
OAKLAND -- Raiders owner Mark Davis showed up at the Paramount Theater on Thursday evening, entering stage right.
His attendance at the NFL’s town hall meeting in Oakland, discussing the thorny possibility of Raiders relocation, was a surprise. Fans didn’t see him coming, so as he started with a short statement, Davis was drowned out by a common refrain: “Stay in Oakland!”
That’s the desire of the roughly 440 fans who showed up -– about half the registration total -- to vent and discourage the NFL and the Raiders from leaving the East Bay for Los Angeles.
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“Though the Raiders will not be answering questions tonight, we will be listening,” Davis said. “You’ve met the league, we want them to meet you, the most passionate fan base in the nation.”
Those words were not hollow. Davis and the Raiders contingent stuck around all night, sat in the crowd and listened to fan comments that were not always nice. Davis listened to the frustration and the impassioned pleas to stay.
He smiled. He nodded. He empathized. At times, he sat there and took it.
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NFL
Davis’ constant presence was unique to the NFL’s public hearings on relocation. Rams team executive Kevin Demoff made a short statement Tuesday. Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani was in San Diego Wednesday in owner Dean Spanos’ place.
Davis’ presence shifted focus from league representatives, and fans offered general comments and questions toward the team owner. One fan asked Davis a direct question about Raiders’ effort to stay put. In another surprise, Davis grabbed a mic and answered it.
“We are trying, trying hard to keep the Raiders in Oakland,” Davis said. “We don’t negotiate in the papers. Trust me, we have tried for six years, spent hundreds of hours trying to get something done. We’re doing everything we can to find a solution. Trust me on that.
“We need help from the community as well to get something that our fans, the NFL and the Oakland Raiders can be proud of. We don’t have that right now, and we want it. It can’t be done in Oakland if everyone doesn’t come together to find a solution.”
The Raiders are nowhere close to finding one. Third-party developers have come and gone and stadium renderings have wowed, floundered and ended up in the trash. The City of Oakland and the Raiders haven’t talked in a month or more, and progress is hard to find compared to attempts to keep the Chargers in San Diego and the Rams in St. Louis.
Those teams remain focused on LA anyway.
Oakland doesn’t have any stadium progress to entice the Raiders to stay.
In this case, fans have the right to be frustrated. While there were a few unproductive malcontents, most fans tried to make logical arguments and personal pleas for why the Raiders should stay.
Some asked questions of the NFL, represented by relocation frontman Eric Grubman and three others from the league office. Grubman answered politically, without commitment to much of anything. League representatives promised to take fan sentiment to the owners, who will make a final decision on teams that will move to Los Angeles.
The Rams, Chargers and Raiders all have eyes on that market. The Rams have a stadium proposal in Inglewood. The Chargers and Raiders have gone in on a privately funded stadium proposal in Carson.
But Grubman said Oakland is still an option for the Raiders.
“The biggest enemy is time,” Grubman said. “Let’s not worry about that. Let’s just keep focused on trying to find a solution.”
Time is a major impediment. Teams are expected to apply for relocation this winter, at which point NFL owners could decide which teams, if any, will move to LA The Raiders are firmly in that mix, and while Davis has said time and again he wants to stay in Oakland, he has no desire to remain in run-down O.co Coliseum any longer than required.
A major funding gap to build a new East Bay stadium will remain even if the Raiders aren’t selected to move to Los Angeles this winter. Unless, of course, an investor swoops in to save the day.
Those issues were never going to get resolved on Thursday night.
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Amidst fan suggestions about crowd sourcing and threats to politicians who don’t support the stadium project, pleas to stay dominated discourse.
Davis sat and listened to each speaker. He nodded, applauded and interacted with the fan base for three full hours. He shook hands with some and quickly interacted with others.
“I was blown away that he was here and that he stayed,” said Anthony Gomez, a 37-year-old Fresno County Sherriff. “I had some other things written down, but his presence changed what I was going to say.”
Gomez, who will name his son Davis in honor of late owner Al Davis, said he hoped his words made an impact.
“You could see him listening, with passion and emotion on his face,” Gomez said. “You hope it registers how much we love this team and how much we want the Raiders to stay in Oakland.”