March 28th, 2017

So Long, Silver and Black
 
The big news here in the Bay Area this week has been the overwhelming approval (31-1) of the NFL owners for the Oakland Raiders’ move to Las Vegas. A lot of folks around here are not happy.
 
As a relatively recent transplant to the area, I admit to having very little emotional attachment to the Raiders – or to the 49ers, for that matter, who, despite playing 52 miles away, purport to represent the city in which I live – but I still think this sucks. Raiders fans are some of the most passionate in all of sports, and they’ve been burned twice now. They lost their team to Los Angeles in 1982, only to get it back 12 years later. Most forgave that time, but surely many will not a second time.
 
It’s easy to be cynical about pro sports teams. Guys paid a lot of money to wear a uniform compete against guys paid a lot of money to wear another uniform, and we’re supposed to care because one of those uniforms happens to have the name of our city embroidered on it. Next year a lot of those guys will be wearing a different city’s name.
 
But there’s more to it than that. Sports teams create a sense of community; a shared experience. A local news report featured a Raider-themed bar in an Oakland neighborhood, where many friendships have been forged over a shared passion for the team. The Raiders were a triangulation point to bring people together, and how could that be a bad thing?
 
I suppose that bar will still show Las Vegas Raiders games on Sundays, and some folks will still get together to watch, but I imagine it will never feel the same. Fan sentiment has ranged from “I’ll back the Raiders wherever they play” to “I will never watch another game or spend another dime on them.” The move is still at least one, and possibly two, seasons away. It will be very interesting to see what happens to their usual sellout crowds in the meantime.
 
Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross was the only No vote at the owner's meeting. He said, "My position today was that we as owners and as a League owe it to the fans to do everything we can to stay in the communities that have supported us until all options have been exhausted." ​It's tough to say whether Ross is the only one who gets it or the only one who doesn't get it. Of course, this is all about money. On the one hand, it’s hard to fault a business owner for making a decision that will help the bottom line. On the other, that business owes its very success to the loyalty of its fans, and taking their team away is a just plain shitty thing to do.
 
People are saying that the Raiders will have a hard time growing a local fan base in Vegas (the same thing they’re saying about the new NHL team), and maybe that’s true. But when going to a pro football game becomes one more thing to do in Sin City, people will come.
 
Al Davis and the Raiders will be fine. But a lot of people in Oakland will be hurting over this for a long time.
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