Los Angeles Raiders Team History
Move to Los Angeles – Raiders
Prior to the 1980 season, Al Davis attempted unsuccessfully to have improvements made to Oakland Coliseum, specifically the addition of luxury boxes. That year, he signed a Memorandum of Agreement to move the Raiders from Oakland to Los Angeles. The move, which required three-fourths approval by league owners, was defeated 22-0 with five owners abstaining. When Davis tried to move the team anyway, he was blocked by an injunction. In response, the Raiders not only became an active partner in an antitrust lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum who had recently lost the Los Angeles Rams, but filed an antitrust lawsuit of their own. After the first case was declared a mistrial, in May 1982 a second jury found in favor of Davis and the Los Angeles Coliseum, clearing the way for the move. With the ruling, the Raiders finally relocated to Los Angeles for the 1982 season to play their home games at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Super Bowl XVIII Winner 1983
Super Bowl XVIII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Los Angeles Raiders to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1983 season. The Raiders defeated the Redskins by the score of 38–9. The Raiders’ 38 points and their 29-point margin of victory broke Super Bowl records; it still remains the most points scored by an AFC team in a Super Bowl, and the only Super Bowl won by a Los Angeles-based team. The game was played on January 22, 1984, at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida, the first time the Super Bowl was held in that city. This would be the AFC’s last Super Bowl win until Super Bowl XXXII, won by the Denver Broncos.
The professional American football team now known as the Oakland Raiders played in Los Angeles, California from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland. This article chronicles the team’s history during their time as the Los Angeles Raiders during that period.
Established
1960
City
Oakland – Los Angeles – Oakland – Las Vegas
League History
1970 – Present National Football League
1960 – 1970 American Football League
Nickname
Raiders – Chet Soda, Oakland’s first general manager, sponsored a name-the-team contest in 1960. Helen A. Davis, an Oakland policewoman, submitted the winning entry, Señors, and was rewarded with a trip to the Bahamas. The nickname, an allusion to the old Spanish settlers of northern California, was ridiculed in the weeks that followed, and fans also claimed that the contest was fixed. Scotty Stirling, a sportswriter for the Oakland Tribune who would later become the team’s general manager, provided another reason to abandon the nickname. “That’s no good,” Stirling said. “We don’t have the accent mark for the n in our headline type.” Responding to the backlash, Soda and the team’s other investors decided to change the team’s nickname to Raiders, which was a finalist in the contest along with Lakers.
Team History
2020 Las Vegas Raiders
1995 – Present Oakland Raiders
1982 – 1994 Los Angeles Raiders
1960 – 1981 Oakland Raiders
Championship
Super Bowl 1
1983, 1980, 1976
AFL Championships 0
1967
Stadium
2020 Las Vegas Stadium
*Oakland*
2016 – Present Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
2012 – 2015 O.co Coliseum
2011 Overstock.com Coliseum
2008 – 2011 Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
2004 – 2008 McAfee Coliseum
1995 – 2004 Network Associates Coliseum
*Los Angeles*
1982 – 1994 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
*Oakland*
1966 – 1998 Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
1962 – 1965 Frank Youell Field
*San Francisco*
1961 Candlestick Park
1960 Kezar Stadium and Candlestick Park
Owner
2011 – Present Mark and Carol Davis
1983 – 2011 Al Davis
1976 – 1983 Al Davis and Ed McGah
1966 – 1976 F. Wayne Valley, Ed McGah and Al Davis
1961 – 1966 F. Wayne Valley and Ed McGah
1960 Y. Charles (Chet) Soda
Retired Number
Mascot
2013 – Present Raider Rusher
*Blue is this team’s history