By Nick Avila:
The numbers three and one stung Oakland once again today as NFL owners voted 31 to 1 on allowing the Raiders to move from the “510” to Las Vegas. The move would more than likely happen in 2020.
The lack of plans Oakland laid on the table just wasn’t enough to keep Mark Davis and the Raiders from calling their bluff and ditching The Town — once again — as the Raiders became a hot commodity.
If you’re gullible enough to believe that the issue was the Ronnie Lott-led stadium proposal, then I have a game-worn Super Bowl JaMarcus Russell-signed jersey you can buy for $1000.
This was just a rich owner being a cheapskate. Davis decided to follow the bright lights — and public funding ($750 million of tax revenue from hotel tax according to The Sacramento Bee) — like a mosquito mesmerized by its shimmer.
While the stadium, which the team shares with the Oakland Athletics, has been an issue, Davis didn’t make much of an effort to help the city when it came to financial support.
Besides, Davis had wanted this for a long time. When I say long time, I mean since 1998. That’s when Davis registered a Las Vegas Raiders domain, according to an article by Raiders Wire. Just three years after the Raiders had returned from Los Angeles and fans in Oakland were reunited with their three-time Super Bowl winning franchise, Davis already had one foot out the door.
Davis, the son of former Raiders’ owner Al Davis, who passed away in 2011, has had some big shoes to fill since taking over the team. While the late Davis was never one to shy from using leverage to get what he wanted, no one will say the younger Davis is even half the owner his father was. He’s a laughingstock to some bosses around the league.
He’s just a child born into the family business and is doing what he thinks will fill his own pockets.
Meanwhile, the Raiders fans who stuck with the team through years of obscurity get the shaft.
Fans packed a stadium that has the same amenities as an upper-echelon high school stadium, it seems. It has crappy restrooms, broken seats and the field is an eyesore. Yet, it was home. Even after the Raiders pissed off fans in 1981 when they headed south, the Oakland faithful had open arms when the team decided to once again call the Bay Area home.
That first move was just a year after from the Raiders’ second Super Bowl title. Now, Oakland fans will likely once again have to say goodbye to the team just as it appears the franchise is turning the corner.
After 15 years of high expectations and few positive results, the Raiders made the playoffs as a Wild Card at 12-4 last season.
It’s messed up.
Setting up its move from Oakland while the team also increased ticket prices for the upcoming season, which will still be played at the team’s current Coliseum, seems like getting hit by a car and then having it shift into reverse and run you over.
While there are plenty of fans that can get behind the idea that they root for the “Raiders” and not the “Oakland Raiders”, that doesn’t change the fact that Oakland has been home to the Raiders. It is where the team originated, it’s where the team won two Super Bowls and if the team decides to move, yet again, it will more than likely be the first place Davis looks. Whether or not the city can get over two heartbreaks and welcome the team back once again is yet to be seen.
