Sin city meets the autumn wind

by Tyler Fransen

Not unlike Kylo Ren’s obsession with Darth Vader, Mark Davis is trying to live up to the Davis name by pulling a stunt so egregious, Al Davis is laughing hysterically from beyond the grave, and even shedding a few tears of joy for his kindred son.

Mark Davis will again move the Raiders, who began in Oakland, then moved to Los Angeles, then returned to Oakland, and now will call Las Vegas their home. (Or so he’ll try, more on that later). Yes, the Raiders are moving to the desert. But the question is why? Why, on God’s green Earth, are the Raiders moving to Las Vegas?

Money is certainly a big component to it. After all, if you were playing in that god-awful Oakland Coliseum you’d want someone to compensate you for it. The Coliseum, which by the way, flooded with sewage from the bathrooms and needed Roto Rooters to come and fix it. If your multi-million dollar stadium uses the same plumber your grandmother in Minnesota uses it’s probably time to get a new stadium.

Of course, the city of Oakland doesn’t have time (or money) for a new stadium, and, naturally, the Raiders decided to move. What better place to move than…Vegas?

Hang on, you mean to tell me that the city with three digit averages for temperature is going to be host to a professional football team? Right, because a team that wears all black is going to want to host training camp in the dead of August in Las Vegas. I don’t see how that could go wrong at all, do you?

And I get it, football players are supposed to be tough and more often than not they play in harsh conditions; be it the heat or the cold, but this is different. Vegas, as previously mentioned, averages 100 plus degrees during the time when every team is in training camps, OTA’s and the preseason. It simply wouldn’t be safe. Unless they played and practiced in a dome. These are the Raiders we’re talking about, they wouldn’t play in a dome.

And we haven’t even gotten to the part about Las Vegas being, well, Las Vegas. The NFL has an image problem. To say nothing of the fact that the league has a player conduct problem. Putting the team that prides itself in being the outlaws, the bad boys and the villains of the NFL in a place that is a hive for bad behavior is kind of like telling a pyromaniac to hang on to some firecrackers while you run to the bathroom. Do not be surprised when the pyro blasts those firecrackers right at your windshield when you come back.

Roger Goodell can fine, suspend and penalize all he wants. The fact remains that players in Vegas will get into trouble in Vegas. In a league that really can’t afford more perception issues than it already has, this could very well light a powder keg for not only the Raiders but for the teams that come to play the Raiders. (Like the Broncos for example; looking at you Aqib Talib).

And this is all assuming that the Raiders even move to Vegas in the first place, which, turns out, might not be set in stone. Multi-billionaire casino magnate and the only person who can make Mark Davis’ hair look better by comparison, Sheldon Adelson, was part of the group funding the construction of the Raiders’ Vegas stadium. As fate would have it, Adelson pulled out of the deal, which should have been a huge red flag considering that Adelson is renowned for, among other things, building casinos in Las Vegas.

Now that one of their top investors is pulling his money out the Raiders will be strapped for cash and would need Vegas to foot the bill. Much like regular gambling in Vegas, the Raiders would be taking a huge financial risk in asking the city for the stadium money. Especially considering voters in San Diego voted no on a tax increase for the new Chargers stadium.

Wait a minute. That’s it! The San Diego Raiders. Think about it. The team wouldn’t need to build a new stadium, wouldn’t need to move very far, would have none of the problems they would have just being in Vegas, and San Diego doesn’t technically lose a football team.

Calling it now, your 2017 San Diego Raiders will play the Los Angeles Chargers in a tight AFC West rivalry. Boy the NFL is weird sometimes, isn’t it?