© Tommy Gilligan | 2018 Nov 25
Raiders owner Mark Davis, like his late father Al, is not one to keep his feelings to himself. That was reiterated in a recent Q & A with Vincent Bonsignore of The Athletic that dropped on Thursday.
Davis unloaded on the Oakland A’s, with whom the Raiders have shared the Oakland Coliseum for years. According to ESPN, Davis is specifically irked about a decision the A’s made without consulting the Raiders, “a new Coliseum configuration created by the A’s last winter that displaced 2,500 Raiders season-ticket holders.”
With the Raiders having no legal right to the Coliseum, and the A’s in a 10-year lease extension signed in 2014, the baseball team tore out several sections of seats around the Coliseum to make the areas more spacious for its fans, complete with drink rails that created 250 obstructed view seats for football.
So by the time the Raiders had come to an agreement to return to the Coliseum for 2019 on a $7.5 million lease — and possibly 2020 for $10.5 million, should the $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas not be ready — the A’s renovation had already occurred.
As such, the Raiders moved those 2,500 season-ticket holders to seats of equal or better value, Davis said, as the team took premium seats from employees and gave them to the displaced fans.
Davis is also upset about losing 300 seats last year, when the A’s built a “Treehouse” attraction above left field.
“Unfortunately, there’s a problem there,” Davis told The Athletic. “As far as the players and everybody, we love the A’s. We seriously do. But the front office has been real pricks. They’ve been really fucking around with us up there, taking advantage of the situation. Which, it is their right to do it, but it makes it hard. Again though, we love the players, we love the A’s.”
Via Gutierrez, Davis is sorry for the way he spoke about the A’s.
“I am not sorry for the things I said,” Davis told ESPN. “But I am sorry for the way I said them.”
The Raiders are expected to move into their new Vegas home next year, but may have to work out another short-term lease deal with the Coliseum in 2020 if their new stadium is not ready.