The death of the Oakland Raiders’ iconic owner, Al Davis, cannot go without special notation in Baltimore. Because Al Davis fought the National Football League for so long throughout his life, and won repeated legal battles, that his actions set the stage for the most extended and tumultuous period of franchise relocation the game has ever seen.
From the time of his initial move of the Oakland Raiders to Los Angeles in 1982, fan bases from Oakland to Los Angeles to St. Louis to Houston to Nashville to Cleveland to Indianapolis to Baltimore have felt the aftershocks.
No one can ever doubt that Davis was one of the most powerful and influential figures in the modern history of the NFL. But it’s fair to ask if his litigious off-field nature left a better league in its wake. Alienating long-time fan bases in such important cities as Cleveland, Los Angeles and Baltimore is a part of the legacy of the Raiders moving from Oakland the first time.
Would anyone have guessed back in 1982 the exact scenarios that have played out? Nobody thought then of Charlotte, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Nashville and Scottsdale as legitimate, sustainable NFL markets. Yet as incongruous as it sounds, by fleeing Oakland for the second largest market of Los Angeles, the NFL has sought out those cities to grow the game more regionally.
Was that intentional? Or was it another way of Al Davis influencing the future of the league without anyone realizing it? After all, the man did know how to win. Even his greatest critics would have to acknowledge that. It seems to me, though, that his winning ultimately came at the expense of the notion of loyalty. All this shifting and expansion proved was that the league and its owners were loyal to themselves and their profits.
Here in Baltimore, the history of professional football will always share a link in some way to Al Davis and his Oakland Raiders. There was the unforgettable AFC Playoff Game on Christmas Eve 1977 when the Raiders beat the Colts in double overtime at Memorial Stadium. Just YouTube “Ghost to the Post”. And although we didn’t realize it in 1982, the Raiders move to Los Angeles virtually sealed the move of the Colts two years later to Indianapolis.
A quick aside here: Do you realize that the NFL has been out of LA for sixteen years now? To think Baltimore had to endure just thirteen years between teams. And has anyone on Park Avenue noticed that LA is still the second-largest market in the country?
Obviously Al Davis is not to be remembered or faulted for much of this. His approach to scouting, his eye for talent and his devotion to the organization elevated the Oakland Raiders to mythical status. The logo, the mystique and the “Just Win, Baby” mantra fit them all perfectly.
Davis was anti-establishment in all his approaches to the business of football. He opened doors to players from historically black colleges through the draft. He hired Tom Flores and Art Shell as his head coach when most minorities couldn’t get an interview. He loved speed and drafted players and designed offenses meant to go long as often as possible. He encouraged individuality in his coaching staff and players (the Raiders trip to New Orleans is a remarkable a story of drunken lewdness and missed curfews – yet they still beat the Philadelphia Eagles easily in Super Bowl XV). Al Davis loved the competition that football provided. It’s entirely possible he loved the off the field competition even more.
In essence, he fought the law – and he won.
I still can’t help but wonder why?
Why was he so driven to move out of Oakland? (I get it – money. But didn’t Davis feel any bonds or attachments to a city he’d been so successful in? Was he that bitter towards local politicians that he didn’t care what it meant? Did his lifelong resentment of Pete Rozelle, longtime NFL Commissioner, play a role? Didn’t he have a heart?).
The Rams were well established in LA and the Raiders were a cornerstone franchise of the 1970’s NFL. They enjoyed a loyal and rabid and intimidating fan base that gave them a true home field advantage. They were the Oakland Raiders, and you knew what you were going to get that Sunday. The reality of their move to LA was that the NFL was changing regardless of tradition and legacy.
It didn’t take much longer to learn that lesson in Baltimore. Or St. Louis four years later. Or Cleveland eleven years later. Or Houston thirteen years later. Or, in the greatest irony of all, Los Angeles in 1995, when the Raiders went back to Oakland and the Rams headed east to St. Louis. Crazy, I know, but if the NFL was a deck of cards, Al Davis had to be the shuffler.
And his legacy will live on.
Especially when we see the (Insert Team Here: Vikings? Jaguars? Chargers?) move to Los Angeles in the nearer-than-we-may-think future. Ironically, through all the chaos and upheaval created throughout his ownership, what Al Davis ultimately brought was a more settled and stable league. The majority of NFL cities have new stadiums with long-term leases. These were created through the fear of losing a franchise.
A fear that before Al Davis barely existed.
Here, from Wikipedia, is the list of NFL franchise movement since 1982.
· 1982: Oakland Raiders moved to Los Angeles. The NFL refused permission for the move, but the team won the right to relocate in a court case.
· 1984: Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis. The team’s offices were slipped out of Baltimore in the middle of the night to avoid a proposed eminent domain seizure by the state of Maryland.
Further information: Baltimore Colts relocation controversy
· 1988: St. Louis Cardinals moved to the Phoenix area, playing games in nearby Tempe. The team now plays in another Phoenix suburb, Glendale. The team was renamed the Arizona Cardinals in 1994.
· 1995: Los Angeles Raiders moved back to Oakland after 13 previous seasons, the first "return" relocation of a North American professional sports team. Also the Los Angeles Rams moved to St. Louis. Since then, Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest market, has not hosted a NFL franchise.
Further information: History of the National Football League in Los Angeles
· 1996: Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Baltimore Ravens. The move was one of the most controversial in major professional sports history. In response to a fan revolt and legal threats, the NFL awarded a new franchise to Cleveland in 1999, which for historical purposes is considered a continuation of the original Browns franchise.
Further information: Cleveland Browns relocation controversy
· 1997: Houston Oilers moved to Memphis and became the Tennessee Oilers. The team originally planned to play both 1997 and 1998 in Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis before moving to their intended destination of Nashville. However, due to poor attendance, the team moved to Nashville in 1998, playing in Vanderbilt University’s stadium. The team was renamed the Tennessee Titans in 1999, when their new stadium was opened. The NFL eventually awarded Houston an expansion team for 2002.
