Oakland Raiders: Impending move to Las Vegas hurting the team

The Oakland Raiders are scheduled to leave in two years. But is their lame duck status in Oakland hurting the team on the field?

The Oakland Raiders keep moving. From Oakland to Los Angeles back to Oakland and now preparing to take up residence in Las Vegas. But there may be a brief layover for one year in San Diego on the way to Las Vegas. The team is called the Raiders, but nobody knows where they are from.

One group of people who are in tune to where the Raiders are going is the fanbase. For them, watching the Raiders leave is like watching a loved one dying a slow death. At some point, the family has to ask, is it better to let them go instead of watching them suffer like this?

This week’s opponent, the Cleveland Browns, have a fanbase that watched their beloved team get ripped away from their city.

But instead of the analogy of a dying family member, their experience was that of a husband whose wife reveals she has been cheating on him and wants a divorce. The husband thought everything was fine. She has moved on and cannot wait to get out the door, but the husband is grieving the loss for years after.

This week’s game is a big one for the Oakland Raiders. The Browns reborn from the devastation of divorce are in town. But the Raiders are limping into a season with a new old coach, an old roster and a fan base on the brink of pulling the plug.

Jon Gruden was brought in as the head coach, in part, to keep the Raiders off life support. His 10-year contract gives him the security to make the moves necessary to keep the team competitive. But as of right now, the team has lost its best player and cannot figure out how to close out games.

But the Raiders are coding. Get the crash cart! They need to be shocked back into life. Maybe a win over the Browns this week will be just the thing to bring them back from the dead. But that win will be hard fought. Pro Football Focus analysts are now picking the Browns over the Raiders.

If there ever was such a thing as a must win game, this is it. Not because the Raiders need to win to stay in a division race or playoff hunt. No, they must win to keep their franchise alive. Should the Raiders lose this game, fans may simply walk away from them for good.

The impending move is causing the fanbase to check out early. An early checkout means loss of revenue. Is that not why Gruden was brought in the first place? To keep the fan base supportive and engaged thereby protecting their revenue stream.

If the Raiders lose Sunday, this move could get extremely ugly for the NFL and its revenue stream.