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Oakland Raiders’ lease for Coliseum gets final approval

In this Oct. 8, 2017, photo, fans watch during the first half between the Oakland Raiders and the Baltimore Ravens at Oakland Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, Calif. A lease agreement was approved Thursday by the Oakland City Council to keep the Raiders in Oakland for at least one more season . (Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)
Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. – The Raiders have gotten final approval for their lease to remain in Oakland for at least one more season.

The Oakland City Council voted Thursday to approve the lease for 2019 with an option for 2020. The Alameda Board of Supervisors had voted earlier in the week in favor of the lease that had been formally approved by the Coliseum Authority last week.

The Raiders will pay $7.5 million in rent for the Coliseum and the practice facility in Alameda in 2019 and have a $10.5 million option for 2020 in case their new $1.8 billion, 65,000-seat stadium in Las Vegas isn’t ready by then.

This season likely will be the Raiders’ final season in Oakland after moving back from Los Angeles in 1995. The Raiders began playing at the Coliseum in 1966 and were there through the 1981 season before going to Southern California.

The team plans to start the 2020 season at the 65,000-seat stadium being built west of the Las Vegas Strip. Taxpayers are contributing $750 million to the project.

The partially tax-funded stadium that will become the home of the Raiders in Las Vegas has recently faced delays with the delivery of steel components. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports substantial completion of the venue has been pushed back by less than a week to Aug. 4, 2020. The facility would host its first event soon after.

In addition to the delivery issues, a report by an independent construction monitor hired by the stadium’s oversight board released Thursday says site visits revealed that “steel components that should have been completed have not yet been erected or detailed.”