RAIDERS A REMINDER
Oakland’s eventual move to Las Vegas brings back ugly memories of when Oilers left town
Divorce is ugly. If you don’t believe me, just ask NFL fans in Houston, Cleveland, St. Louis, Baltimore and Los Angeles. They know what it’s like to have loved and lost. The Raiders and Chargers are going to experience what teams in those cities learned the hard way: Nothing good comes from a team leaving town for anyone other than the owner and the new city.
Just don’t blame the players and coaches. They have no say in what the owners decide to do. Their lives — as well as everyone in the organization — are uprooted and often in turmoil when an owner relocates.
When the owners made it official last week, voting 31-1 for the Raiders to move to Las Vegas, it brought back a lot of painful memories for me and a lot of fans in Houston.
As the deal stands, the Raiders will play two lame-duck seasons in Oakland and possibly a third. It helps owner Mark Davis that his team is coming off a playoff season and could be one of the teams capable of challenging New England for AFC supremacy.
No stadium work expected
The Raiders are supposed to move into their new $1.9 billion stadium in 2020. Imagine how much it will ultimately cost — north of $2 billion, for sure.
Here’s something Davis better keep in mind about being a lame duck in Oakland, and the same thing happened to the Oilers in their last two seasons in the Astrodome. The Raiders’ stadium is a dump, the worst in the NFL. Do you think Oakland is going to pay for repairs that are needed? No way.
The field will always be in good shape. The league has someone check out each field to make sure it’s up to standard, but I guarantee you Oakland won’t spend any money on the stadium because, eventually, it’ll be demolished or renovated for the A’s.
I will never forget the Oilers putting up with rats, water leaks and backed-up toilets in their dressing room at the Astrodome during their last two seasons in Houston.
The Raiders can expect similar treatment.
It’s unbelievable to think the NFL won’t have a franchise in Oakland or San Francisco, one of the nation’s largest television markets.
The 49ers play in Santa Clara. That’s like the Texans playing in Galveston. It’s just not the same as having a team in your city.
There’s no guarantee Las Vegas will support the Raiders on a weekly basis. By the time the Raiders get there in 2020, the team could be mediocre or bad again. Or it could be a Super Bowl champion.
Preparing for messy divorce
The point here is what happens to the Raiders and their fans over the next two seasons. It’s going to be messy. Let’s look back at 1995. We all thought the Oilers would move to Nashville after that season, that owner Bud Adams would buy out the remainder of his lease that allowed them to play in the Astrodome, which was in such disrepair it was embarrassing.
Reporters from Nashville moved to Houston in 1995 to cover what was supposed to be a season-long funeral. The Oilers were coming off a league-worst 2-14 season. Interest was dying.
In Jeff Fisher’s first full season as coach, they finished 7-9 — a five-game improvement playing under a cloud of distraction because of the impending move — and averaged 36,103. They were 3-5 at home.
It turned out 1996 was the last season. They finished 8-8, including 2-6 in the Astrodome, where attendance averaged 31,825, including 15,131 for the last home game in team history, a loss to Cincinnati.
To give some perspective, in 1993, their last winning season, the Oilers were 12-4, including 7-1 in the Dome. Counting their playoff game at home against Kansas City that drew 64,011 fans, their average attendance was 57,392.
Now, you can say Raider Nation has a love affair with their team much deeper than Houston fans had with the Oilers. You won’t get much disagreement other than from a few die-hards.
But just because you love your wife or husband doesn’t mean you’re going to blindly support them and have fun with them before the divorce.
Could need backup plan
In fairness to Davis and the league, they spent multiple years negotiating with Oakland to try to get a new stadium. Many in the Bay Area believe Davis didn’t want a new stadium in Oakland and was determined to move.
After Davis gained approval from his partners last week, reporters started blasting him and telling him to pack his bags and hit the road.
If Davis has to leave Oakland before he moves to Las Vegas, the most obvious alternative is Levi’s Stadium, where the 49ers play.
In retrospect, the Raiders should have worked out a deal with the 49ers and the NFL to share that new stadium in Santa Clara the way the Giants and Jets share MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
That would have made the most sense. But when owners are determined to seek greener pastures, remember this: The green is all that counts.