Joe Arrigo is a Las Vegas-area insider who has been following closely the Raiders relocation process over the past couple years.
He was recently a guest on the Sports Cast podcast and talked about Jon Gruden and his strong desire to come back to the Raiders.
“He wanted this job,” Arrigo said of Gruden. “This is the one job that I was told from people that were in the negotiations and privy to talking with Jon directly, this is the one job that he would come back to the NFL for. He didn’t really want to leave the Raiders to begin with. That was a decision that Al Davis made. Jon always felt the Raiders are his team and this is where he wanted to be.”
Arrigo was also asked what Gruden would have done if there was no Vegas stadium deal in place. Would Gruden have still taken the job?
“No,” Arrigo said. “But if there was a new stadium deal in Oakland he would have [still] taken the job.”
“When you go to the Coliseum and you get a contact high when you walk in and then you got to go take a leak and you’ve got feces coming out of the stalls… that’s a problem.”
So Gruden would have turned down $100 million on account of a bad stadium?
That seems like a stretch especially since the deal he signed requires a couple years in the Coliseum anyway.
For that matter, would Gruden have really turned down $100 million from a team, like say, the Browns?
Some might call that idea crazy, too.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Unfinished business is how I see it… That man’s soul will never rest until he brings the Nation the lombardi!! Go Raiders!!
You can tell that whoever wrote this doesn’t know what it’s like to be a true Raider. Once a Raider always a Raider.
Gruden never got over the “Tuck Rule” game,. In fact, neither have I! UNFINISHED BUSINESS. 😡