If the most recent reports coming from league circles are to be believed, it’s time to accept that the Las Vegas Raiders are going to be a real team in the very near future. Rumor has it that Mark Davis has more than the 75% of votes he needs, and that next Tuesday (March 28th), the move could well be approved. Fans could well be looking at the last days of the Oakland Raiders.
The Last Days of the Oakland Raiders
There are arguments on both sides about what this means for the Raiders. You can blame the city of Oakland for not putting up the cash for a new stadium. You can believe Oakland is doing the right thing by not spending public money on a multi-millionaire’s sports team.
Either way, the truth is that the city of Oakland built the Raiders. The Raiders are who they are because of where they have played for the majority of their existence. And that should give the city of Oakland some right to keep them.
Are the Raiders Bigger than Oakland?
There is an argument that the Raiders are bigger than the city of Oakland. Certainly the Raiders have a national and international following like few other teams. The Raiders don’t need Oakland. After all, they’ve moved once before. The Silver and Black image is stronger than any single city.
But that notion willfully ignores the fact that this image, the very thing that drives the success of the Raiders, stems directly from the city of Oakland itself.
The them-against-us nature. The toughness. The willingness to do whatever is needed to get the job done. Matt Millen’s Raider Rule Number One. This is all a reflection of a tough blue collar city that grew up in the shadow of a more celebrated local rival.
The Rebels of Oakland
Oakland, birthplace of the Black Panthers, is a rebel city and the Raiders are a rebel team. Watch the excellent HBO documentary The Rebels of Oakland. The attitude you see on the famous Raider teams of the 1970s was the attitude of the Oakland A’s teams of the 1970s too. It was the attitude of the city itself. As the documentary says,
In Oakland they didn’t care what you looked like, what you talked like, [just] play like hell
That the Raiders turned this spirit into such a recognisable brand is thanks to the brilliance of Al Davis. Just Win, Baby. Commitment to excellence. But as Gene Upshaw said, the Raiders brand was the personification of the city of Oakland.
They [the people of Oakland] saw us as rebels, they saw us as mavericks, they saw us as going against the grain, because that’s what they were doing.
It’s arguable that no other team is so intertwined with the city it calls home. The problem is that all this history is dangerously sentimental, and sentimentality has no place in today’s money-centric NFL. Las Vegas has the cash, and the connections.
Las Vegas Awaits?
Legends Hospitality apparently helped advise over the new Las Vegas stadium, and rumor has it they would help run any constructed stadium. Guess who part-owns Legends Hospitality? One Jerry Jones, of Dallas Cowboys fame and one of the most influential of the 32 NFL owners.
Against a political backdrop such as that, what hope does Oakland have really? The amount of money being spent on relocation would surely be enough to ensure a deal could get done in Oakland. But this is about politics and power as much as it is about outright dollars.
What About the Team’s Identity?
Meanwhile, noone seems to care about what it will mean for the team itself. If the move happens what will the team’s identity become in Las Vegas? Who will come and support it? Are there enough local residents to construct a fan base? The sort of rabidly loyal fan base the Raiders already have in Oakland? Would people really drive from southern California for those Sunday afternoon games? Would people fly in?
Or would the team be reliant on transient Vegas weekenders? Because people in town for a weekend break aren’t going to switch their allegiance to the Raiders just because they’re in Vegas. The Raiders could be moving from the Black Hole to a stadium half-filled with weekend away fans. Home stadium atmosphere is a genuine one. It’s one that the Raiders might be about to give up.
And any increased revenue the Raiders make out of a move to a newer stadium won’t make the team any better. It just makes Mark Davis richer. The salary cap means there is already a limit on how much owners can spend on players, and Davis has already proved he can provide other benefits from Oakland. Jack Del Rio requested better training facilities and he got them. Del Rio wanted to hire John Pagano as assistant head coach-defense and Del Rio got him. Additional money doesn’t help with players. The Raiders already have improved facilities and an impressive coaching staff. How else would this money benefit the team?
The Raiders Belong in Oakland
It’s tempting to think that the Raiders are perhaps the only team in the NFL that would suit Las Vegas. After all, isn’t Vegas all about gangsters and rebels? Wouldn’t the hard-living, hard-drinking Raiders of the 70s just fit right in to a town like Las Vegas?
This misses the central point of the Oakland Raiders. It’s not just about rebellion, about drinking and partying. The Raiders tradition is about toughness and grit, the ability to play right to the end. It’s about being the underdog, about succeeding against the odds on your own terms. As coach Madden once said:
“On third down and short yardage, the Raiders don’t jump offside. That’s discipline – not a coat and tie, not a clean shave.”
The Raiders mystique is powerful because at its very core, it’s about being true to yourself. It’s about being your own person and winning on your own terms. And in this regard there is no team so badly suited to a move to Las Vegas, a city built on manufactured glamour and expensive veneer.
For these reasons, let’s hope the vote doesn’t pass. Let’s hope enough owners have the sense to see that there are some teams that belong somewhere specific. Let’s hope they force Mark Davis to work out a deal with the city of Oakland. The city which is and always will be the true home of the Raiders.
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