The London Raiders….?
So, there is interesting tread in our group which has touched on a topic that we think is a real possibility, It’s something discussed in passing before but now think it has legs………
Given the following:
- A state of ‘unrest’ between the Raiders organisation and Oakland City Officials
- The 2018 season is to be played on a 1-year lease agreement at the Coliseum Lease
- The Las Vegas Stadium isn’t planned to be ready until 2020
This leads The Raiders to be potentially homeless in 2019, then add to that….
- The NFLs appetite to expand UK operation
- The readiness of Tottenham Hotspur stadium
- Potential of Shad Khan (Jags owner) purchasing Wembley
So why wouldn’t we consider (drumroll please)…. The “London Raiders”. This makes perfect sense (kinda!). It would test the waters for a full time franchise before the NFL makes a full commitment, as:
- Games would always sell out, it’s the International series after all!
- The Raider organisation NEEDS a temporary home and London potentially has 2 ready to go
- Opponents in 2019 will be the AFC South and Jags vs Raiders in London would be bizarre concept (think about it!)
- The NFL ‘loves’ the Raiders so would ‘love’ to see them struggle a little more
- Above all, The Raider Nation is strong in the UK!!
We also threw together the below little info on the miles for each road game as though they were from either London or Oakland respectively, these are for as the crow flys. We also assumed that our AFC East opponent would be the Buffalo Bills. Remember some of these would change drastically if the Raiders were to ‘pit-stop’ in the between back to back road games….
2019 Road Opponents |
London -> |
Oakland -> |
AFC East* (Buffalo) |
3562 |
2284 |
Minnesota Vikings |
3979 |
1571 |
Los Angeles Chargers |
5441 |
339 |
Indianapolis Colts |
3971 |
1900 |
Kansas City Chiefs |
4441 |
1515 |
Green Bay Packers |
3886 |
1647 |
Houston Texans |
4848 |
1631 |
Denver Broncos |
4684 |
937 |
34812mi |
11824mi |
Frankly does it matter if it fails, or even, how could it?! So what do you think…. “THE LONDON RAIDERS” …….
For now, all we do know is the Oakland Raiders will be facing off with the Seattle Seahawks on October 14th in Wembley and leading up to that game we have some AWESOME events in plan for you. Why not hit the button below to get involved…..
*This post is in no way grounded, sourced or official. This serves as pure fan speculation and a little tongue in cheek humour*
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