Las Vegas owner Mark Davis was not too thrilled when the Chargers were picked over his Raiders to move to Los Angeles.
In an interview with The Athletic's Vic Tafur, Davis mentioned he was upset over the decision, at least for a little bit.
“I have lost games before. That’s how I live my life — you lose on Sunday, you’re pissed, you go to P.F. Chang’s on Monday, have lunch and then you're on to the next week.”
His being upset over the choice of teams to move to the City of Angels is understandable. The Raiders had a history in LA, playing in the second largest city in the US for 12 years, from 1982 to 1994, between their two stints in Oakland. The Chargers, on the other hand, only played their inaugural season in 1960 in Los Angeles prior to moving to San Diego. The other team that was moved to LA, the Rams, also had a history with the city. They played in Los Angeles from 1946 to 1994. Both the Raiders and Rams shared the city for the Raiders' entire tenure in Los Angeles.
It would appear, at least in Davis' mind, that the league should try again with the two organizations to share the city once more. The NFL disagreed, moving the Chargers to share the territory, and now the newly completed SoFi Stadium, with the Rams in this latest experiment with the City of Angels. The experiment of the NFL in Los Angeles didn't work too well the last time around, and the Chargers have struggled selling out the undersized Dignity Health Sports Park over the last couple of years. It would appear, then, that the Raiders got the better end of the deal, moving to a brand new market which has not experienced pro football in its history in Las Vegas. While it has yet to be seen if Sin City can host an NFL franchise successfully, the attendance at Vegas Golden Knights games may be an indicator of what's to come. If so then Mark Davis will consider that “lost game” a win in the long run.
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