The NFL has had its share of public relations gaffes in recent years, but they do keep trying to put a sincere face on that corporate image.
Three of the league’s franchises are angling for a move next year to Los Angeles, the country’s second-largest market, which has not had an NFL team since 1994 when the Raiders returned to their ancestral homeland of Oakland and the Rams bolted for St Louis.
Those two teams are now trying to come back to LA, along with the San Diego Chargers.
All three, of course, are angering their current home city fan bases with their escape plans. Enter the NFL, which broke out its best warm-and-fuzzy act this past week by sponsoring “town hall” meetings in each city to hear fans’ thoughts to show that the NFL cares. The NFL listens. It wants fans to be a part of the process.
Yeah, sure. Mostly it begs a question: What could a fan possibly say to alter the will of the NFL?
League executives understand that any team that stays put will have some major repair work to do with their ticket-buying customers.
The three town halls in St Louis, San Diego and Oakland each drew between 400 and 800 people who mostly pleaded with league representatives to not let their respective teams fly off.
But as one sceptical Raiders loyalist in Oakland told the Los Angeles Times: “I have a hard time believing a town-hall meeting is going to have any say in a multi-billion-dollar business deal.”
He got that right.
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