white is right
Hall of Famer
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2006
- Messages
- 10,142
Oakland is a city in major disarray and the city rightly wouldn't fund a white elephant stadium for a team that is only loyal to their brand. Oakland is in such a freefall that fast food restaurants are closing up and the city is having hiring issues with law enforcement officers as nobody wants to work a city that is fast devolving into Detroit West Coast...Teams only relocate now if city and state governments don't give in to owner demands and don't force the taxpayers cough up the money directly or indirectly for new facilities. Arrowhead Stadium is ancient by NFL standards but Kansas City and Missouri will undoubtedly be given time to submit to what ownership wants before the threat to move becomes substantial.
Oakland wouldn't build a new stadium and so lost the Raiders and shortly the A's. Same with Arizona and the Coyotes relocating to Utah. The Pittsburgh Penguins came very close to moving to Kansas City's new arena (still unused by the NBA and NHL) after new stadiums were built for the Steelers and Pirates, before a new arena was finally built for them.
It's very difficult to imagine Kansas City without the Chiefs, but the Browns left Cleveland, and the Colts left Baltimore due to owner greed. It's highly unlikely but not impossible down the road.
KC is in a whole different economic climate than Oakland which was always the dreg of San Francisco but now that San Francisco is on the decline Oakland is in a free fall.