>>63079184They've been in Oakland for all but 12 years of the team's existence, anon. The team clearly has a deep history in Oakland. Would they have a built in fan base in LA? Absolutely. The thing is though, the way my dad has explained it to me, towards the end of their time in LA, the team had been so co opted by gang culture that companies stopped buying boxes at home games, and attendance of fans that didn't treat every Sunday like Halloween substantially declined. The organization earned a reputation much worse than their being the bad boys of football, and advertisements and attendance reflected that. Oakland may be a dump, but what I've been told is that despite that threatening appearance, Oakland home games are chill as fuck if you rock the silver and black. I've heard anecdotes about cops walking around and shooting the shit with fans. Thats quite a change for me as a Chargers fan, because in SD cops are only ever in their cars or on bikes looking for opportunities to ticket folks. I'm not trying to compare Oakland and SD here, but the thing is, if you bring the Raiders back to LA, those chill home games won't be, and if you bring Mark Davis and his limited finances to LA, whatever he can afford, won't be what Stan Kroenke can, and most likely won't reflect the image of the NFL in the second largest market in the US the way Stan Kroenke could. On a short term basis, you are right. The Raiders would probably be welcomed back with open arms. Eventually things would turn to shit though, and I think that is what the NFL is trying to prevent. They were in LA, and then they weren't, and if they are going to go back, they most likely want to do so with someone who presents the fewest risks, and is the safest bet, and while the Rams might not have as built in a market as the Raiders might, they have more than the Chargers do, without the cultural link to gang culture. They are the strongest, safest economic choice of the bunch as far as I and many others see.
