Tim Brown doesn’t think Oakland did enough to save the Raiders
By Staff
Oakland Raiders legend and Hall of Famer Tim Brown is not pleased the Raiders are leaving Oakland, and thinks he knows who to blame.
As the 100th season of the NFL winds down, the 101st will kickoff with a bit of an odd taste in everyone’s mouth. Specifically, the city and community in Oakland will be starting the new football centennial without a football team.
The Oakland Raiders — one of the most storied franchises in football history — will start the season as the Las Vegas Raiders.
Weird.
Tim Brown, who went to a Super Bowl in 2002 with the Raiders and played 16 years of his Hall of Fame career with the franchise, isn’t pleased with the move. While he partially blames ownership for the move, Brown had strong words for Oakland and how they treated the whole relocation process.
“The city of Oakland should have done better,” Brown told FanSided’s Mark Carman. “I don’t know if they thought the Raiders would never leave, but their interest in [building a new stadium] just wasn’t what it should have been.”
A common refrain when a team tries to squeeze its community for stadium funding is that billionaire owners shouldn’t need help affording fancy things. But Brown points out the Raiders are one of the most cash-poor teams in the NFL.
“They’re laying off a whole bunch of folks because of the move…if they had the money they should have just [built a new stadium] themselves.”
It’s a solid point, but one that rings a little hollow when considering the Raiders spent $100 million on hiring Jay Gruden. Of course, the idea that the Raiders are as cash-poor as Brown claims seems to add up with why the team had to trade away Khalil Mack rather than pay him what the Chicago Bears eventually did.
Either way, the Raiders are in Vegas and Brown won’t be the last person to feel a certain type of way about such an iconic franchise moving on from such an iconic home.
Tim Brown spoke on behalf of Kadenwood CBD.