The Oakland Raiders Could Join the NFC West
The relocation situation with the Oakland Raiders has been ongoing for a long time, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. It’s truly disheartening to see the regular articles that update fans on the “progress” of the Raiders’ stadium plans in Oakland or Los Angeles.
Basically, the city of Oakland can’t afford to keep the team, and the Raiders are only willing to provide $500 million for a new stadium. So where will the other $500 million+ come from?
Oakland officials made clear that they won’t use tax dollars to fund a new stadium in Oakland. Honestly, that’s a good thing because taxpayer dollars in Oakland should be used for greater things such as education and city maintenance.
In the past year, there have been some attempts to form a plan to keep the Raiders in Oakland. Some involve state grants, and others call for a “Coliseum City” with housing and retail with a stadium. However, no Oakland stadium plan has actually made clear how the Raiders will fund the project.
I’m not an expert on developing stadiums, but I’m pretty sure you need a firm financial plan in order to have any chance at success. Mark Davis claims he wants to reward Oakland’s Raiders fans with loyalty to stay, but he hasn’t given fans any reason to believe that will be a reality.
If anything, a move to Los Angeles with the Chargers seems more likely than staying in Oakland. There is already a luxury stadium proposal for Carson, CA between the Raiders and the Chargers. That’s a heck of a lot more progress than there is for Oakland. If I was a betting man, I’d put my money on the Raiders moving to Southern California.
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Furthermore, a recent ESPN article said that the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Charges would welcome shifting divisions. The two teams are currently both in the AFC West. If they share a stadium, there would be complications involving scheduling games. Therefore, either the Chargers or Raiders would need to swap places with a team in another division.
The assumption should be that either the Raiders or Chargers would shift to the NFC West. I believe the Raiders should join the NFC West, and the Arizona Cardinals should join the AFC West. It just seems like a good fit for both teams. If the Raiders are in the NFC West, then they could play the San Francisco 49ers twice a year. That would be a fun game to see that often, and Bay Area Raiders fans would have an opportunity to see the Silver and Black at Levi’s Stadium.
The ESPN article also included good information in the current state of the relocation situation. It said, “the NFL owners meet again in October in New York, but no relocation vote is expected at that meeting. Policy predicted there could be a decision by the league early next year.”
Basically, we likely won’t know if teams will move or stay until 2016. Based on the lack of progress in Oakland, the Los Angeles Raiders is a strong possibility to happen. If the Raiders truly want to be loyal to Oakland, then they need to make something productive happen soon.