Mark Davis isn’t interested in building a football stadium in Oakland. He’s been clear in recent months that he’s committed to Las Vegas and until that opportunity is off the board, he doesn’t prefer to negotiate with another market – including the Raiders current market in Oakland.
What led to Davis’ present-day disinterest in remaining in Oakland has been the debate of many, but the organization has long been pointing the finger at politicians.
Oakland politicians are the worst in America. That is not an opinion but a fact. A 6 year old could run that city better blindfolded.
— JT The Brick (@JTTheBrick) August 26, 2016
While Raiders’ long-time team employee and talk-radio host John Tournour (JT The Brick) doesn’t officially speak on the Raiders behalf, team president Marc Badain qualifies as such and this was an email that Badain sent in September of 2015. The email was in response to a fan unhappy with Davis’ efforts to keep the Raiders in Oakland…
A few points of interest in Badain’s message in regard to the obstacles the Raiders were facing a year ago…
- The Raiders didn’t know who they are negotiating with.
- The Raiders didn’t know how much land is available and where.
- The Raiders didn’t know what infrastructure was available.
- The Raiders didn’t know who was going to swallow the old debt.
- When politicians provide these answers, the Raiders will act.
Specifically in regard to Davis, Badain says…
- Raider fans in the Bay Area should not feel disrespected by Davis.
- Davis’ goal was not to acquire a free stadium.
- Davis was willing to offer equity in the team to build in Oakland.
The question Bay Area Raider fans will ask now… how many of these obstacles still exist with the proposal formed by the Ronnie Lott group and is the “honorable, transparent, and generous” Davis still willing to act?
Given his transparency on his desire to relocate to Las Vegas, Davis’ answer is probably ‘no.’
twitter: @raidersbeat
I’m in So Cal, and I’ve tried to keep up with what is going on with this Stadium/relocation issue. I read bay area papers online and other online publications to stay abreast of the latest news. I have read all kinds of conflicting reports, statements made by the Oakland Mayor. Some vague, some downright disheartening. First she wanted to keep the A’ and the Warriors, and the Raiders be damned. Now that the warriors are moving across the bay, all of a sudden there is a push to keep the Raiders. All the while there is a large pile of money still owed to the Raiders as part of the negotiation to move them back to Oakland in ’95.
I don’t blame Davis for wanting to get out of town. The Raiders have the smallest stadium in the league. The Raiders are the only NFL team that shares it’s field with a baseball team, making it necessary to leave a large part of the field open (dirt) for the baseball diamond. None of the negotiated upgrades were made to the oldest stadium in the NFL. I say Hello Vegas.
Do you really want to know the truth about the whole **** thing?? Are it is a bunch of B.S. From a bunch of Greedy S.O.B,s that really doesn’t give a **** about the fans just about their Greedy *** Bank Accounts and that’s all it is believe that.
Now the City went third party. Many of the issues listed still remain unresolved. JT was being to kind regarding the politians in the East Bay.
Mark Davis is totally looking for a “free stadium”. He has very little in terms of NFL money to bring to the table and he’s looking for a sugar daddy. The city isn’t so hot in terms of how it is ran so there’s that too. The NFL doesn’t give a **** about anything but how and where to make the most money they possibly can. And at the end of the day Mark is going to try to go where he thinks he will make the most money. But what Mark fails to see is that something here in the Bay Area is always going to be worth more than something in the desert ?
I hope they end up moving. The whole state of California is poorly run. The raiders deserve respect and I’m not talking about the fans. Some stadiums are on their 2nd go rounds with building and upgrades and all we get is a band aid. People are talking about “money” and yes dears it is about money. It’s a business first!!!! If you have an opportunity to work at a company for $10 an hour but another company offers you $20 an hour for doing the same job, everyone will quit and take the new job! I can’t believe these whiny fans thinking that because they are dedicated Raider fans they think that’s good enough. Grow up! A Raider fan is a Raider fan and always will be. Get over it.
Trish you’re an idiot. It’s obvious you have blinders on and don’t understand a **** thing. No idiot can argue that Vegas is a better market than Oakland. there is a lot more money to be made in the Bay Area market than in lv and it goes back to Mark. Mark and company are inept. They should be making money hand over fist. Vegas is such a short sighted deal.
With all due respect to the people who think that the politicians in Oakland are the worst, the people that run San Diego and Mayor Faulkoner have their heads further up their asses then they do. San Diego has the land, resources and money to get a stadium deal done but they are so consumed with petty differences and grudges that they are going to loose the Chargers to L.A. It’s a disgrace what these so called “Politicians” are doing to this city.
That funny looking little pink man with that stupid haircut can’t understand where his biggest, and most loyal market truly is, CALIFORNIA!!!. Hell, the San Diego game is the best example of how big his market really is. This dummy does not realize that he could build a stadium anywhere in California and would be guaranteed a sellout.
This so called President will say anything the pink man says to keep his job. There is no foundation to his words. If that dumbass wants to go to LV, go on your own time. The Liberace museum will always be there. MD is the biggest idiot ever.
Ive been a big fan of the raiders since i was 9 years old ive grown up and have been living in miami for more than 40 years i think with the money davis is putting for the stadium in vegas he can build in oakland plus with the money the nfl is contributing and the money from ronnie lot its n possible i think raiders should stay in oakland cause the team started playing there in the 1960s if they leave its just like the yankees leaving newyork and the dodgers leaving LA the dolphins here in miami used to share their stadium with the baseball team the florida marlins for a few years then the marlins moved and got a new baseball stadium in miami
I don’t see the NFL or the majority of owners allow Mark Davis to move the team out of the #6 market in the league to the 40th. They stand to lose a lot of revenue. It would take 10 to 20yrs for Vegas to crack the top 10 in market value. In response to the comment made by someone earlier. Oakland is the birth place of the Raiders! And yes they spent their time away from home for some years but they came back home! You called us whiny because we don’t want them to leave. Now, you may have the ability to drop a lot of money on gas, plane tickets, hotel rooms, gambling (if that’s your thing), food, and game day tickets. There are a lot of us who do not have that luxury. So keeping the team in the Bay Area “hell” in California period is the smarter move. For SOCAL fans it’s only a 4 1/2 hr to 5 1/2 hr drive to Oakland. That is no where near as expensive as it would be for Bay Area fans to travel to Vegas. Oh yeah! Let’s not forget the negative economic effect it would have on the city of Oakland if the Raiders were to leave. To quote HOF Marcus Allen (“It would leave a dark hole in the city which they will never recover from”) end quote.
This ‘letter’ from Marc Badain is telling in that he is contradicting what the organization is ACTUALLY doing .. although this was written in September, the City and County has met all of the criteria that Mr. Badain claims the Raiders want. A few things to point out:
– The amount of land on Coliseum site: 55 or so acres have been offered
– Infrastructue investment: $350M : more investment than Davis is putting up himself.
– 3rd party [Lott/Fortress Group]: Davis doesn’t have the necessary $400M gap to build
– Offering ‘equity in the team’: Lott/Fortress putting up $600M toward the project would equal about 30% of teams value, in addition to covering all overhead cost …
So is this not a better deal than what Adelson is offering, when he will be the sole tenant and getting more of a revenue share?