The Oakland Raiders filed for relocation, and it's probably not going to go well
Here we go again.
A week after yet another NFL team decided to pack its bags and head for greener pastures — catering to financial interests in lieu of fan loyalty — it's happening once again.
In an expected move, the Oakland Raiders filed for relocation to Las Vegas, the NFL announced on Thursday.
"The application will be reviewed in the coming weeks by league staff and the Stadium and Finance Committees," a tweet from the NFL said. "The relocation of a franchise requires the affirmative vote of three-quarters of the NFL clubs (24 of 32)."
The Raiders' relocation rumors have swirled for some time now, but this is the first tangible step toward a new home.
Since the franchise and the city of Oakland couldn't agree on terms to finance a replacement for the decrepit Oakland Coliseum, the Raiders have been forced to explore other options. After an unsuccessful attempt to occupy Los Angeles and a flailing effort to keep the team in Oakland, Las Vegas has been looking better and better.
That is, it's looking better and better to owner Mark Davis, not the millions of fans about to watch their favorite franchise slip through their fingers.
The NFL's relocation dilemma
What's The Relocation Dilemma™, you ask? It goes something like this:
Team needs tons of cash for new stadium.
City doesn't want to spend that cash on football.
Team moves, abandoning its local fanbase for municipal dollars.
Fans are enraged and utterly deflated.
The San Diego, er, Los Angeles Chargers, are in the midst of said dilemma right now. The franchise announced its migration to Inglewood last week, which led to fans egging its old stadium, burning merchandise and just general unrest.
It's an all-too-familiar trend in the NFL right now.
It happened to the San Francisco 49ers, a franchise that sold its soul to Silicon Valley in 2014. The Niners left behind its rich, storied history at Candlestick Park to serve the Bay Area's increasingly corporate occupants. As ticket prices at the uber-fancy Levi's Stadium skyrocket, lifetime 49ers fans are getting pushed out by their own franchise.
Granted, the Chargers only moved 100 miles up the coast, the Niners an hour down the peninsula.
It's about to be a lot worse for Raiders fans.
There's just something about Oakland
If Los Angeles is the sports market everyone wants a slice of (the Rams moved back to Los Angeles in 2016), Oakland embodies the other side of this dilemma — the fanbase you don't want to lose.
Raider Nation, as it's called, consists of the Raiders' gritty, working-class, ultra-passionate, face-painted fans. They're covered in black and silver, often to extreme lengths, and have supported Oakland through the (rarely) good times and the (mostly) bad. And if the Raiders move to Las Vegas, Raider Nation's fate hangs in the balance.
With such an economy heavily floated by tourism, there's already concern over whether Las Vegas can sustain an NFL fanbase, let alone one as devout as Raider Nation.
And across the parking lot in Oakland, there are the Golden State Warriors, who officially broke ground on their new San Francisco stadium Wednesday.
The Warriors — largely mediocre during their past 45 seasons in the East Bay — have surged in the last few years, along with the Bay Area's tech boom. What some see as the perfect opportunity to intersect the two, by moving the Warriors across the bay to San Francisco — Silicon Valley's posh epicenter — is a nightmare scenario for Warriors fans.
It's the Niners dilemma all over again.
Many fear San Francisco's tech elite will push out the Warriors' humble, Oakland fanbase.
So, if the Raiders' relocation passes, they'll officially head to the desert in 2020, playing at least two more seasons at the coliseum as their stadium is built, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. The Warriors will break in their new stadium during the 2018-19 season.
Oakland sports fans could lose two beloved franchises — all in just two years.
