The City of Oakland has responded to the looming relocation of one of the most litigious franchises in sports with
cheap josh jacobs jersey , drum roll, litigation. And now theantitrust lawsuit filed over the coming move to Las Vegas
thrown out of court.It’s a very common maneuver whenever any lawsuit presents an
aggressive and creative legal theory. Before spending tens if not hundreds of
thousands of dollars defending the case on the merits, the defendants try to
knock it out with a device known as the motion to dismiss, for failure to state
a claim. Basically, the argument goes this like this: “Even if everything
they’re saying is true (and we reserve the right to later argue that it’s not),
they can’t win.”Via the Bay Area News Group, the Raiders and the NFL filed their
motion to dismiss on March 1, calling the lawsuit a “striking perversion of
antitrust law” and claiming that Oakland is trying to “turn antitrust on its
head.”“The Raiders want to move to Las Vegas,” the team and the league wrote in
the memorandum of law supporting the motion to dismiss. “Las Vegas wants to host
the Raiders. The Las Vegas opportunity is more attractive, so much so that the
Raiders are willing to pay a relocation fee over $300 million in order to
move.”Oakland’s antitrust argument has been confusing from the get-go. If
anything, an antitrust violation would arise if the league tried to keep the
Raiders — like all teams an independent business — from moving. Which is
precisely what happened in the early ’80s, leading to a lawsuit that the Raiders
won, and a the beefing up of the league’s relocation policy. Now, Oakland is
separately claiming that the league has violated its own relocation policy, to
the detriment of the city that will be losing the Raiders.The Raiders and the
NFL argue that the relocation policy doesn’t rise to the level of a “contract”
or any other binding obligation to the cities where teams currently play. “The
policy provides that clubs will attempt to develop ‘suitable stadium facilities
in their home territories’ through good faith negotiations, but recognizes that
this may not always be possible,” the defendants argue in the written submission
to the court.In April
Trayvon Mullen Oakland Raiders Jersey , Oakland will respond to the motion to dismiss in writing, a hearing date likely will be set (if it hasn’t already
been), and the Raiders and the league will submit the final written paperwork on
the matter before the presiding judge decides, apparently by June, whether to
throw the case out or let it proceed. If it moves forward, a trial tentatively
has been scheduled to begin in August 2021.And so ends today’s session of the
PFT Cracker Jack Box School Of Legal Miseducation.Jon Gruden says Khalil Mack
“obviously didn’t want to play here” Tonight marks the first game of the Jon
Gruden Era Part 2 for the Oakland Raiders, and with tonight’s game in Oakland on
ESPN, the network has been giving Gruden and the Raiders plenty of attention.
Naturally, the question that comes up first is about Khalil Mack. Gruden pulled
no punches when asked about the Mack situation.“Obviously, Khalil Mack didn’t
want to play here, that’s what’s being missed here. He was under contract, and
he never showed up for an OTA, he never showed up for training camp, and it was
obvious he wasn’t gonna show up for the season. So, don’t forget that. We have
to get ready to play. And I want players that wanna be here, that wanna help us
put this thing back in high gear,” said Gruden.This is a pretty hardline stance
from Gruden
Trayvon Mullen Oakland Raiders Jersey , considering that teams rarely let elite players actually play out their contracts and hit free agency. Quarterbacks and
top-level edge rushers almost never reach the open market. In my view, to say
‘Mack was under contract’ ignores the work that should have been done to extend
said contract.But Gruden is also one coach known to talk in negative terms about
players who are out with injury, as evidenced by the recent treatment of and
candor about Obi Melifonwu and Martavis Bryant. If Gruden gets that fired up
about players who are hurt, imagine how he feels about healthy players who
simply don’t show up?But, of course, hard feelings and second-guessing over this
subject are going to continue no matter what.The story here is about Cris
Collinsworth’s statement during the Packers-Bears game that he spoke with Mack,
who told him that a phone call from Gruden could have made him feel more wanted
and helped negotiations. The problem with that is that Gruden doesn’t seem the
type of guy to reach out to make anyone feel better, and it’s also unlikely that
Gruden calling up and saying ‘Hey we need you here buddy’ would have brought
Mack’s asking price down a few million dollars a year. The Raiders had a budget,
and Mack wanted more. As we saw from last night’s game, he was certainly worth
what he was asking, but the Raiders were unwilling to meet that price.The only
thing that’s truly going to make this story go away is Jon Gruden and the
Raiders winning, and winning a lot. That will be harder to do without Khalil
Mack, but the Raiders are potent on offense and have some terrific young pass
rushers and a far more competent coaching staff than last season. Mack’s effort
with the Bears still resulted in a loss, which does not at all diminish his
individual accomplishments but does show the importance of having a franchise
quarterback, which the Raiders do. The Raiders beating the Rams tonight would go
a long way toward putting this story to bed and getting some heat off the
Raiders organization.
