This will not come as much of a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention, but Raiders owner Mark Davis is reportedly “dead set” on moving his club to Las Vegas and has abandoned all pretense of hearing out plans to keep the Raiders in Oakland. Elliott Almond of The Mercury News writes that Davis has not met with Oakland officials in over a year, and he did not speak with Assistant City Administrator Claudia Cappio two weeks ago, when Davis listened to Cappio and other officials make a pitch in Florida to other NFL owners.
Indeed, Davis has not so much as commented on the stadium plan put forth by Hall-of-Famer Ronnie Lott, though as Almond reports, sources familiar with both plans say Oakland could still have a chance to win over enough owners to keep the team where it is. Some owners, apparently, still have concerns about “funding infrastructure” in Las Vegas.
We learned last week that the Raiders will likely not have a lease agreement for a proposed Las Vegas stadium in place before the league owners meet later this month. Nonetheless, the absence of a finalized lease agreement does not mean the league owners will be precluded from voting on the relocation proposal. Instead, they could conditionally approve the relocation as long as the lease adequately addresses issues that are important to the league.
While Davis’ apparent reluctance to even consider Oakland’s overtures will surely anger and frustrate Bay Area fans, Almond reports that Lott’s plan has a fair share of flaws and has been met with skepticism by key league executives. Plus, the city’s proposal is still six to eight months away from being fully complete, which means that Oakland’s fading hopes are contingent upon league owners either postponing the relocation vote or voting against the move altogether, the latter of which seems highly unlikely.
Oh well. Post some investigation journalism into his haircuts. We need to know the truth… why? How much? Where?
Already done:
link to deadspin.com
I think we can infer $11 for how much and “because” for the why.
That has already been done by Stephen Michaels who runs The Raiders Daily company.
Mark Davis does it because he thinks it’s funny people like you care so much. He said “as long as they keep talking about me, it means they are talking Raiders so they can joke all they want but they are promoting my brand by doing so” He usually wears a hat, he first got the haircut years ago and everyone laughed at it, including him. He couldn’t believe it. He thought it was so funny he kept it going.
Let them move Oakland is not making a push to keep them there and the NFL will have them under a microscope anyway of any wrong doing
although true, the nfl has to have one of the worst investigation departments
Orlando? Hawaii? St. Louis? New Mexico City? Canada?
Mark Davis’ haircut is because he’s balding. Many men try to hide it. Everything else about Mark has bren great! Hired Reggie and we’re winning. Great owner trust when he says Oakland has done nothing to work out a plan.
Vegas Super Bowl can’t wait
Sure, Oakland is making a push at the 11th hour. What have they done in the last 10 years? Nothing! The Raiders belong in Oakland for sure. There’s no debating that; however, their need for a new stadium outweighs their ideal home. I’ve been to the Coliseum and the Raiders deserve better. Schaaf will be voted out of office when all is said and done and the Raiders will be playing in a state of the art facility in Vegas. My loyalty will not waiver.
Good Luck to the Raiders, What I am hearing is that the city fathers of Vegas i.e casino conglomerates want the Raiders. NFL has to hope that the tourism and convention dollars will still be strong, cause I don’t really see the local citizens being a strong backer of the Raiders. This will be a big gamble by the NFL and City of Las Vegas. But that is what Vegas is built on.
The biggest gamble is that a large number of conventions don’t take place on Sunday. Too many options for entertainment. I can watch football game in lots of cities. But few places offer the gambling, food choices, concerts, shows, year round golf, etc… that you can find in Vegas. If I’m there for 3-4 days, am I going to drop a couple hundred dollars on watching a football game, or would I rather spend it on the above items.
People forget how big Nevada is. People think Las Vegas is Nevada! Nevada has been wanting an NFL team for years just like Idaho for example. There are just NFL fans who don’t really have a “home team” Kids who live in Nevada (big state) will grow up Raiders fans. People underestimate that as well. Yes for the first 5 years it will be Tourist from Southern California, It will only take about 3 1/2 hrs to drive to LA to Vegas, Ive done it even shorter than that. San Diego takes a good 4 1/2 hrs. Again not that bad
Yes, the avid football fan looks at someone’s haircut. Who cares? The bottom line is Oakland has had another 20 years to put this stadium plan together and yet to no avail. They lost them once you’d think that would light a fire under the city. Raiders are leaving the Warriors are moving back to San Francisco and the Oakland A’s sit in pergotary waiting for anything. As an Oakland fan I would love for them to all stay but I do not blame them at all. The Braves are on their 2nd stadium since the 90’s while these franchises have to play in the same dump. I’d bail asap also
How can Oakland complain? Anyone who has been to an A’s or raiders game, and a 49ers and giants game knows the coliseum is garbage and not nearly the same experience. Oakland is losing its teams because they don’t want to pay for them, and they don’t have wealthy enough owners to finance their stadiums. The 49ers and giants have privately financed stadiums and the Warriors new arena in San Francisco is also free of tax payer money. But even if it wasn’t, we would still vote to build some kind of stadium to keep at least 1 team in the area. Oakland is a mess, and it doesn’t have the money to compete with the south bay.
Mark Davis and if all you Raider fans follow them Las Vegas you guys are idiots I’ve been a fan since 68 my father was live. But if they leave this time I’ll be the biggest Raider hater of all times come on fans we deserve better than this not the greatest home in the world but it’s home he’s a greedy Pig want some more money more money and more money that family has never been good to the Northern California fans that support it their team when they moved to LA and came home now they want to leave again let him go please fans boycott all the games show the Raiders no love next year the biggest Fu we can give them is by not showing up to the games
What else should Davis do? Oh that’s right “sell the team” right? And you think a new owners would stay in Oakland? You really really think that? OAKLAND DOES NOT WANT THE NFL ANYMORE. The mayor even said it! And By the way all these Raiders fans that CLAIM they won’t be fans anymore if they leave…. You damn well know they will be rooting for Raiders in the Superbowl…
What else should Davis do? Better question would be what HAS he done? Answer? Nothing! Ya’ll keep bagging about what the city has or has not done, but name one thing Davis has done to keep them in Oakland, name one ounce of effort he’s put forth to keep them in their hometown. We watched them leave once, and welcomed them back with open arms after they hijacked the city for the renovations they’re still paying off, you can damn well bet when they fail in L.V (and they will, IF they go), the open arms won’t be there for them when they come crawling back!
I’m no raiders fan, or Davis fan for that matter, but unlike the other owners all of davis’ wealth comes from the raiders. He doesn’t have anything else. Moving the team for him is the only way to grow his wealth, which isn’t much at this point. It really isn’t greed. It’s like telling you that no matter how hard you work you will never get a promotion or a raise, and you can’t quit. Personally I think the league should have a minimum wealth standard for owners so they don’t have to rely on public funds. Anyways, the raiders aren’t norcals team, the 49ers are. The raiders are a socal team that is tied with the Cowboys as the official team of Mexico. If Davis was truly greedy he would move the team to mexico. Personally I’m excited for the Vegas move.
What? The Raiders are a Socal team? That could possibly be the dumbest comment ever made, stick to gymnastics!
Why is there no mention of the relocation fee the Raiders would have to pay?
I am a die hard Raiders fan and always will be. I loved them in Oakland and loved them in LA and will still love them in Vegas. Granted I am in Chicago so I won’t feel the pain like the fans in Oakland. But someone please give me an educated response on what Mark Davis is supposed to do? Oakland doesn’t want him and he has no options. He can’t keep playing in that dump. I’ve been there many times and it’s sad. Davis will not sell the team until he dies and when he does it will be to an ex Raider player. He’s loyal to his father and his team, it’s all he’s got. Other then a Caravan, Hooters, and PF Changs.
Al Davis hated his son, it’s well known. Mark is an idiot, he’s not loyal to anything but the almighty dollar bill!
A lot of nonsense in these comments. The Raiders, and the NFL, aren’t going to Vegas because Oakland hasn’t done anything, or because there isn’t enough money in Oakland, or corporate money. Anyone who’s actually been to Oakland in the last 5 years knows there’s way more money: corporate, TV contracts and real estate than LV will EVER have. This is about tax payer money. Nevada is going to give the NFL $750M of tax payer money; Oakland won’t do that. Tax payers shouldn’t fund professional sports teams, period. I’ll happily fly to Vegas 1-2 times a year to see my Raiders, rather than have the city of Oakland plunk down a billion dollars for a new stadium that gets used a dozen times in a year.
Agreed….. done with Raiders when they move. Greed rules. Mark Davis couldn’t give a damn about his fans and that includes the ones in Vegas.