By Sukhmani Kaur Batra, Courier Staff Writer
Although the Raiders have committed to moving to Las Vegas in a few years, leaders of “We Stand with Oakland”, a group of Raiders fans, announced that they had a plan to keep the Raiders in Oakland, filling a lawsuit against the football team and the National Football League.
Raymond Bobbitt, the spokesman for “We Stand with Oakland”, said the group was created about a year ago with a mission to keep the Raiders in Oakland, citing potential harm to the local economy among their grievances. However, the group’s efforts were futile as the majority of the NFL owners voted to allow the raider to make the move.
“We have had a groundswell of support from not just community leaders, not just fan groups, but the entire region has asked us to move forward with this process and continue to pursue it,” said Bobbitt.
Several law firms have offered to represent the City of Oakland and Alameda County in the lawsuit on a contingency basis. While the group says several unnamed attorneys have offered to help on the case, they would need the city or county to join in the effort.
Bobbit said the group is encouraged by a recent ruling in Missouri, which allowed a lawsuit by the City of St. Louis against the Rams football team, which relocated to Los Angeles in 2016, to proceed to trial.
Bobbitt said if St. Louis wins its lawsuit, it might be too late to get the Rams to move back to their city but they could win monetary damages from the NFL and the Rams or get the NFL to place a new team in St. Louis.
He said he hopes the lawsuit against the Raiders would keep them in Oakland or at least force the NFL to place another team in Oakland.
“We’ve got a viable football market and a huge fan base here,” Bobbitt said.
The fan-led effort held a press conference before making their case to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.
Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo and state Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, joined the “We Stand with Oakland” at a rally in front of the county building in Oakland before the Board of Supervisors meeting in late January.
“If the Raiders do leave and go to Las Vegas — and many think they will; I think there is still a possibility that they won’t, but many think they will — then we have to make sure what they leave behind is not the residents of Alameda County and the East Bay holding the bag and really mitigate any economic impact on the residents here,” said Bonta.
“I think the best case scenario is that the county becomes a plaintiff. That also convinces the city to reconsider this. The worst case scenario is that we pass up this opportunity,” said Miley.
While they remain committed the team still has not finalized the lease agreements and non-relocation agreements that would prevent the Raiders from leaving Las Vegas without paying multi-million dollar penalties.
“I think it is great that they are doing this. The raiders and Oakland are a team. They are like a family. But, I don’t think the lawsuit will work. With contracts signed and the NFL supportive of the move, it’s done,” said Jessica Cunningham, a senior.