by Jeremy Kahn

photo credit bayareanewsgroup.com Raider fans protest LA move at Paramount theatre on Oct 29th

ALAMEDA–The Oakland Raiders have hired Disney CEO Bob Iger in their efforts to move the team to Los Angeles and the reality of such a move that looks close to 90% real. Iger has politcal influences in the Southland because of his Disneyland and California Disney Park connections also with ESPN and the NFL which makes for a strong representation for assisting the Raiders move.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff who went to meet with NFL officials this past week to try and convince them that Oakland is the best and only viable place for the team, that the Raiders can lure fans from San Francisco who no longer has a team playing in their city limits because the BART train comes right to the Coliseum.

Without a new stadium under construction in Oakland and no money to make it a reality and nowhere close Raiders owner Mark Davis has decided to move onto getting the NFL’s approval to move the team to the Southland in what could be the Raiders swan song season in of their second and very last tenure at the Oakland Coliseum.

The Raiders first left Oakland in 1983 and returned in 1995 but poor attendance and dysfunction by the City of Oakland and the Coliseum Joint Powers Authority on constructing a new Raiders stadium has put the idea of keeping the Raiders in Oakland out to pasture. It will be a very sad day in Oakland sports history when the Raiders back up the truck and leave town. The  Raiders could leave as soon as the end of this season and start play in the Rose Bowl or Coliseum in Los Angeles.

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