Oakland Fans Ask NFL to Weigh Local Impact of Raiders' Move to Las Vegas

In an alternate universe where Derek Carr didn't break his leg in a game on Christmas Eve, fans of the Oakland Raiders are getting ready for an epic road trip to Houston to watch their team play in Super Bowl 51.  

In the universe we're actually stuck in, Raiders fans are just hoping to stop the team from moving to Las Vegas.

Raiders owner Mark Davis filed an official relocation request with the National Football League last week.  This week, team executives gave a first draft of their proposed stadium contract to the Las Vegas Stadium Authority.  

The Raiders are suggesting they pay the authority a whopping $1 per year to rent the stadium. They also want to be in charge of the naming rights, and control scheduling of other events such as UNLV football games.  It's a starting point for negotiations, of course; the stadium authority is putting in at least $750 million of taxpayer money, so it will have some leverage to push back.

At least 24 of the 32 NFL team owners need to vote in favor of the Raiders relocation -- they may consider the proposal at their next meeting in late March, although they're not required to.

But a new group wants to help make the case to the NFL to stay in Oakland. It's called the Oakland Coliseum Economic Impact and Legal Action Committee, and most of its members are not only Raiders fans, but business owners and residents of the neighborhoods around the Coliseum.

"It would devastate the economy of that area to lose the Raiders," says Ray Bobbitt, a facility management consultant who grew up on 80th Avenue in East Oakland.

Bobbitt says the proposal to build a new stadium on the Coliseum site, led by retired NFL star Ronnie Lott, would be a boon.  

"Everything from apprentice electricians and plumbers to construction workers, for the two and a half years of building the stadium, as well as the jobs we have now in concessions, security, and parking," Bobbitt says. "I would dare to say probably 80 percent of the people who work in those kinds of entry-level jobs now live in the community."

Bobbitt and his group argue the Raiders haven't met the NFL's own criteria for relocation.

"There has to be four years of net operating losses to a team," he said. "There has to be a lack of fan commitment. And there has to be no viable option for a stadium development in that market. None of those is true of Oakland. Now if we had an empty stadium and people going to games with bags over their heads when the team wasn't winning, the owners would have a leg to stand on. But we've supported that team through its absolute worst time."

The NFL can choose to waive its own criteria and vote for relocation of the Raiders anyway. Bobbitt says he doesn't want to think about that possibility, but if it happens, he wants the Raiders name to stay behind -- in case there's an expansion team in Oakland's future.

"We (fans) came up with the name, the name is ours," he said. "In 1960, a radio station asked for public suggestions for a name, and they selected the Oakland Raiders from what was proposed.  It was based on the merchant sailors who liked to come to the East Bay for its weather and its character, and they were a little rowdy, as we still are today. But when that name was chosen, (longtime Raiders owner) Al Davis was an assistant coach in San Diego. So it's our name, and if the relocation is approved, we'll have to take every legal recourse we can to protect our team and our name. We respect the Davis family, we're praying this works out and we don't want to have a fight with them, but at the end of the day, we may have to."