiders owner Mark Davis already owns land for a stadium in San Antonio.
“What happened [Tuesday] in Houston was absolutely the greatest thing that could happen to us short of getting somebody committed to come in here, because that cleared the runway to where now he can make his decision and go anywhere he wants to,” McCombs said.
The league would need to grant the Raiders approval to move to San Antonio, which McCombs believes it would because of the team’s failure to obtain its own stadium in Oakland. The Raiders have shared the O.co Coliseum with the Oakland Athletics since 1995, and have yet to renew their lease there for next season, according to Davis.
This piece originally appeared on SI.com.
