The relocation of the Las Vegas Raiders is almost completed with Allegiant Stadium’s construction nearly finished. Meanwhile, one of the move’s final ugly chapters has come to an end back in Oakland.
The Raiders move from Oakland to Las Vegas wasn’t easy for many Bay Area folks to accept. How could it be with the team having been embedded in the culture so deeply, but it happened and now the Raiders call the desert oasis home. One of the most contentious aspects of relocation came to an end this week, which was a suit filed by the city of Oakland back in 2018.
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The lawsuit was tossed out by a federal judge earlier in the week, as reported by Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The suit itself was against the Raiders, the NFL, and the other 31 owners who voted on the relocation. One of those 31 was Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who most are aware now was a driving force in this move. As far as what Oakland wanted via the suit, that was financial compensation due to the team leaving.
“It [Oakland] sought to recover financial losses the city would incur by the Raiders vacating the city and the Oakland Alameda Stadium for the under-construction Allegiant Stadium for the 2020 NFL season.” -Akers on overview of suit
Raiders: The End of an Era
It was Chief Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero of the Northern District of California who tossed the case out due to a lack of evidence. Akers stated that rhat suit tried to cite the Clayton Act, which “provides recovery of injury to business or property.” Another reason why the suit was tossed was that Oakland tried to show the NFL could support 42 teams. Interestingly enough, Akers writes that it was nearly tossed out back in July after the “city failed to amend its complaint to prove its case, after being allowed to do so following a July court hearing where the judge nearly dismissed the case then.”
In the end, the relocation was passed without much opposition, the league voted 31-1 back in 2017. Most Raiders fans outside of the Bay Area are compassionate towards its residents. Their heart and soul was ripped out no matter who you want to blame, whether it’s the city’s administration, the NFL, or Vegas powerbrokers. Perhaps, now the city’s last group of die-hards who have refused to accept the relocation can now move on.
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*Top Photo: Bill Nichols/Associated Press