New Raiders RB Marshawn Lynch's arrival "temporarily tempers, though certainly doesn’t extinguish, rage about the Raiders relocating to Las Vegas," according to Scott Bair of CSNBAYAREA.com. Lynch will now be "playing for the city he champions at every turn." He "regularly gives back to this community and might be its most popular native son right now." Lynch will "give East Bay fans something to cheer for that won’t be shipping off to Vegas in a few years." However, nothing can "cure the pain of an NFL team leaving Oakland a second time." Bair: "Wins are ibuprofen, giving short-term relief to an ailing fan local base. He can certainly help the Raiders provide that" (CSNBAYAREA.com, 4/26). In Oakland, Jon Becker writes Lynch's return "should at the very least create some buzz with East Bay fans still stewing" over the team's planned move in '20 (EAST BAY TIMES, 4/27). In San Jose, Mark Purdy writes the Raiders need Lynch "desperately -- not so much as a running back as a feel-good billboard." Purdy: "Want to bet he shows up on one or two in the East Bay between now and opening kickoff?" If a team is "trying to sell tickets to a partially disenchanted fan base, what better marketing move can the team make than to hire a hometown hero who by his actions -- including community work, plus a boutique clothing store in the heart of downtown Oakland that has become a de facto community center -- has shown he does care about his city?" No matter what Lynch "does from this point, the Raiders have bought themselves a wealth of positive publicity." Some fans who "intended to boycott the team over the next two years as it plays out its lease" at Oakland-Aladema County Coliseum have "surely reconsidered." But does Lynch "resent being used, even in the slightest fashion, as a promotional stunt?" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 4/27).
