The franchise is relocating to Las Vegas, but fans in Oakland are hoping that the Raiders stick around. The team name and its silver-and-black uniforms, that is.
Raiders fans suing to keep name, colors in Oakland, and they’ll probably lose
Raiders fans are hoping to follow the same path that forced the Browns to become the Ravens. Their chances are slim, though.
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According to KPIX, a coalition of fans has hired high-profile New York sports attorney James Quinn to lead a lawsuit against the Raiders to keep the team name and colors in Oakland. The last-ditch effort hopes to follow the same strategy that forced the Cleveland Browns to become the Baltimore Ravens and opened the door for a revival of the Browns after a brief hiatus.
Unfortunately for Raiders fans, the situation in 2017 is much different.
The NFL and the teams own rights to the name and the colors, but Art Modell reluctantly agreed to a settlement with the City of Cleveland in 1996 because the team’s lease would have prevented an immediate relocation. Settling with Cleveland allowed him to move immediately, even if he wasn’t happy with the terms.
“Cleveland got a hell of a deal, a hell of a deal,” Modell said at the time, via Sports Illustrated. “If I had gotten half of that deal a year ago, I’d have stayed in Cleveland. That’s how outrageous it is.”
Oakland is set to host the Raiders for at least two more seasons with the stadium in Las Vegas not set to open until 2020. Unless there’s an ultimatum that could force the team to move away prematurely, it’s difficult to imagine there’s anywhere near enough leverage to force the team to make significant concessions. It’s even harder to imagine a coalition of Raiders fans getting the chance to lay down an ultimatum.
Raiders fans in Oakland are ready to exhaust all options, but the likeliest scenario is that the Las Vegas Raiders will be wearing silver and black in a few years.
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