It’s (not quite) Vegas, baby!
Mark Davis’ delayed jackpot in the Nevada desert makes for some odd times in Oakland, where the resolve of a fanbase is being tested
After the Raiders introduced Jon Gruden as head coach in January with a massive news conference that was more like a political rally, I had only one question racing through my mind.
Yes, I was curious if Gruden — after a decade away from coaching — had the ability to lift the Raiders back to playoff contention after a disastrous six-win 2017 season. And, yes, I wondered how Gruden would deal with general manager Reggie McKenzie and quarterback Derek Carr. I even pondered if Gruden’s hiring would bring about more prime-time games for the Raiders (spoiler alert: It did) and lamented the games that can only be described as “deadline busters.”
But the question running through my head was larger than those musings — much larger: What are the Raiders still doing in Oakland?
I seem to remember the team getting approval from the NFL to move to Las Vegas, but, for some reason, the team didn’t leave. Yes, if I remember correctly, the Raiders practiced in Alameda and played their home games at the Oakland Coliseum last season. Seems they plan on doing the same in 2018. After that, they have no idea where they’re playing. Seriously, they have no agreement with Oakland or Las Vegas for the 2019 season.
So, yes, this might be the last season in Oakland for the Raiders. Don’t expect a formal announcement though — they wouldn’t want to highlight how weird this current arrangement is.
The Raiders’ squatting in the East Bay is as peculiar as any franchise relocation I can recall in modern-day professional sports.
We just saw two teams move to Los Angeles, but the Rams didn’t stay in St. Louis after they got the OK to go to California, and the Chargers didn’t hang around in San Diego — they instead are playing in a 30,000-seat soccer stadium because they left the second their relocation application was stamped.
There weren’t three more years of the Browns in Cleveland after Art Modell was told he could take the team to Baltimore. You probably don’t remember the Tennessee Oilers — they played in Memphis for a year before moving to Nashville and then changing their name to the Titans — but I assure you, they exist, because they didn’t hang around Houston.
And the most famous relocation of them all — the Colts leaving Baltimore — happened in the middle of the night, unannounced. One day the Colts were in Maryland, the next day, they were in Indiana.
The Sonics — as arduous and drawn out as the effort to save them was — didn’t play an extra season in Seattle after the move to Oklahoma City was approved by the NBA. The Expos played their last game in Montreal the same day Major League Baseball announced it was moving the team to Washington. The NHL’s Whalers, Nordiques, Jets and Thrashers all moved to new markets before the start of their next season. Even MLS teams don’t hang around their old market after the league approves a relocation.
And yet the Raiders are still in Oakland, pretending that this is in any way normal.
What’s even more peculiar about the failure to depart is the fact that — as far as I can tell
— it’s not being met with much resistance from the Raiders’ fan base.
Make no mistake, Bay Area-based Raiders fans, this team is abandoning you.
I understand that the Raiders’ fan base is different than perhaps any other NFL team’s. And I get that the world — thanks to the Internet — is proverbially flat, so you’ll always be able to watch the Raiders on TV and read about them online, but the Silver and Black will no longer be the East Bay’s team come … whenever.
Say goodbye to tailgating at the Coliseum, taking in the game and then heading to Ricky’s. No, if you want to take in the Raiders game, you’ll have to find a flight to Las Vegas … eventually.
I think I know the cause of the lack of acrimony: There was no way Oakland was going to build a new stadium for the Raiders — it’s still paying off Mount Davis, installed in an effort to bring the Raiders back from Los Angeles in 1995. Nor was there a chance that the poorest owner in the NFL, Mark Davis, was going to turn down $750 million in free money from Nevada, Clark County and Las Vegas. There’s an acceptance over this team leaving the East Bay — it’s borderline rational.
But when has sports fandom ever been a rational endeavor?
In their effort to recreate the 2006 Jennifer Aniston/Vince Vaughn movie “The Break-Up,” (something I have done as well — it resulted in far fewer laughs than the movie and far more animosity than the Raiders’ situation), the Raiders seem to be pandering to the East Bay fan base they were so keen to leave behind.
Do you really think signing Marshawn Lynch was purely a football decision? No, signing Oakland’s favorite son gave the Raiders a public relations shield.
And after last year, when the team imploded and that Lynch cred was wearing thin, what did Davis do? He brought back the most popular coach in franchise history, who was quick to mention how much he loves The Town.
“I love the city of Oakland. I had a son here, and some of my great memories in life are in Oakland, and I want to give them two of the best years of football that I can possibly help deliver,” Gruden said at his introductory pep rally. “I’ll let Mark talk about Vegas … (A) big reason why I’m here is the passion I have for the city of Oakland and this franchise. I would like to fill (the Black Hole) with Raider fans at least seven or eight more times.”
Davis is the right guy to talk about Vegas, because that’s what he’s all about these days. Despite the pandering, mentally, he’s already left Oakland behind.
Sure, he’ll echo Gruden’s senti-
ments when he’s asked for a quote on the matter, but actions speak louder than words.
There are little things, such as the team’s official Twitter account wishing the Vegas Golden Knights — and not the Bay Area’s team, the San Jose Sharks — well in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And then there’s big stuff: the firing of play-by-play announcer Greg Papa in favor of the new Mr. Las Vegas sports, Brent Musburger. Either way, Davis is letting everyone know where his allegiance stands — it’s Vegas, baby.
In the meantime, his team is in Oakland, baby, until further notice. Perhaps Davis believes there can’t be acrimony until you actually leave. Seeing the support for this team in the community, he might be right.
It doesn’t have to be this way. I would argue it shouldn’t be this way.
But it is, and it’s so very weird.