DAVIS HOPES TO GIVE PARTING GIFT TO OAKLAND
Steve Mortara, a Raiders season ticket holder whose allegiance dates back to the franchise’s inception in 1980. “There were a lot of people who really didn’t believe they were going to leave.”
With $750 million in public money coming their way, the Raiders’ eventual departure is all but assured. But after the first playoff appearance since 2002, fans don’t want to miss the coming attraction.
“I think it’s so ironic, because as their team is walking away, they’re proving what a passionate fan base they are,” said Andrew Brandt, a sports business analyst and director of the Moorad Center for Sports Law at Villanova Law School. “It’s a very uncomfortable situation optically because the support is there, the team is good, all is good, as if it’s not going to happen. But we know the divorce is coming.”
The Raiders have a twopronged approach to deal with the Bay Area fallout.
The public stance of owner Mark Davis is for fans to “blame me, not the team,” and is hopeful of giving Oakland fans a Super Bowl title on the way out while behind the scenes the team is setting up shop in Las Vegas.
They also threw local fans a bone in the form of running back Marshawn Lynch, a hometown hero with pride in his roots.
In a business sense, their timing couldn’t be better because optimism surrounding a 12-4 team is as high as it’s been since Jon Gruden got the Raiders back to the playoffs in 2000.
Wrapped in the team cocoon, players and coaches barely seemed to notice when Al Davis was unable to get locker room upgrades and luxury boxes and began the process of relocating to Los Angeles in 1978.
“Once you get in the building and on the grounds during the season, that’s your entire world,” former Raiders coach Tom Flores said. “It’s your family. It’s everything you need to know. We never talked about it.”
Jim Plunkett, a quarterback who moved from Oakland to Los Angeles, said it was business as usual within the team.
“We were insulated not only through Coach Flores, but Mr. Davis,” Plunkett said. “All we had to do was go between the chalk lines and play the game. I don’t remember thinking it was really too cumbersome or worrisome to any player at the time.”
Given that the Raiders were a consistent winner in the late 1970s, angry fans were more prone to jumping ship.
“We had been champions twice in less than a 10-year period and we were coming off one in 1980,” Flores said. “Equate that to now, when we’re coming off our first winning season in forever. These people are so proud and hungry and anxious and excited they’re not going to miss this.”
As Mark Davis sat unbothered nearby, reading newspapers and eating breakfast, conversations with Raiders fans in the lobby of the Napa Valley Marriott during training camp uncovered hurt feelings and mixed emotions.
The first thought of Ruben Ortiz of Modesto, an original PSL holder since 1995, was to cancel his season tickets.
“The Raider fans that are there will be doing it grudgingly,” Ortiz said. “My first reaction was to give up my tickets. But my son begged me not to because I’ve been taking him since he was 6 years old.
Although the stadium will be at capacity, it won’t necessarily be full of the same emotion. And should Lynch show his age and the Raiders’ season go horribly wrong, all those sold seats won’t necessarily have fans sitting in them on game day -- witness Levi’s Stadium and the 49ers the past two years.
Griz Jones, founder of the 66th Mob Family fan club and aligned with the group “Forever Oakland,” warns “It’s going to be different. It already is. Their heart isn’t going to be in it. I hope the Raiders are cautious. The pro-oakland fans don’t want to see any Las Vegas stuff. I think it could be a little toxic.”
Long goodbyes can be complicated.