“The Raiders Las Vegas Deal is Possibly the Worst in U.S. Sports History; And the ONLY Way it Succeeds”

Does believing you’re the last sane man on the planet make you crazy? ‘Cause if it does, maybe I am.

Will Smith, IROBOT

The Raiders Las Vegas deal might be the worst and most dysfunctional deal in US sports history. I’ve been telling friends for weeks, I’m shocked this is still on the table.

I was doing a few radio station interviews including an ESPN affiliate and each host had one last question. Where will the Raiders end up. My answer to all 3 to their amazement was Oakland. “The numbers don’t lie guys. The only reason they leave is if the NFL wants it.  All they are talking about is the cost of the stadium. Now you add the relocation fee as well as possible interest payments and other costs that always come up with this type of deal.  The price for Mark Davis goes up; way up”.

While fans are being played like fiddles giving “unnamed sources” comments as facts, let’s deal with reality. Again this deal is so bad, the ONLY way I see the Raiders going to Las Vegas is if the owners; especially Jerry Jones; flat out want them there.

The Mainstream Media With An Epic Fail:

I worked for a fortune 500 company as an administrator at a young age. We were the biggest health organization at the time in the U.S.   I’ve done large deals and also have done some for my own small company, so I know about business.  I also have asked 3 friends who are big wigs in Silicon Valley and in the medical field financial arena what they thought about this deal. They all said let’s look at the numbers. They all said ugh.

This is where the mainstream media and many of those following this story have failed. DO THE NUMBERS! Instead of being responsible, they leak fake stories or rumors to get a rise out of people and get traffic to their articles and sites.   It shocks me that until the last few weeks, few have literally made a spread sheet and looked at the numbers of this deal.

The Numbers Don’t Lie:  This Deal Is A Joke:

The people below can do a better job than I, but here is this deal in a nutshell. The stadium will cost 1.9 billion dollars. The Raiders will NOT own it. They also will have to pay 350-500 million dollars in a relocation fee that can be spread out over time. Now thanks to the Department of Transportation’s demands that the Raiders pay for upgrades in highways and roads leading up to the new stadium, there are more added costs. The cost is estimated to be around $900 million. The Raiders will have to pay at least $450 million of that. Oh; and I’m sorry. What about the yearly interest/costs to the loan that the Raiders supposedly have shored up with Bank of America. That’s predicted to be between $40-46 million per year.

I could give you a lot of people, but for now I’ll just give a few that looked at the numbers.

Roger Noll, a Stanford University economics professor has made a few comments on the deal. “The numbers don’t add up and the probability that it could happen isn’t zero, but it is pretty close to zero.”

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/03/22/raiders-las-vegas-plan-flimsy-stanford-economist-says/

Another controversial voice is Zennie Abraham. He broke down the numbers in depth. He has spoken with the likes of Raiders owner Mark Davis, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and several of the people that are involved in the Oakland offer and the Las Vegas deal.

Zennie likes to talk (so do I) but I found a readers digest version of him showing the actual numbers of the deal. I disagree with him at times but I like Zennie and I ask that you please check out this video and his other videos on Youtube.

Zennie says this is NOT happening and said it would be a miracle if it passed because the numbers don’t make sense.  I think the opposite.  If politicians can be swayed & the NFL wants it, it’s happening.

Below is Zennie’s comparison of the Las Vegas deal v.s. the Oakland deal.

Lastly here is Clark County Commission chairman Steve Sisolak who is a huge backer of the Las Vegas stadium. He has been very outspoken at the lack of disclosure by the Raiders & the Stadium Board in regards to the deal. Even he is questioning the deal saying the numbers don’t add up. Remember the Raiders saying Adelson’s money was in the bag?   Then remember them saying Goldman Sachs was a for sure? Remember the media saying these things were a done deal? Now Davis says Bank of America’s funding is for sure but there is nothing on paper, no lease, and B of A hasn’t confirmed anything.  They may have made a deal but it’s hard to trust Mark Davis word.  It reminds me of Carson when the media said the vote had been finalized for the Raiders to move. Facebook groups all spoke about it.  I said wait; 2 reliable sources.  Ooops. The stories were false and the Raiders did not go to Carson.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/03/09/raiders-mum-about-loan-while-las-vegas-officials-have-questions/

 Losers in the Las Vegas Stadium Deal:

Loser #1, Mark Davis:

Some of you are saying, “did Jax lose his mind?”  Read the above numbers.   Doesn’t Mark have any friends in finance? Can’t anyone tell him that his arrogance and inability to admit a mistake may cost him big time? If he put 10% of the effort into Oakland that he has into Carson, San Antonio & Las Vegas, there would already be a stadium deal done. Is he trying to one up his dad and prove himself? The whole situation is bizarre but he is not loyal to Oakland in any way and I’ve been saying that for a long, long time.  He doesn’t want to be in Oakland, end of story.

Loser #2; Las Vegas & Nevada:

Nevada is the best at being last. The state is last in education; near last in many health statistics, and near last in many air pollution rankings. I’ve read where they desperately need better public transportation, inner city spending, and funds spent for the infrastructure of the state including Las Vegas.

What does the legislature do? Sheldon Adelson hired 12 lobbyists to bribe; I mean encourage; politicians to vote for the $750 million stadium plan even though Nevada is a hot mess.   See why I want to outlaw lobbyists in all forms of government?

Are we that naive to not realize that there now will be less money for other more important things like education and infrastructure?  And what about cuts?  Some of you think I’m nuts but I see possible cuts as well.  Time will tell.

After being confronted with his huge donations to the Donald Trump campaign by Forbes magazine, Adelson said, “I don’t believe in the ultra rich using their power to dictate what happens in politics, but until they change the rules, I will”.

The City of Oakland is still paying for the Raiders move back 22 years later. St. Louis says they still owe $100-128 million to pay for the Rams stadium even though the Rams are not in the same time zone. Can you imagine the mess Nevada is going to be in?   Study after study shows tax payers paying for stadiums get one thing; screwed.

Loser #3; Raider fans:

The Raiders ticket prices are near the lower third of the league right now even after 2 years of increases. Already monstrous PSL prices are being predicting for Las Vegas and the cost could make them the top 5 most expensive in the NFL. Top that with very high ticket prices and parking.   Now add airfare which will run let’s say $150 per person. Now add hotel rooms which will cost a good $200 dollars or more per night with many hotels looking to get at least 2 nights out of you, possibly 3. Food and drink during your stay adds up in this pretentious and overpriced land. How about a husband and wife taking the kids? Fat chance.  And you thought Disneyland and Harry Potter World were rip-offs (ok they still are).

Oakland Raider fans will especially lose. The move to Los Angeles ruined the Raiders and they’ve never been the same. Even though the Raiders had a nice core of about 30,000 loyal fans, the crowds at times were embarrassingly low with it’s lack of support. It was so bad that when they came back to Oakland, the players made fun of the LA fans. The violence, bad behavior and flakiness were hard for Oakland fans to watch.  A once proud tradition ruined.

Even Raider great Tim Brown on 95.7 The Game said LA was a bad place for an NFL team because when teams don’t do well, fans won’t come. Las Vegas will be worse. Just ask the once darling basketball program at UNLV who’s attendance is now at record lows due to some average years. With the Raiders needing 40-46% of the seats being filled by tourist/travelers, that is a pretty scary thing to rely on.  Do you think the Raiders are going to be Super Bowl contenders for 30 years or that the economy will be great for 3 decades?  What if a natural disaster or increased crime or another type of tragedy happens? In a loyal place people will still come.  Not in Vegas.

(below is a 1995 article describing a Divorce Made in Heaven; the Raiders leaving LA)

In the glory years, many fans worked, played, and partied with some of these Oakland greats. They still talk about the Santa Rosa training camps and now on Facebook you see kids and grand kids of Raider greats happily befriending kids and grand kids of longtime fans.  If you say the Raiders can play anywhere and it won’t matter to you then you don’t understand the connection and even though you are a good fan, the Raiders are Oakland.

The Raiders may be your team but for Oakland and the east bay, they are family.

What Will Happen At The Vote Next Week:

If this was in the real world, there would be no vote.  There is no financing on paper because if there were, there would be a lease agreement.   What are they going to vote on?   I mean if they do vote yes, now they are giving free reign for the Raiders to do what they want in regards to any crazy deal with his boys from Clark County. And let’s say the Vote is yes; which would be shocking; the deal still isn’t finalized. They still have to get approval from the Stadium board and finalize the financials.   If it is approved, there is something going on behind the scenes that isn’t kosher because this is a bad business deal all the way around. One thing trumps EVERYTHING. It doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong, If the owners want the Raiders in Vegas, they are going to Vegas.

And Please STOP LISTENING TO MAINSTREAM MEDIA! How many more times do they need to be wrong before people stop quoting them and giving them so much credit. I know there is a lot of bad writing out there on the internet.  Everyone thinks they are a writer now, and there are many that should not be writing at all.  In reality though there are some unique bloggers and writers that are getting a lot done for fans. It’s “fools” like myself and countless others who love learning and sharing the facts with others that should get more love.  Some work like dogs to give the best information. Why do you think my 3 part series on Ken Stabler was read by thousands? It’s not because I’m some genius. It was because I stayed up for weeks on end sometimes doing all nighters researching and writing because I felt I owed it to Ken & his family along with great college and NFL fans to do something that would inform them and be enjoyable to read. (below is the article on the passing of Ken Stabler)

“The Passing Of Legendary Raider Ken Stabler Shocks a Nation”

Conspiracy Theory; The Only Way This Vote is Approved:

Some of you say I’m too much into facts; don’t know why that’s a bad thing; but I’m not a fool and I know conspiracies exist. I get that they can be fun to think about. Some are saying the NFL is doing it on purpose.  Why not let this deal go through and let Mark Davis crash and burn. The way things are now, there is a possibility that he can’t pay all this money back. And if he does default on the loans, will the NFL make him sell out to minority owners who have more money, or just sell out all together?  You have a stadium and a team that might not be able to pay it’s bills.  Now the NFL has all of the power over him.  Crazier things have happened.

We talked about this a couple of weeks ago; what if the stadium vote goes through and Mark does default on the loan within 3-5 years. Will Oakland again be an option? Holy Toledo!

Jims Jamz:

I’m not dumb; the NFL is going to go to Las Vegas eventually. The NFL, MLB, & NBA showed their real feelings about gambling when they sold their souls to daily fantasy sites even though the feds had to step in because the games were so crooked. Take out gambling and fantasy football and NFL ratings plummet.   For the Las Vegas deal, it doesn’t matter about the bickering, hurt feelings or emotions. It’s about the money; it’s business. And if you look at the numbers and at history you realize that this may be the worst proposed deal in the history of U.S. sports with so many losers. Let’s hope that the House of Thrills has one more miracle up it’s sleeve to stop the insanity.  If not, remember Jim Jax warned you.

“The Greatest Defensive Backfield of all time! The Oakland Raiders Soul Patrol”

There will never be a defensive backfield like the Oakland Raiders Soul Patrol of the 1970’s ever again.  They were the most intimidating and greatest group of all time.

The 70’s will always be remembered as the greatest era for the NFL.  It’s the era when there were many great teams and great quarterbacks.  Without a salary cap some backups on the great teams could start elsewhere.  Defenses could do as they please with little to no protection for QB’s and WR’s.  Television helped make the Superbowl become a must see event.  Teams like the Raiders, Steelers, Dolphins, Chiefs, Cowboys and Vikings made this a decade of excellence.  The Steel Curtain, the No Name Defense, Doomsday, and the Purple People Eaters are all revered names in NFL lore.  When the Steelers met the Raiders in the mid 70’s, there were no less than 22 hall of fame coaches, owners, and players on the field at one time.  That will never happen again.

“There was nothing like them”, said HOF QB Fran Tarkenton about the Soul Patrol in a KNBR radio interview.  “In 1979 the NFL created the 5 yard chuck rule because of Atkinson, Tatum, Brown, Thomas and the Raiders.  Wide Receivers could not get off the line of scrimmage against them.  Atkinson and Tatum and the rest of the gang were so physical and strong that I’d have to wait and hope my guys could get open before I got killed”.

The wide receivers of the 70’s never get their due because their numbers weren’t the pinball numbers of today.  In today’s NFL, if you exhale near a receiver it is a penalty.  In the 1970’s it was literally survival of the fittest.  They had to worry about the great physical play of the era and you could not be a wide receiver unless you could go over the middle. I’ve seen pass interference penalties in today’s game where a defensive back literally brushed by a player.  The rules are so comical now that records are being broken almost weekly.  The 70’s on the other hand was an extremely brutal and tough era, and the most talented and toughest defensive backfield of them all was the Soul Patrol in Oakland.

Oakland the King of Professional Sports:

The center of the sporting world in the 70’s was Oakland California.  In 1975 a team lead by superstar Rick Barry silenced all the east coast and their writers by sweeping the Washington Bullets for the NBA title after writers practically laughed at their chances.  The Oakland A’s dynasty had an amazing 3 straight World Series Championships beating national league royalty in the Dodgers, Reds, and NY Mets.  And then oh by the way, for a 25 year stretch the Raiders were the winningest team in all of US sports with several division titles, and 3 superbowl wins.  No city ever had so many titles in such a short time.

The Soul Patrol embodied what the Oakland Raiders were all about.  They were tough, borderline dirty, intimidating and extremely confident.  Each member played their role in a defense that still today is revered.

George Atkinson Jr.:  (“Butch” 6’ 0”; 180 lbs.)

There may have never been a tougher Raider than George Atkinson.  Listed as 6 feet 1 inch tall, many say it was more like 5’ 11” but no one had the guts to tell him that.

Atkinson was an intimidator that roamed the field like a lion ready to pounce.  He was the trash talker of the group often seen taunting and intimidating players that were much bigger than he was.  He once broke Russ Francis nose with a vicious forearm hit, and his hits against Lynn Swann of the Steelers are a part of NFL history.  He had blazing speed and in fact still holds the single game record for punt return yardage for the Raiders at 205 yards.

Atkinson took it very personally when someone tried to block him low.  He learned from Tatum to go after a Wide Receiver if they tried to hit their knees or ankles.  In some films you can actually see Raiders defensive backs going towards blockers to actually hit them after they tried to hit them low.  All time great Paul Warfield once said when you went over the middle against Oakland and didn’t account for Tatum and Atkinson, you would not be in the game long without being carried off the field.  Against the run, he could go through blockers and make amazingly hard tackles.  If you ran wide against the Raiders, their DB’s would make you pay.  Atkinson loved to make players pay.

Willie Brown:  (6’ 1”; 195 lbs.)

Amazingly Hall of Famer Willie Brown was never drafted when he graduated from Grambling St.  He was signed by the Buffalo Bills who cut him and then he was picked up by the Denver Broncos.  He soon became an all star but was traded to the Raiders in 1967 where he played for the rest of his career.  Unlike the other 3 members of the soul patrol, Brown was fast, graceful and laid back.  He wasn’t a talker but a great defender who was a shut down corner. He had good size and played the run very well, but he was a master of the bump and run man to man game that the Raiders loved so much.  His famous interception in the Superbowl with the great announcer Bill King’s call of old man Willie is as famous as any highlight NFL films has.

Skip Thomas CB (Dr. Death; 6’ 1”; 205 lb.):

In a day when cornerbacks were just as important in attacking the run as they did the pass, Skip “Dr. Death” Thomas role was to make everyone that came near him remember that he hit them.  What is funny is he was nicknamed Dr. Death by Raiders great Bob Brown who said Skip Thomas looked like the cartoon character Dr. Death.

Skip Thomas was a vicious tackler who was the king of the clothesline tackle.  Many times his padded arm was seen knocking the ball out of wide receivers hands.  When he hit people, sometimes he would actually launch his whole body and his arm swung like a Russian sickle.  It was intimidating, violent and sent the message to not come his way.  He had a two year stretch of 6 interceptions per year.  Due to the great talent of Willie Brown, teams would try to pick on Skip Thomas and usually the results were not good.

People forget that in the Super Bowl, Minnesota moved their fine wide receiver Sammy White around so that Thomas mostly guarded him in the first half.  White didn’t  catch a pass in the first half and Thomas was on him like glue.  As the great Raiders announcer Bill King once said, “the Raiders have 3 safeties when Dr. Death was playing cornerback”.

Sadly and ironically he passed away too soon in 2011 also at the age of 61, but he will always be remembered for his talent, toughness and personality as one of the great members of the Soul Patrol.

Jack Tatum Safety (Assassin; 5’ 10”, 205 lb.):

If Atkinson was the voice of the Soul Patrol, Tatum was the heart.  Ronnie Lott called him his inspiration and the standard bearer for all NFL safeties.  John Clayton said there was never a harder hitting safety in the NFL.  Once during the Super Bowl break, the NFL Show with Cris Collinsworth and Chris Berman were discussing players that should be in the Hall of Fame, and to a man they all said the same name; Jack Tatum.

He may have been the most intimidating force in NFL history this side of Dick Butkus. John Madden said many times he was mentally saddled with the hit on Darryl Stingley which paralyzed Stingley for the rest of his life.  Many close to Tatum said he really never got over it up to his death in 2010 at the age of 61 due to complications from diabetes.

Earl Campbell said no one ever hit him harder than his touchdown run where he and Tatum hit head on.  Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton said he thought Tatum knocked Sammy White’s head off in the Superbowl hit that Tatum laid on him when the Raiders dominated the Minnesota Vikings.  Even his counterpart George Atkinson said once, “he hit a tough Denver TE Riley Odoms so hard it sounded like a gun shot.  Odoms was in agony and his eyes rolled back.  I thought he had killed him”.

I remember a story that Ahmad Rashad told.  He said that days before the Vikings were to play the Raiders in the Superbowl, Tatum had walked into a room where the Vikings were relaxing and playing cards.  Tatum walked into the room and into the closet and just stood there for a couple of minutes.  He then walked out of the closet and left.  Rashad said that not one Viking laughed or said a word until they saw Tatum walking out of the building.  Rashad said that it was a mind game of intimidation and he said it worked.  He said, “we laughed; we just made sure Tatum couldn’t hear us”.

Tatum was a linebacker playing safety.  He also was dominating against the run and would take on guards and tackles at any given notice.  Many game films show Tatum chasing blockers trying to hit them before the blockers would try to block him.  Tatum was vicious, fearless and ready to hit anyone.  He epitomized the great physical play of the day, and what the Raiders defense always tried to do; stop the run and make the quarterback go down, and go down hard. With a good pass rush, the Raiders defense was hard to beat as was seen in their dominance.  I would like to do an in depth article just on Jack alone in the future.

Jim’s Jamz:

With today’s rules there will never be hits and aggressive play like the Soul Patrol did.  Quarterbacks and Wide Receivers pretty much do as they please and the Soul Patrol would not be allowed to do what they did best; intimidate, make plays, and be legends.  In the most physical era, the Soul Patrol was like a pack of wolves ready to take down any sized prey.  They remain the greatest defensive backfield of all time.