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Oakland Raiders relocation: 5 reasons it is wrong

By John Buhler

Mar 21, 2017; Las Vegas, NV, USA; General overall view of Oakland Raiders helmet at the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign on the Las Vegas Blvd. on the Las Vegas strip. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 21, 2017; Las Vegas, NV, USA; General overall view of Oakland Raiders helmet at the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign on the Las Vegas Blvd. on the Las Vegas strip. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 1, 2017; Denver, CO, USA; Oakland Raiders fan holds a sign in reference to the possible future location of his team before the game against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 1, 2017; Denver, CO, USA; Oakland Raiders fan holds a sign in reference to the possible future location of his team before the game against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

3. The Bay Area is thriving in the tech industry

The thriving tech bubble in Silicon Valley will inevitable burst at some point, but metro areas like the Bay Area and Seattle are crushing it economically in the latter half of this decade. There is an absurd amount of money being made in the tech industry in the Bay Area. Why is it so hard to finance a stadium to keep the Raiders in Oakland?

Maybe these young tech billionaires don’t like football or something? That could be the case, but there is enough money going around in the Bay Area to offset the embarrassingly high taxes associated with the region. The Davis Family needs to fork over a good bit of the capital to keep the team in Oakland, but we do have to realize that Mark Davis is not exactly wealthy compared to the other 31 NFL owners. Help the guy out.

A city like Oakland and the Bay Area at large can’t lose a brand as big as the Raiders. Isn’t the Raiders brand the biggest of the professional and collegiate sports brands in the Bay Area? Their reach is incredible. It’s not on the level of the Dallas Cowboys, the Green Bay Packers or the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it’s in that next tier for sure.

To not be able to finance a new stadium deal in Oakland to keep the Raiders at bay is a shame. It’s not like the region is collapsing financial or has seen its infrastructure destroyed by a natural disaster. The NFL needs to be in Oakland. It should be a civic duty to keep the Raiders in the Bay Area. There is too much money in the region to let them skip town to Las Vegas for good.

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