Raiders owner Mark Davis isn’t too thrilled about the Athletics likely joining his team in Las Vegas.
Davis, who moved the Raiders from Oakland to Sin City in 2020, sounded off about the topic to the Las Vegas Review-Journal after the A’s made a binding purchase agreement to potentially build a new stadium in Las Vegas.
“I won’t forget what they did to us in Oakland,” Davis said in reference to Oakland Coliseum, the once-shared stadium of both the Raiders and the A’s. “They squatted on a lease for 10 years and made it impossible for us to build on that stadium.
“They were looking for a stadium. We were looking for a stadium. They didn’t want to build a stadium, and then went ahead and signed a 10-year lease with the city of Oakland and said, ‘We’re the base team.’ ”
Davis said he thinks the way A’s ownership dealt with business over the past decade forced the Raiders to move, with the football team being unable to improve Oakland Coliseum because of the A’s agreement with the city.
“We ended up in Las Vegas, which is absolutely fantastic and couldn’t be better,” Davis said. “But the A’s never gave us a real good chance to stay up in Oakland.”
The owner said, however, he would be eager to work with the Athletics in Las Vegas – when a new management group takes over.
“I just have, again, a lot of personal animosity toward the front office. But with a new management group? Absolutely.”
Davis said he is also displeased with the way the A’s have marketed themselves as Oakland’s main sports team — even when other teams like the Raiders were still in town.
“They marketed the team as ‘Rooted in Oakland,’ that’s been their mantra through the whole thing,” Davis said. “The slogans they’ve been using have been a slap to the face of the Raiders, and they were trying to win over that type of mentality in the Bay Area. Well, all they did was f–ck the Bay Area.”
The Raiders have thrived since moving away from Oakland – landing Jimmy Garoppolo this past offseason to play alongside Davante Adams, one of the best receivers in the league.
If the A’s, who are among one of the worst teams in the MLB with a low fan attendance rate, complete the move to Las Vegas, they would join a blooming sports city that already has the Raiders, the NHL’s Golden Knights and the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, a team Davis also owns.