If you like your NFL seasons on the brink, the Raiders have a dandy one teed up for you.

This is the brinkiest team in the NFL, on the field and off, and those two aspects are interrelated.

You know the expression, go big or go home? If the Raiders don’t go big this season, win-wise, they might not have a home.

They will play at the Oakland Coliseum on a one-season lease, so by Christmas they could be homeless.

Currently, team owner Mark Davis is dancing with Las Vegas, where gambling and real estate interests are trying to build a stadium by wringing $170 million out of the city treasury via a hotel tax.

If the Raiders do move to Las Vegas, there are rumors that the power guys there will prevail on Davis to change the name of his team to the Las Vegas Loose Slots.

Thus forcing Davis to say things like, “The greatness of the Loose Slots is in their future.”

The Vegas people plan to build a $1.9 billion stadium, which is double the cost of the stadium Davis once told me he would be happy with. Apparently, Davis took his minimal-stadium plan to a drive-thru window on the Strip and the kid in the speaker asked, “Would you like to Vegas-size that?”

If Las Vegas and its residents don’t approve the full public-subsidy deal, the real-estate fellows with pinkie rings are threatening to walk away, badda-boom. A classic Vegas-style power bluff.

One more threat about pulling the plug on the Raiders and we’ve got ourselves a Vegas mob flick, with Danny DeVito playing the casino mogul, Ray Liotta as Commissioner Roger Goodell and Mark Davis playing himself. Not that I’m saying Vegas is mobbed up; heavens no. I’m just trying to spice up the movie.

The screenplay will write itself. An anonymous Oakland official recenty told The Chronicle that the plan for a Raiders’ stadium in Oakland “is gurgling blood.” Throw in a chainsaw and we’ve got a hit.

Does Las Vegas have the inside track to land the Raiders? Well, Davis’ people trademarked “Las Vegas Raiders,” but they are simply covering their bases. They also trademarked “Uranus Raiders,” because the greatness of space travel could be in the Raiduhs’ future.

The fate of any and all stadium plans and dreams could hinge on how the team fares this season. In building Levi’s Stadium, the 49ers overcame financing barriers by riding the tsunami of euphoria over the team’s resurgence under Jim Harbaugh.

The Raiders will wield a bigger hammer (or chainsaw) in any stadium-financing deal if they show that they are a team on the rise. Even desperate cities don’t like losers.

Without a good season, the team itself could blow up. Davis’ minimal expectation is a 9-7 season. Failing that?

Well, Davis’ patience is stretched as thin as a supermodel on a cleansing fast. This is his fifth full season as owner since his father died and left behind an organization in tatters.

Mark Davis expected no instant miracles, and received none. But there has been progress, and now his Super Bowl clock is ticking.

General manager Reggie McKenzie, good buds with Davis, survived the last purge, when coach Dennis Allen was fired, but even McKenzie does not have lifetime tenure.

A disastrous 2016 season could cause Davis to go all Macbeth on the Raiders’ castle. It’s unlikely head coach Jack Del Rio would be fired after his second season, but McKenzie could disappear.

Another possibility: Davis, sick of the stadium follies and of losing-losing-losing, could do the unthinkable and sell his team.

But let’s kick Debbie Downer out the door and take a more optimistic look.

The Raiders have a nice quarterback in Derek Carr, a budding superstar linebacker in Khalil Mack and a roster more seaworthy than any Raiders group in the past decade.

What if the Raiders win nine or more games and make the playoffs? Then the picture brightens. Del Rio is certified as a difference-maker, something the Raiders haven’t had since Jon Gruden. McKenzie, who started slowly as a GM but gained steam, is given his respect. Davis is seen as an intelligent overseer, rather than a clueless dilettante in over his head.

And a stadium becomes a much more realistic possibility. Vegas, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Irwindale and even Oakland will line up at Davis’ door, waving money.

But the Raiders must win. Otherwise they can kiss Uranus hello.

Scott Ostler is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: sostler@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @scottostler