The Oakland Raiders are playing their final season in the East Bay before moving to Las Vegas, leaving behind anger and anguish.
In six days, the final ‘Monday Night Football’ game in Oakland will be played.
That’s it, it’s all about over.
While the Raiders have struggled for the better part of the past two decades – they have just two playoff appearances in the past 17 years – they have a rich history in Oakland and were one of the NFL’s glamour teams of the 1970s and 1980s, which set the tone for their fiercely loyal fan base.
In fact, the Raiders were Monday night maulers back in the day. The sight of Howard Cosell broadcasting from Oakland was a Monday Night treasure for fans across the NFL, not just in the Raider Nation.
But, again, it’s all about to go away.
After the AFC West matchup of the Denver Broncos and the host Raiders, the Monday Night curtain will close in Oakland forever.
Sad, indeed.
But get used to it. This is just the beginning of goodbyes for the Raiders this year.
The franchise is headed to Las Vegas after the season. It will start playing in a state-of-the-art new stadium just off the famous Vegas Strip beginning next year. It will usher in a new era for the formerly gambling-allergic NFL.
The Raiders and the NFL in Las Vegas seemed like an unattainable longshot when the idea was first broached in early 2017 because of the NFL’s resistance to gambling. But money talks and the NFL quickly became open to the idea when it realized the jackpot that was awaiting in Sin City.
The NFL is all in. The 2020 NFL draft will be held in Las Vegas to kickoff the Raiders’ arrival. A Las Vegas Super Bowl is likely not far off.
While Las Vegas will be booming with the Raiders, Oakland will feel the pain of loss. Again.
This is the second time the Raiders will leave the gritty city by the bay. In 1982, of course, the late Al Davis moved the team to Los Angeles. Thirteen years earlier, Davis spurned L.A. for his old lover. Bay Area Raiders were beyond thrilled when the Raiders came home in 1995.
Yet, there will not be another return to Oakland. Mark Davis, Al’s son, will keep the team in Las Vegas forever. The stadium, the city and the endless revenue streams will be too strong to ever leave. When the Raiders become the Las Vegas Raiders in less than a year, it will close a door.
Oakland will be spurned forever. And it’s been an ugly breakup.
Week 15, when the Raiders host Jacksonville (couldn’t the NFL come up with a more fitting final opponent?) will mark the Raiders’ final game in Oakland. This time, it will be real. In 2015 and last year, the Raiders played potential final games in Oakland. Both games were emotional affairs. They ended up being dress rehearsals. This time, it will be too real.
In one sense, Oakland fans are lucky. Davis tried like crazy to play elsewhere in 2019 as he waits for his Las Vegas stadium to be finished. He was upset about a lawsuit by the city of Oakland that was filed against the Raiders and the NFL. Davis looked all over god’s green earth for a temporary home and thought he had a deal to play at Oracle Park, home of baseball’s San Francisco Giants.
But a deal couldn’t be struck and Davis limped back to Oakland. Even then, the Raiders found a way to slap Oakland fans. They played a preseason home game in Canada and will be the host team in London, in October, and former star Khalil Mack and the Chicago Bears.
So, there will be just seven home games left in one of the most ironic NFL setting.
This departure is similar to when the Browns left Cleveland and the Oilers left Houston in the 1990s.
But what’s happening to Raiders’ fans is probably even worse because of the history and the recent shenanigans.
All that is left is this season. When Jon Gruden came back to the Raiders last year, he said he wanted to win a championship in Oakland. His first season was a disaster. The Raiders should be better in this Oakland finale, but a championship may be a stretch. The Raiders are getting better, but it may take some time.
The final, ultimate gut punch to Oakland would be for the Raiders to win a championship early in their Las Vegas days. The way Oakland has been treated, that wouldn’t be a surprise.