Raiders Headed to Vegas

Welcome to the Truda Report everybody. Today the NFL owners held a vote on whether or not the Oakland Raiders could leave for Las Vegas, Nevada.  The results were lopsided, much more so than anyone could have expected.  31 owners voted yes, and only 1 voted no.  As a Miami Dolphins fan, Stephen Ross has given me plenty of reasons to hate his guts, but today he earned my respect.  Ross was the only owner to vote against the Raiders relocation plans, saying that, "Owners should do what they can to stay where they are." Not only is this correct, but I wish it was a rule.  

In the last 3 years we have seen the Rams leave a loyal St. Louis fan base in order to make more money in L.A, the Chargers leave a loyal San Diego fan base for more money also in L.A, and now the Raiders leave, you guessed it, a loyal fan base for more money in Las Vegas.  All three teams had great followings in the cities they resided in, and it is a crime against the fans to take their team away from them. I understand that the NFL is a business and the owners have these teams in order to make profit, but ditching a fan base and forcing your players to move just so that more money can be made is ridiculous.  All three of the teams had no issue selling seats to the games, despite the crappy football they provided the buyers.  In the case of the Raiders, they had been a laughingstock of the NFL until the past couple of years.  Dragging loyal fans through the mud for years just to leave as soon as the team is on the come up is not okay.  

As I said earlier, I wish it was a rule that relocation was not allowed unless completely necessary. In order to relocate a team needs to provide proof that their current location is holding them back in some way, and teams usually come up with some b.s. about how the city won't pay for a new stadium.  These owners make so much money that they could afford the extra 2 million dollars out of pocket if they really wanted to stay. Instead, they complain that they can't make things work where they currently reside and are ready to ditch the fans as soon as the league allows them to.  This is in no way fair to those who have stuffed money in the owners pockets by buying jerseys and tickets for years of crappy football output.

Thanks for reading everyone.  If you have an opinion on the matter, either follow me on Instagram @thetrudareport or send me an email at [email protected]