Report: Raiders exploring O.co Coliseum demolition despite Athletics' new lease

The Oakland Athletics ironing out a 10-year lease to say at O.co Coliseum may not be enough to save the nearly-50-year-old facility.

That's because the Oakland Raiders, the cohabitants of O.co with the A's, are in talks to have the structure demolished, allowing them the space to build a new facility. Demolition would take place in 2015, according to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle.

From the report:

The talks, revealed in a memo to Mayor Jean Quan from planners of the city-backed Coliseum City sports-retail project, stunned officials of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority - the agency that just reached an agreement to keep the A's in the existing ballpark for a decade.

Representatives of Coliseum City say they expect to reach a deal with the Raiders by the end of the summer that would lead to the opening of a new football stadium on the existing site by 2018.

So, Athletics...about that 10-year lease. The report is unclear on where the A's would play under this scenario, though the team is said to be owed two years' notice. That means the demolition couldn't technically happen until 2016, but staying to long would "frustrate efforts" and "disrupt the ability to deliver a stadium for the Raiders."

The A's seem largely in the dark about all of this, as team vice president Ken Pries told the Chronicle.

"From our position, we just don't think that is going to happen. We are betting it doesn't," he said.

Nate Miley, the chairman of the Coliseum Authority that controls the stadium, seems to agree, calling the plan "totally preposterous" and suggesting "this is either smoke and mirrors, or they're on crack."

If they're serious, the A's could be without a home in short order.

The idea of a baseball-only stadium has been kicked around by the city, but the Athletics' ownership is said to have "zero interest." They did, however, indicate they would leave on two years' notice for $10 million toward a new stadium from the Raiders, according to the report.

In other words, the 10-year lease agreement reported last week has done exactly nothing to quell concerns over the A's physical future.