Raiders Owner Mark Davis Calls Relocation Lawsuit 'Meritless and Malicious'
Hours after the city of Oakland announced that it would sue the Raiders and the NFL over their plans to relocate to Las Vegas, Raiders owner Mark Davis responded, calling the federal lawsuit, “meritless and malicious”
According the lawsuit, Oakland city officials claim that the move to Las Vegas is illegal and want to be compensated for financial losses, which are expected to be several hundred million dollars.
"The Raiders’ move – and the bidding process which preceded it – violated not only the antitrust laws, but also the NFL’s own relocation policies," the lawsuit states.
Also noted in the 45-page complaint, the city says that a $378 million relocation fee that was paid by the Raiders went into the pockets of the other 31 teams, who are also named as defendants, and “skewed the bidding process.”
"My feeling is we're 3-10 and we're still relevant," Davis told ESPN.com. "It's a legal issue, and I'll let the attorneys make any further comment."
The city made good on their threat from September on suing the team, which do not have a lease to play at the Oakland Alameda Coliseum in 2019. Meanwhile, the Raiders' nearly $2 billion stadium in Las Vegas isn't expected to be ready until August 2020.
The Raiders aren't the only team in the NFL being sued over its relocation practices.
The Rams, which moved from St. Louis to Los Angeles in 2016, are being sued by the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority, St. Louis and St. Louis County, saying that the team did not meet the league's three–decade old relocation standards before they moved.
In August, a Missouri appeals court ruled that arbitration would not be used to settle the lawsuit.
