Dump the Oakland Raiders from their proposed shared stadium, and the San Diego Chargers can skate up the coast to Los Angeles.
At least, that’s the common opinion within NFL circles as owners meet this week to possibly allow the league’s first relocation in 21 years: either the St. Louis Rams moving to Inglewood, Calif.; one or both of the Chargers and Raiders moving to Carson; or perhaps a different combination altogether.
Whether the Raiders move is uncertain, but what is abundantly clear is that the team that sued the league several times decades ago remains an outsider for many and may be a wrench in the relocation deliberations this week. The addition last year of Walt Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger to run the Carson project, if approved, did ameliorate the issue for some. And Iger has been busy lobbying owners, telling them he would rebrand the Raiders’ image, sources said.
“The addition of Iger went some ways to assuage a number of those concerns about the Raiders,” said Amy Trask, the former team chief executive who tried during her tenure to soften the perception of a franchise known widely by the mantra of late owner Al Davis: “Just win, baby.”
But Trask questioned whether Iger is a panacea.
“What will Iger’s powers be with the brand?” she asked. “If the deal goes through, is he allowed to make branding decisions? What if Iger wants to come and, say, soften the brand. Does he have exclusive authority?”
In other words, is he allowed to “Disney-fy” the brand?
The Raiders did not respond for comment. Efforts to reach Iger were unsuccessful.
A key NFL source said Iger would have control over stadium branding but not final say when it comes to the team.
When the Chargers and Raiders — now led by Davis’ son, Mark — unveiled their Carson project 11 months ago, the stadium rendering included a memorial flame for Al Davis, who died in 2011. That elicited howls of derision within ownership circles and in part led to the teams hiring former San Francisco 49ers and Cleveland Browns executive Carmen Policy to help navigate NFL politics. At Policy’s behest, the teams quietly dropped the flame from their plans.
Still, the flame underscored a bigger problem for league owners: Do they want to reward a franchise whose patriarch took the league to court?
Another hurdle is the fact that Mark Davis doesn’t possess the deep pockets the league wants from an owner allowed to enter the Los Angeles market.
“If Carson gets the 24 votes [necessary for approval] with the Raiders, at least 12 will be holding their nose,” said one source close to the NFL.
The Raiders’ very image is playing into the discussion as well. When the franchise previously played in Los Angeles (1982-94), the team’s brand became associated with gangs. The resulting characterization of the Raiders stayed with the club when it returned to Oakland, and images such as those of the team’s costumed fans in O.Co Coliseum’s Black Hole continue to shape impressions of the club today.
Sports industry veteran Rick Burton, a former chief marketing officer for the U.S. Olympic Committee, said that if the Raiders do move back to Los Angeles, they should reintroduce the club.
“They will need a big marketing campaign: These are the new Raiders; this is not my father’s Raiders,” said Burton, a professor of sports management at Syracuse University. “This kind of transitional moment they need to get right.”
But other brand experts warn the league should hesitate in trying to change how the Raiders are perceived.
“Sports fans are passionate and very protective, and the slightest change is going to upset many people,” said Allen Adamson, the former chairman of brand consultancy Landor North America and who now runs his own firm, BrandSimple.
