NFL Owners Worried about Gang Culture in Raiders Potential Move to L.A.

According to Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole, Rams owner Stan Kroenke, who ramrodded his way to moving the St. Louis Rams back to Los Angeles, doesn’t want the Oakland Raiders to partner with him there, preferring the San Diego Chargers, because Raiders’ fans could mean big trouble.

Cole stated:

One of the big reasons, an underlying reason for the Rams wanting to have the Chargers in Los Angeles with them is that the Rams don’t really want to have the Raiders there. They view the Raiders as part of a marketing challenge because of the Raiders’ history there and specifically because they’re building such an elaborate complex in the Inglewood area that’s going to feature shopping. The Rams frankly don’t want to have a lot of Raider fans in that area. That’s what’s working against the Raiders working against Los Angeles in this situation.

Last week, the Rams won the battle for Los Angeles, as NFL owners selected the Rams’ proposal for an Inglewood stadium instead of a Chargers/Raiders proposal for a stadium in Carson. But the deal still left the door open for either the Chargers or Raiders to join the Rams in Los Angeles.

In a comprehensive look at the furious battle for Los Angeles among the Rams, Chargers, and Raiders in ESPN, one passage alludes to the concern regarding Raiders fans, as follows: “Most owners wanted to avoid a Raiders return to Los Angeles, owing to Al Davis’ burned bridges and the co-opting of the team apparel by gangs, concerns so deep that some wouldn’t even consider Carson.”

The Chargers must decide by March 23 where they’ll play in 2016; they have until January 2017 to decide whether they will move to Los Angeles.

According to Complex.com, Raiders regalia is the third-most desired gang attire trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds. It has been adopted by People Nation and Folk Nation in Chicago. NBC Los Angeles noted that Raiders attire used to be heavily favored by gangs in LA, but offered a reason for the decline: “The most obvious reason — the Raiders left Los Angeles in 1994, and a lot of today’s gang members (anyone under age 20) didn’t grow up watching the home town Raiders play or feeling a part of that culture.”