It was a rough calendar year for fans of Oakland-based sports teams.

The Raiders who drafted high yet again made splashes in free agency, signing big name players (who may have passed their prime) and handing over the QB reigns to Derek Carr.

Not to mention the disappointment from baseball season where the A’s were one-and-done after their Wildcard Game lost in Kansas City. (Yes, that’s a wildcard game loss for the squad that was deemed the ‘best team in baseball’ for the a majority of the first half of the season.)

The Warriors are a definite bright spot, but the playoff season is still a few months off. And if there’s one thing Bay Area teams are accustomed to it is strong regular seasons and disappointing runs in the postseason (save the Giants.)

If you have never been to the East Bay for a sporting event you might want to start making your plans because the permanent home of each of the three teams that play at 7000 Coliseum Way in Oakland is still up in the air.

The first domino set to fall is the Golden State Warriors who officially purchased land at the Mission Bay site in San Francisco. This comes in the midst of their most successful seasons in team history.

Fans of the Warriors have been some of the most loyal in the sport, even approaching triple digits in consecutive sellouts of Oracle Arena.

Still fans in Oakland know that their team already has one foot out the door to the other side of the Bay whether they like it or not, whether they pack the arena on a nightly basis or don’t.

The Warriors have even launched a website with full-color renderings of what the new arena will look like.

A move only 10 miles west may not seem like that big of a deal, but when a city loses a team a part of the city’s identity goes with it. The Warriors were never called the Oakland Warriors, even when the team started to play a majority of their home games at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena in 1971. Back then the Coliseum Arena was a more attractive venue than anything in place in San Francisco (or Daly City).

After almost 50 years in one place it might be a very seamless and quiet transition back to the San Francisco Warriors if the name does end up seeing a change. Since the team would be playing there, a name that reflects the actual location is almost common sense…except just not in Oakland apparently.

Another byproduct of the team moving into the city of San Francisco is the inevitable hike in ticket prices that accompanies a new arena.

If many residents are having trouble affording life in the City it is hard to imagine ticket prices being reasonable. Pricing out the fans that make Oracle Arena such an electric atmosphere would be painful to watch.

Even though it is tough for Oakland to lose the team there is no NBA arena older than Oracle Arena. Madison Square Garden opened two years after Oracle, and after MSG the next oldest arena opened in 1988 (Milwaukee, Sacramento, Detroit).

The Warriors organization will be rewarded for their dedication to the team through good times and bad with a new arena. The last hurdle for Oakland fans will be to swallow their city pride and cheer for their team across the bay.

All that Warriors fans can hope for now is an environment that replicates the Oracle Arena. A venue where fans are given value along with an intimate setting that seems to really have an impact on the game.

The future of the teams that play outdoors is a much less certain one.

As a fan of the Raiders and A’s I’m constantly stuck on the thought of “wow we could lose these teams within the next two to three years.”

The Raiders have left the fans of Oakland before. From 1982 until 1994 the Raiders were tenants of the Los Angeles Coliseum. Late owner Al Davis made the switch from Oakland and back to Oakland again in the mid-90’s and it looks like this time it is his son, Mark Davis that is exploring options. Rumors have always surrounded the Raiders and a move out of Oakland but they seem to be heating up this time around.

In November a story broke that San Antonio city officials had paid a visit to the Bay Area to sell their city as a prime candidate for relocation and make sure the Raiders brass knew San Antonio is “NFL-ready.”

Officials from both sides of the delegation had only positive things to say about the meeting but Davis quickly added staying in the Bay Area remained his “top priority.”

Despite the talks with the Texas city it is hard to imagine Davis and the organization with a more desirable location than their old digs in L.A.

And as of today, Jan. 5 that plan seems to be looking a little more attractive.

St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke says he intends to move forward with constructing an 80,000 seat stadium on the Hollywood Park site, in the Inglewood neighborhood of Los Angeles. This coming from a Los Angeles Daily News report.

Goals for the project include beginning construction within 2015 and beginning play in 2018. The stadium will be able to host two NFL teams as their home stadium, which further opens the door for a Raiders migration south.

One rather large pending factor is the fact that the NFL has not given their approval for the project or even the move from St. Louis, Oakland or even San Diego. Even though the NFL has not given the blessing to any of these moves all three teams have grievances with their current stadium and renovations that are needed at all three.

Another plus for hopefuls for professional football back in Southern California is the pledge from Kroenke to privately fund the stadium. Which is a huge factor towards approval from both the city of LA and the NFL.

It is definitely an interesting development which could spell the end of pro football in Bay Area (San Francisco and Oakland at least).

While the Raiders do not have a lease in place for the 2015 season a shorter lease of perhaps three or four years could be the next step until the Hollywood Park stadium becomes a more tangible option.

What would be an even more interesting scenario is if the Rams decide to have the Chargers be the second tenant and Mark Davis would be back to limbo state that the fans in Oakland have been in seemingly for decades.

One last team. The green and gold of the Athletics will take the field in Oakland come April and that’s a certain. In June the A’s signed a new 10-year and in July it was approved by Alameda County. The lease includes two years that the team must stay in the Coliseum followed by an opt-out clause that comes with a $1.6 million fee per year if the team leaves beforehand.

While there is still an opportunity for the A’s to bolt after the first two years, the Raiders actively exploring their options might be good news for the A’s who could become the sole tenants of the Coliseum. This would allow owner Lew Wolff to build a new stadium for the A’s with private money that he has previously said he would use when the A’s are ready to build.

Athletics’ fans in Oakland should not count their chickens before they hatch however. Wolff has been trying to move the A’s to San Jose for years now and even if the A’s stay in the Bay Area it might be the South Bay his eyes are still set upon. San Jose has been a desire for a while, but has also become a long-shot after federal courts became involved and Major League Baseball stayed relatively silent on the matter.

With our GM Billy Beane selling off rising stars like VHS tapes it would be nice for fans in Oakland to have the peace of mind that the organization is not going anywhere anytime soon, but even now it is too soon to tell if that will be the case.

Oakland is rich with sports history, the field at the Coliseum and court at the Arena has seen many hall-of-famers wear the home jersey of the teams in Oakland. There has been a title drought since the 1989 A’s won the Battle of the Bay World Series and it’s a somber thought that if more attractive options lure the teams out of the city that championship might be the last for Oakland.

Nathaniel Mata.

(big thanks to @LewsPlanB for his assistance with some figures and facts in this piece, go A’s!)