Las Vegas Raiders
The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The club plays its home games at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, and is headquartered in Henderson, Nevada.
"Silver and Black" redirects here. For other uses, see Silver and Black (disambiguation).Las Vegas Raiders
Raider Rusher
Mark & Carol Davis
(majority)[6][7]
Founded on January 30, 1960, and originally based in Oakland, California, the Raiders played their first regular season game on September 11, 1960, as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL). They moved to the NFL with the AFL–NFL merger in 1970. The team was almost chosen under the nickname "Señors" when established, as close to the team sporting the "Oakland Señors" team name is the original idea of the orange and black team theme colors, that were discontinued as well. The team departed Oakland to play in Los Angeles from the 1982 season through the 1994 season before returning to Oakland at the start of the 1995 season. On March 27, 2017, NFL team owners voted nearly unanimously to approve the Raiders' application to relocate to Las Vegas. Nearly three years later, on January 22, 2020, the Raiders moved to Las Vegas.[12][13]
The Raiders' on-field fortunes have varied considerably over the years. The team's first three years of operation (1960–1962) were marred by poor performance, financial difficulties, and spotty attendance. In 1963, the Raiders' fortunes improved dramatically with the introduction of head coach (and eventual owner) Al Davis. In 1967, after several years of improvement, the Raiders reached the postseason for the first time. The team would go on to win its first (and only) AFL Championship that year; in doing so, the Raiders advanced to Super Bowl II, where they were soundly defeated by the Green Bay Packers. Since 1963, the team has won 15 division titles (3 AFL and 12 NFL), 4 AFC Championships (1976, 1980, 1983, and 2002), one AFL Championship (1967), and three Super Bowl Championships: XI (1976), XV (1980), and XVIII (1983). As of the end of the NFL's 2022 season, the Raiders have an all-time regular season record of 497 wins, 458 losses, and 11 ties; their all-time playoff record currently stands at 25 wins and 20 losses.[14]
Al Davis owned the team from 1972 until his death in 2011. Control of the franchise was then given to Al's son Mark Davis, with Al's wife Carol maintaining ownership. The Raiders are known for their extensive fan base and distinctive team culture. The Raiders have had 17 former players who have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as well as two former coaches and Al Davis. They have previously played at Kezar Stadium and Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Frank Youell Field and Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles.
Championships
AFL championships
The Raiders finished the 1967 season with a 13–1–0 record and won the 1967 AFL Championship. They subsequently lost to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II.
Ownership, administration and financial operations
Founding of the franchise
Max Winter, a Minneapolis businessman was among the eight proposed franchise owners in the American Football League. In a move typical of the NFL owners who were frightened by the prospect of competition and continually obstructed the new league, they offered Winter an expansion franchise in the NFL. This was after the NFL had rejected Lamar Hunt's feelers, saying they were not interested in expansion. One of many obfuscations put forward by the NFL in its attempt to derail the AFL.
After the AFL's first draft, in which players were selected for the then nameless Minneapolis franchise, Winter reneged from his agreement with the AFL owners and defected to the NFL with a franchise that started play in 1961 and was named the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings were never an AFL team, nor did they have any association with the AFL. Many of the players (including Abner Haynes) that had been assigned to the UNNAMED and defunct Minneapolis AFL franchise were signed by some of the seven loyal remaining members of the AFL's 'Foolish Club'.
The city of Oakland was awarded the eighth AFL franchise on January 30, 1960. Once the consortium of owners was found for the eighth franchise, the team was named the Raiders.[138][139] Because many of the defunct Minneapolis franchise's originally drafted players were signed by other AFL teams, the AFL held an 'allocation' draft, in which each team earmarked players that could be chosen by the Raiders.
The Minneapolis group did not take with them any of the rights to players they drafted when they defected to the NFL, because their first draft in that league was in 1961. The Raiders were not originally in Minnesota as some claim. They were a new, charter franchise in the American Football League. One reason they were so weak in the first few years of the AFL was that the other AFL teams did not make quality players available in the allocation draft.
At the time, Oakland seemed an unlikely venue for a professional football team. The city had not asked for a team, there was no ownership group and there was no stadium in Oakland suitable for pro football (the closest stadiums were in Berkeley and San Francisco) and there was already a successful NFL franchise in the Bay Area in the San Francisco 49ers. The AFL owners selected Oakland after Los Angeles Chargers owner Barron Hilton threatened to forfeit his franchise unless a second team was placed on the West Coast.[140]
Upon receiving the franchise, Oakland civic leaders found a number of businesspeople willing to invest in the new team. A limited partnership was formed to own the team headed by managing general partner Y. Charles (Chet) Soda (1908–1989), a local real estate developer, and included general partners Ed McGah (1899–1983), Robert Osborne (1898–1968), F. Wayne Valley (1914–1986), restaurateur Harvey Binns (1914–1982), Don Blessing (1904–2000), and contractor Charles Harney (1902–1962)[141] as well as numerous limited partners.
The Raiders finished their first campaign with a 6–8 record, and lost $500,000. Desperately in need of money to continue running the team, Valley received a $400,000 loan from Buffalo Bills founder Ralph C. Wilson Jr.[142]
After the conclusion of the first season Soda dropped out of the partnership, and on January 17, 1961, Valley, McGah and Osborne bought out the remaining four general partners. Soon after, Valley and McGah purchased Osborne's interest, with Valley named as the managing general partner.
In 1962 Valley hired Al Davis, a former assistant coach for the San Diego Chargers, as head coach and general manager. In April 1966 Davis left the Raiders after being named AFL Commissioner. Two months later, the league announced its merger with the NFL. With the merger, the position of commissioner was no longer needed, and Davis entered into discussions with Valley about returning to the Raiders. On July 25, 1966, Davis returned as part owner of the team. He purchased a 10% interest in the team for US$18,000, and became the team's third general partner. As part of the deal, Davis was also given control over football operations.[18][19]
In 1972, with Wayne Valley out of the country for several weeks attending the Olympic Games in Munich, Davis's attorneys drafted a revised partnership agreement that made him the new managing general partner, with complete control over all of the Raiders' operations. McGah, a supporter of Davis, signed the agreement. Under partnership law, by a 2–1 vote of the general partners, the new agreement was thus ratified. Valley was furious when he discovered this, and immediately filed suit to have the new agreement overturned, but the court sided with Davis and McGah.
In 1976 Valley sold his interest in the team. Although Davis only owned 25 percent of the team, no other partners have had any voice in team operations since.[18][143]
