Madden slams Raiders move to Las Vegas
Legendary former Oakland Raiders head coach and NFL broadcaster John Madden has hit out at their planned move to Las Vegas, saying the relocation really bothers him.
The Raiders' application to move to Vegas was approved by the NFL last month.
While a stadium in Vegas is built the Raiders will play at least their next two seasons in Oakland and have expressed an interest in staying for the 2019 campaign.
Madden coached the Raiders for 10 seasons and led them to victory in Super Bowl XI, and he has been understandably affected by the decision to leave.
The 81-year-old, who grew up in the Bay Area and lives 25 miles from Oakland in Pleasanton, told SiriusXM: "There'll be no more history of the Oakland Raiders. That really bothers me
"It really gets you because of the finality of it. When they moved before, that was after I got out and I was in broadcasting and I wasn't that much of a part of it, but we had a stadium in Oakland that was relevant. And so, 'OK, Oakland may lose the Raiders, but we'll get another team,' because that was the way it was working back then.
"And with the stadium now, when they move out, that's going to be torn down and it's going to be a high-rise or some doggone thing and there'll be no more Oakland Raiders, there'll be no more history of the Oakland Raiders.
"That really bothers me. Not just me personally, but all the Raiders fans over all those years and all the great players and great games. Just, boom, it goes away...
"We don't have a Hall of Fame, we don't have a museum - there's nothing to leave there. And maybe this is just me being oversensitive, but doggone it, if you're going to go, that's really tough, but leave us something. Leave us something here in Oakland, please."
Madden also believes Raiders coach Jack del Rio will have a big challenge keeping his players in line once they move to Vegas.
"I would hate to be a coach to take a team in there," Madden said. "I would hate to have my team be in Las Vegas on Saturday night before the game.
"And that's any team. You say, 'Well, you had a bunch of rowdies,' but every team has a bottom 10.
"You can say, 'Oh, we got a good group, it's a great group, we're together,’ and all this stuff. Say you have 55 guys. Forty-five of them can be perfect, but you've got that bottom 10. And you have to be as good as your last guy.
"If this thing goes through, I think there's going to be a lot of problems like that."