Oakland Raiders -San Diego Chargers Stadium Part of an NFL Conspiracy
By Kevin Saito
The JFK assassination. NASA faked the moon landing. The UFO crash at Roswell. The Queen of England had Princess Diana killed. The Illuminati. Chemtrails in the sky. The Tuck Rule game.
And the latest entrant into the conspiracy theory Hall of Fame is – the NFL is conspiring to put, you know, NFL teams in Los Angeles.
On the heels of the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers bombshell announcement of their plan to build a stadium that would house both teams in the city of Carson – just south of LA – public reaction predictably split between those for it and those against it. But interestingly enough, a third group has emerged – those who see some sort of shady conspiracy in the possible return of the NFL to Los Angeles.
But the NFL’s chase to Los Angeles is seedy even for them. The league has announced it’s stealing franchises. Not if, but when.
Writing for CBSSports.com, Damon Amendolara – in his article, “Smelling a Rat in the NFL’s Race to LA” – certainly professes to see something fishy, if not some elaborate conspiracy surrounding the “sudden” interest in the LA market.
The goal of this supposed shadowy conspiracy by the NFL? To make money.
Yes, that’s right. Amendolara sees the NFL conspiring to flood the LA market with not one, but two football teams all in an effort to somehow make money – as if anybody with half a brain didn’t already know that the NFL was in business to make money.
"“So just to summarize, in the same week, on three separate occasions, (Patriots owner Bob) Kraft gave us all the clearest look yet at what drives the Los Angeles land grab. Football in L.A. means more cash for the owners, so they’ll make sure it happens. It’s a subtle switcheroo, but one that should give everyone significant pause.”"
Stop the presses. That’s some breaking news right there, isn’t it? “Football in LA means more cash for the owners.” Breathtaking. Amendolara goes full Woodward and Bernstein right there, doesn’t he?
More from Las Vegas Raiders News
- Raiders: Rookie stock report following Week 3 performance
- Raiders: Bryan Edwards out, Henry Ruggs doubtful for Sunday
- Raiders: Damon Arnette re-injures thumb, could be headed to IR
- Raiders fall short in letdown Week 3 loss to the New England Patriots
- Raiders: Game breakdown and prediction for Week 3 at New England Patriots
Of course football in LA means more cash for the owners. Los Angeles is the second largest media market in the entire country. It seems logical, if not completely obvious, that a football team – or two – stands to make one hell of a lot of money by virtue of being in a city with as much money as Los Angeles has.
And because the money pie the owners share would be significantly larger with the LA market in play, of course they want to maximize that market. That’s just sound business sense.
While it is true that for the last twenty years, the NFL hasn’t truly made a push to fill the open market in LA, that’s something that can’t really be laid at the feet of the league offices. Expansion was never a serious consideration for all the complications it might bring, and franchises in other cities who professed an interest in relocating to the West Coast turned out to simply be using LA as a bargaining chip in negotiations to get themselves a fancy new stadium in their home market.
So how is that the league’s fault again? NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has a lot of authority – some of which, he makes poor decisions with – but last we checked, he doesn’t have the authority to order a franchise to move if it doesn’t want to move.
Dec 21, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders receiver James Jones (89) runs onto the field through a procession of cheerleaders before the game against the Buffalo Bills at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
And now that St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke has basically given the league double middle fingers with his stated intention to pull up stakes and move to LA, the league be damned, the Raiders and Chargers, desperate to keep their share of the LA market, and as a cure for their stadium woes, have put together a plan to beat him to the punch.
In his piece, Amendolara – obviously, a voice of the people – goes on to state that the league is putting fanbases in cities around the country on notice that their team can be stripped from them at any time the league so chooses. As if they can rip away a franchise on a whim.
What he fails to grasp though, is that the joint stadium proposal by the Raiders and Chargers is not a league-driven move – it’s a move being driven by the Raiders and the Chargers.
But Amendolara’s own words point out the logical fallacy in his own argument. “The way the league has operated until now has been for teams to find a local solution to stadium issues first. After that, Los Angeles theoretically could be a fix.”
Both teams have very long running, very public feuds with their home markets over the sub-standard stadiums they play in. If anybody has been to either O.co or Qualcomm, you know just how sub-standard they truly are. How many stories have we read about sewage backups, vermin in the locker rooms, poor field conditions, and a laundry list of other stadium woes?
Both O.co and Qualcomm are – in comparison to the ultra-modern, even luxurious football venues of today – utter and complete wastelands.
Live Feed
SideLion Report
Obviously, to this point, neither the Raiders nor the Chargers have been able to find a local solution to their stadium issues. Hence, the possible move to LA for both franchises. So by Amendolara’s own words, his own logic, there shouldn’t be an issue, right?
Granted, it would be a really bitter pill for the fanbases in Oakland and San Diego to see their teams packing up the moving trucks and leaving town. It would suck and it would suck hard for them. But if neither the city of Oakland or Alameda county – or San Diego, of course – is willing to play ball with their teams, what then, are their teams supposed to do? Continue playing in what are essentially dilapidated old buildings that should have been red tagged decades ago just to be nice?
The Raiders and the Chargers organizations have both stated many times that their preference is to stay in their home markets. They put the ball in the hands of their local politicians and to this point, all the politicians have done is fumble it away. There is still time for deals to get done in both Oakland and San Diego, keeping both teams in their respective home markets. But that window is rapidly coming to a close and some hard decisions are going to have to be made by the franchises.
The key word there though, is “franchises.” Not the league, and not the other team owners. Despite what Amendolara seems to believe, there is no vast, shadowy conspiracy running around, trying to rip teams away from their fanbases. The Raiders and the Chargers must do what’s in the best interest of their organizations.
And unfortunately, sometimes what’s in the best interest of the franchises ends up being a swift kick to the gut for their fans.
The teams, and yes the league, are in this business to make money. And however that works best is the way they’re going to do it. There is no conspiracy, or behind the scenes hanky-panky if we know that simple fact up front. And we do. And have for many, many years.
It’s not a rat that Amendolara is smelling in this whole “race to LA.” But there is definitely something that smells about his half-baked theory.