The Raiders are returning to Southern California.
The Raiders aren’t allowed to say they’re returning to Southern California. In Southern California.
As explained by Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com, NFL policy prevents the Raiders from promoting the presence of their training camp in Southern California, because it will occur within territory belonging to the Chargers and Rams.
Beyond the normal promotional tools, they can’t invite local media to cover practice. And none of the practices can be open to the public.
Here’s why, from the relevant policy (per Gutierrez): “Every club has an exclusive home territory extending 75 miles in all directions from the exterior corporate borders of the city for which it holds a franchise. If another club holds its preseason training camp within that exclusive territory then it cannot be marketed locally.”
Raiders owner Mark Davis has accepted the situation, because what other choice does he have?
“That’s where we’re having camp, but the Chargers and Rams have the ability to block us from [promoting],” Davis told Gutierrez. “It’s fine.”
Davis paused before finishing the thought.
“It would be nice if all the fans could be there, but, whatever. Like I said, the Chargers and Rams have that ability.”
The move to Southern California for training camp happened because new coach Antonio Pierce wanted to get away from Las Vegas.
“It’s about team bonding,” Pierce told Gutierrez. “When I played . . . we never stayed at our facility. I was used to traveling and going away and kind of [being] bunkered up, 90 or 85 players at a time, or whatever it was. And team bonding, getting together and getting to know one another, to get away from all the distractions. It’s all about ball. Just ball.”
For the Chargers and Rams, it’s about stick. As in sticking to the team that is arguably more popular in Southern California than either of them.
It was no accident that the Chargers had dibs on becoming Stan Kroenke’s tenants at SoFi Stadium. If the Raiders had gotten the invitation, they would have rolled back into L.A. as the headliners, with the Rams becoming the opening act.
So it’s no surprise that the Chargers and Rams don’t want the Raiders to tell the fans that they’re coming back for camp, or to let them attend it. And thanks to the fact that there 32 independent businesses have come together under one umbrella, they’re all forced to abide by nonsensical policies that depress competition among those businesses, not promote it.
For anyone who has been paying attention to the Sunday Ticket litigation, none of this should be a surprise.