Report: Maybe Raiders can play 2019 in (rolls dice, looks at chart) Birmingham and Tucson?

access_time personNeil deMause

Oh, man, do I want to believe this latest rumor about where the Oakland Raiders will play in 2019:

And that’s it! Burger is a “3x Emmy-nominated Sports Anchor/Reporter at (NBC),” Parker is a Birmingham city councilmember, and “an effort” just means that somebody is proposing it, so really, there is neither smoke nor fire here, at least not yet. Playing in college stadiums in two smallish non-NFL cities separated by 1600 miles while turning up your nose at similar options either in your current home or your future one makes zero sense, but it does make sense for Mark Davis to be shaking as many trees as possible as the date to set an NFL schedule looms, so why not? Though personally my money’s on (fires up GeoGuessr) … a dirt road just outside Chistopol, Tatarstan? Don’t say it couldn’t happen!

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9 comments on “Report: Maybe Raiders can play 2019 in (rolls dice, looks at chart) Birmingham and Tucson?”

  2. I was really hoping the plan was to split their season between Birmingham England and Tucson. Or Tuscany. Either way is good with me.

    Eventually, Jacksonville will need a UK based local rival to compete with, of course…

    The next announcement has to be “Springfield”, without any state appended, right? I mean, it’s just sitting there for you Mark…

      1. Which would be sky-high, as the Quakes are owned by John Fisher and Lew Wolff (A’s).

        So, no, I really doubt they’ll play there.

        Even the Coliseum is questionable, as any lease needs to be approved by each one of:

        The Raiders, the JPA, the county of Alameda …

        … and the city of Oakland. which is still suing the Raiders.

  5. Tucson is a bizarre one though. The main reason that they aren’t moving straight to Sam Boyd Stadium at UNLV is because of the heat. Tucson is just as hot as Vegas so wouldn’t you be better off getting things going in your new hometown right away?

    1. It is bizarre. I think we can all understand that Sam Boyd is considered less than ‘ideal’… but unless Davis can stay at the coliseum for one more year (for, say $8-10m in rent), we are way past the “not ideal” phase of the stadium search. Most other options will have them playing to crowds that make the Chargers in Carson look successful.

      If he can’t find somewhere else in or very near to Oakland, there is no option better than an early move to LV. With some creative scheduling (two road games, a London game or two as the home team… maybe another road game, then start the home schedule with a Sun/Mon/Thurs nighter or two), they don’t have to play outside during the heat of the day. Depending on who is on their schedule, this might also mean that some cold weather teams can play road games against the Raiders in Vegas in December. An unbalanced home/away schedule is an obstacle, but less of one than playing as road team for 16 games or adopting England as your temporary home FFS.

      Yes, it will still be hot. But we are talking one year. How many years did the Cardinals play outdoors at Tempe? And it can get stinking hot (and humid) in the midwest in early September too… though not as bad as early August.

      I suspect the real reason he doesn’t want to go to Sam Boyd is that he doesn’t want to be in LV a year early because the team sucks so bad. It’s hard to sell the NFL experience when your (10yr contracted) coach has traded the only good players you had and alienated others. Long term, he may reap rewards of a solid group of young players coming up together…or not. But right now it looks like a dumpster fire and one deliberately set by management.

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