Why did the Raiders move to Las Vegas?
Why did the Raiders move to Las Vegas?
The Raiders are no stranger to relocation, but more than a year after they officially moved to Las Vegas, and their greatest achievements are still tied to their years in California. Two of their three Super Bowl wins were during their first Oakland era, with their third win in 1983 remaining the only time a Los Angeles-based NFL team has ever won the tournament. The team has had more downs than ups in recent years, but their final decade in Oakland had some high points; there were moments of hope when Jack Del Rio took over head coach, with their number of wins for the 2015 season showing significant improvement. And for their final Oakland season in 2019, the team posted an impressive three-game turnaround, ending the season with a 7-9 record – missing contention for the playoffs, but showing another big improvement on the previous season.
They have had memorable moments since moving to Las Vegas, such as christening their new stadium with a statement win against the New Orleans Saints. But the team still isn’t synonymous with the city like they are with Oakland – although this move is running smoother than their 1982 relocation to Los Angeles. The team controversially moved for the first time in the 1980s after owner Al Davis failed to get funding approved to make improvements to the Oakland Coliseum. A lengthy legal battle ensued, during which time the team was moved to the Los Angeles Coliseum for their home games.
The first few years went by with few issues, the team clinching their Super Bowl win in 1984 during this high period. Just a year later and their fortunes were reversed, with their loss to the New England Patriots in the 1985 divisional playoffs starting a downward spiral of bad news. Between 1986 and 1989, they had their first consecutive losing seasons since 1961-1962, and game attendance was down. The team struggled throughout their entire run in LA to fill all 100,000 stadium seats, and as early as 1986, started to look for a home elsewhere, announcing their return to Oakland in 1990.
Decades later, and this same pattern repeated itself, as a return home eventually reintroduced these same problems for the team. The team put in a request for a better stadium all the way back in 2016, stating that their current stadium was ill-suited to host NFL games, but the city of Oakland failed to find a solution. The team had been sharing the Coliseum with Oakland Athletics, with various struggles due to the stadium being used for both baseball and football. It’s the last multi-purpose stadium that was built, and you can see why these are a thing of the past – the stadium was forced to have three field conversions a year so it could keep providing for both teams. With the Coliseum being more than 50 years old, it wasn’t what it once was, and a new state-of-the-art stadium was desperately needed for the team.
And the team certainly spared no expense for their relocation, with the new $2 billion, 65,000 capacity Allegiant Stadium being the envy of countless football teams across the country. But the stylish design has several benefits for the team too, with the high strength, gossamer and polymer ceilings helping the heat stay down by bringing in natural light. Allegiant Stadium is also designed to fix one of the biggest problems at the Coliseum, where the team often had to face off against rain puddles. Now, a ribbon construction on the side of the building will ventilate fresh air, removing exhaust and drain water from the roof. The stadium is stylish too, with a crystalline design making it seem black during the day, with the inner lights visible outside at night.
One of the reasons Las Vegas may have been the ideal home for the Raiders over Los Angeles, another city where they recently attempted to move, may have been the city’s gambling sector. With sports betting on the rise in the US, and several teams forging partnerships with leading providers of online betting, such a sponsorship could prove beneficial to the Raiders in their new home. Las Vegas is the worldwide capital of gambling – and there are 13 Las Vegas sportsbooks that would surely be hungry to ink a deal with the city’s new team.
The Raiders are currently second to only the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West leaderboard, but their debut season has been off to a shaky start. Despite christening the stadium in style, they’ve lost more home games than they’ve won, while on the other side, they’ve won more away games than they’ve lost. As they get more used to Allegiant Stadium, expect the team’s fortunes to start turning in their favor, because unlike their ill-fated move to Los Angeles, the team has been given everything they need to succeed.
