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Auggie

(31,207 posts)
Thu Aug 14, 2014, 11:26 AM Aug 2014

Possible Raiders move to Los Angeles is gathering steam

cbssports.com

OXNARD, Calif. -- Perhaps it was all mere coincidence. It was just quirky timing that, with his franchise again a free agent after the season, and his efforts to get a stadium in Los Angeles taking on a more fevered pitch, and with him openly flirting with San Antonio to up the relocation ante, now, of all times, Mark Davis's Oakland Raiders happened to travel to Southern California for two days of practices with the Cowboys.

But, as they stood on a field at a training complex roughly 60 miles from downtown LA, it was surely no coincidence that as soon as practice was over Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, as slick of a media maven as they come, sought out a robust gathering of reporters, and threw his arm around Davis and Hollywood mogul Michael Ovitz. Then he launched into a soliloquy about his deep relationship with Davis, and his high esteem for an LA stadium model that Ovitz conducted and its viability to house an NFL franchise (or two, ultimately, if the NFL gets its way with this market).

This seemed like anything other than an improv act – nothing from the Actor's Studio – but rather more akin to in-your-face performance art, as the overtones of Raiders-back-to-LA were impossible to miss. Oh, and Magic Johnson (who knows a thing or two about ownership and was once represented by Ovitz) happened to be standing a few yards away, and Tommy Lasorda was sitting at a sideline-chair in a VIP area off to the side. Jones was all smiles, and the vocal – and borderline manic – Raiders fans who outnumbered Cowboys fans here and screamed as the team busses pulled up and chanting "Cowboys suck" for a good part of the afternoon made for quite the sonic backdrop to a fairly surreal scene that at times seemed like an infomercial for the NFL in LA.

Jones waxed nostalgic about Ovitz's stadium model, which cost "seven figures" to produce. He and Ovitz joked that model remains "the only stadium anyone is playing (football) in," while Davis stood on the opposite side of Jones, somewhat awkwardly. Taking the bait after the line of questioning turned to the Cowboys' recent minor transactions and Orlando Scandrick's drug suspension, I asked Jones, "Could that model still serve as a viable option for an NFL team in LA?"

MORE: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/jason-la-canfora/24658264/a-possible-raiders-move-to-la-gathering-steam-and-jerry-jones-might-be-on-board

All signs point to L.A. It would take a miracle to keep them in Oakland.

22 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Possible Raiders move to Los Angeles is gathering steam (Original Post) Auggie Aug 2014 OP
I still don't see why they can't play the Jets to the Niners' Giants KamaAina Aug 2014 #1
I agree, but Mark Davis doesn't want to Auggie Aug 2014 #2
Too 49ers-branded? KamaAina Aug 2014 #3
Branded in team colors, signage and 49ers history Auggie Aug 2014 #4
I believe they're garnet KamaAina Aug 2014 #5
It's not a good idea to do that. Yavin4 Aug 2014 #12
I hear tell San Antone (and El Supremo) are getting involved to get a move there and madinmaryland Aug 2014 #6
There is no doubt that SA is Cowpies Country. El Supremo Aug 2014 #7
Heh... madinmaryland Aug 2014 #8
I heard that when the sun comes up on a sleepy little town down around San Antone Yavin4 Aug 2014 #13
Are you talkin' 'bout China Grove? KamaAina Aug 2014 #16
Note: Thery trained in Oxnard this year KamaAina Aug 2014 #9
Only a few days with the Cowboys Auggie Aug 2014 #11
I guess it wasn't enough to screw over Oakland once... joeybee12 Aug 2014 #10
Oakland cannot support professional sports franchises. Not enough per capita income. Yavin4 Aug 2014 #14
I should say their fans... joeybee12 Aug 2014 #15
Oakland is changing rapidly KamaAina Aug 2014 #17
Right. I think the ownership groups don't have the $ to fund new stadiums ... Auggie Aug 2014 #18
Well, it's a league full of billionaires. Let THEM build the stadiums. Iggo Aug 2014 #19
Right JonLP24 Aug 2014 #21
Mark Davis should be a politician. Jamaal510 Aug 2014 #20
Have the raiders used up all the "suck" in Oakland, and are now looking hughee99 Aug 2014 #22

Auggie

(31,207 posts)
2. I agree, but Mark Davis doesn't want to
Thu Aug 14, 2014, 12:33 PM
Aug 2014

One of the objections I've heard is that the stadium is too 49ers branded, but that's bullshit IMO since the Raiders were asked about this very topic way back in the planning stages. Maybe it was Al Davis being too big a dick. Maybe he always had his sites set on returning south. Maybe Mark does too and all this posturing is just bullshit. I'll tell you one thing, the ownership group stands to make a ton more money in L.A. through luxury suites and merchandising that it ever could in Oakland.

Auggie

(31,207 posts)
4. Branded in team colors, signage and 49ers history
Thu Aug 14, 2014, 01:14 PM
Aug 2014

The seats are red, for example.

It would be a big expense to "neutralize" it now.

Yavin4

(35,450 posts)
12. It's not a good idea to do that.
Mon Aug 18, 2014, 01:41 AM
Aug 2014

Jets have suffered playing in the Giants' shadow. It's like living on your friend's sofa. It's not a good look.

El Supremo

(20,365 posts)
7. There is no doubt that SA is Cowpies Country.
Thu Aug 14, 2014, 08:17 PM
Aug 2014

They don't care at all about the Texans.

But I'd much rather see a major league baseball team move there. The San Antonio Athletics?

madinmaryland

(64,933 posts)
8. Heh...
Thu Aug 14, 2014, 08:19 PM
Aug 2014

The San Antonio Rangers or the San Antonio Rockies???

I course I would not want to wish a shitty team on San Antonio!!


Yavin4

(35,450 posts)
13. I heard that when the sun comes up on a sleepy little town down around San Antone
Mon Aug 18, 2014, 01:43 AM
Aug 2014

And the folks are risin' for another day
'Round about their homes
The people of the town are strange
And they're proud of where they came

 

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)
9. Note: Thery trained in Oxnard this year
Fri Aug 15, 2014, 09:32 PM
Aug 2014

rather than the usual Napa.

That was where the L.A. Raiders trained.

Auggie

(31,207 posts)
11. Only a few days with the Cowboys
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 12:40 PM
Aug 2014

Most the time has been in Napa. However, there were far more Raiders fans in Oxnard than Cowboys fans.

Yavin4

(35,450 posts)
14. Oakland cannot support professional sports franchises. Not enough per capita income.
Mon Aug 18, 2014, 01:45 AM
Aug 2014

The money in the bay area is in the South bay and then the city. Oakland has better uses for public money than supporting sports teams.

 

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)
17. Oakland is changing rapidly
Mon Aug 18, 2014, 12:19 PM
Aug 2014

as people priced out of SF head across the bay. And Oakland always has had a fair number of million-dollar homes, up in the hills.

Elsewhere in the East Bay, there is plenty of $$$ around Lafayette and Danville.

Auggie

(31,207 posts)
18. Right. I think the ownership groups don't have the $ to fund new stadiums ...
Mon Aug 18, 2014, 02:58 PM
Aug 2014

or are reluctant for any variety of reasons. And taxpayers, for the most part, are too smart to be conned into funding their stadiums.

It's the leagues that really want new stadiums in larger metro areas. That benefits all owners.

JonLP24

(29,322 posts)
21. Right
Sat Aug 23, 2014, 09:20 PM
Aug 2014

They don't do it because they can't afford it, they don't do it because they don't have to.

Jamaal510

(10,893 posts)
20. Mark Davis should be a politician.
Mon Aug 18, 2014, 11:36 PM
Aug 2014

I'm sure that I heard him say before that he wants to stay here. Now all of a sudden, he's pulling this?
He's going to mess around and piss off the Raider fans here in the East Bay, and watch home game attendance dwindle just like what happened with the A's when Lew Wolff started acting like he's too good for Oakland.
If the Raiders do move out of town, it won't be much skin off our nose, anyway. Even as a life-long fan, I have to say that they're an incompetent organization now and have been nothing short of an embarrassment to the city for the past decade.

hughee99

(16,113 posts)
22. Have the raiders used up all the "suck" in Oakland, and are now looking
Wed Aug 27, 2014, 06:18 PM
Aug 2014

to inflict themselves on LA?

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