We’re moving on as Raiders play in last home game Sunday
When the Raiders play their last game at the Oakland Coliseum on Sunday, there will be lots of nostalgia.
Decades of winning football, although at times that’s hard to remember. Three Super Bowl victories. The memories of Jim Otto, George Blanda, Gene Upshaw, Fred Biletnikoff, Ray Guy, Art Shell, Daryle Lamonica, Willie Brown and Ken Stabler. For those in the Bay Area who grew up on Raiders football, the team brought memories that have lasted a lifetime.
But it’s been like a bad marriage. We loved the silver and black, but they could never fully commit. They ran off to Los Angeles for 13 years before returning, only after taxpayers came to the rescue. This time, they’re leaving for good — with a nearly $2 billion new home being built for them in Las Vegas.
Which should remind us: In the end, this is all business. Whether it’s the Raiders, the 49ers who left San Francisco, the Warriors who left Oakland (after leaving San Francisco) or the A’s who threaten to leave if they don’t get their way, it’s all about commitment to the almighty dollar.
In the end, for owner Al Davis and, after his death, his son, Mark, it was about getting the best deal. As the Raiders depart, the team leaves behind little mementos to drive home the point: Like the seating and luxury boxes known as Mount Davis that block the view of the East Bay hills for fans sitting in the stadium. And the $65 million debt for the stadium improvements Davis insisted on as a condition of returning to Oakland in 1995 — the debt Oakland and Alameda County taxpayers are now stuck with.
To bring the team back from Los Angeles a quarter century ago, East Bay elected officials ignored financial common sense and agreed to a lopsided deal. Never mind that sports economists will tell you that teams are not financial assets to their communities. They may enhance civic pride, says Roger Noll, a Stanford sports economist, but the common arguments for public subsidies of professional franchises “are based on the idea that a sports team is a magnet for other things. That’s the part that’s not true.”
They are, however, political assets to elected leaders who don’t want to be blamed for losing a team — who are willing to spend taxpayer money to bolster their careers. We saw it with the Raiders deal. We’re seeing it now with the A’s as Oakland and Alameda County officials are on the verge of cutting a deal that will amount to a taxpayer giveaway to keep the team in the East Bay. Some politicians never learn.
But first we must stop to say goodbye to the Raiders. With almost no chance of making the playoffs, and playing their last two games on the road, Sunday will be their curtain call. While the marriage is ending, we want it to be amicable. So we wish the team the best of luck.
Meanwhile, many of us who were devoted to the team will move on, looking for another partner. Hmmm, the 49ers are kind of attractive. Disloyal? Heck no. It’s all business.