As the topic of NFL football returning to the country’s second biggest TV market continues to come up, one team not afraid to shy away from the controversy knows more about LA than any other – the Raiders have again opened the door on relocating to Los Angeles.
Or perhaps re-relocating is the right word, since they were the Los Angeles Raiders from 1982 to 1994.
Owner Mark Davis officially opened the discussion, reveawhile talking about the necessity of the Raiders to get a new stadium built in Oakland.
“We’re trying to get something done up here, but if we can’t, we’ve got to get something done somewhere because we need to be able to compete,” Davis said. “And that’s where it’s at.”
Asked about the timetable for a new stadium, he said, “The timetable is yesterday. So that’s where it is. We’ve got to get a stadium. We’ve got to get that done.”
Stadium revenue is critical, and a lot of the revenue from a new stadium isn’t shared revenue (such as luxury boxes), so it is even more critical. Since TV revenue is shared equally between all 32 teams, one of the biggest drivers of the difference between the haves and have-nots in the NFL is stadium revenue, along with merchandising sales.
Davis went on to explain the need of a new stadium to field a competitive team, “It’s such a competitive business. It really is competitive. We can’t compete for a lot of the players that other teams can, at times.”
While the stadium is a factor, the Green Bay Packers are one of the smallest market teams in one of the oldest stadiums, so it’s not the only answer. The quality of the team that they’ve fielded has enabled them to be at or near the top of the merchandise sales in recent years. And having Aaron Rodgers follow Brett Farve for star power at quarterback certainly hasn’t hurt.
The stadium is important, but the fans drive the revenue and the fans follow the players and the quality of the team on the field.
