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Raiders make summer return to SoCal, but locals aren’t invited

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Raiders make summer return to SoCal, but locals aren’t invited

The Las Vegas Raiders are holding training camp in Southern California, a hotbed of support for a team that built one of the most loyal brands in sports during its tenure in Los Angeles.

But local fans aren’t invited. Neither are local media.

Thanks to the NFL’s territorial marketing rights rules, the Raiders aren’t even allowed to promote the fact that they’re conducting training camp in Costa Mesa, an Orange County community just south of Los Angeles.

The Raiders called Los Angeles home from 1982-94 and became engrained in the city’s culture. Los Angeles is now officially Chargers and Rams territory — even if the most passionate football fans in the city still wear silver and black on Sundays.

Because of that, the Raiders will conduct summer practices in relative obscurity despite those fans residing a quick trip on the 405 from training camp. As quick as a trip on the 405 can get, at least.

A Los Angeles Raiders fan cheers during the game against the Buffalo Bills at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California, on December 8, 1991. The Bills won 30-27 in overtime. (George Rose/Getty Images)

The Raiders open training camp in Costa Mesa on Tuesday and will remain there until Aug. 9. It’s the first time the team’s hosted camp in California since it moved from Oakland to to Las Vegas in 2020. Because of the Rams’ and Chargers’ territorial rights, the Raiders aren’t allowed to advertise that they’re within 75 miles of Los Angeles. They’re also not allowed to invite local media or fans to attend. Las Vegas media who choose to make the trip are welcome.

“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,” the leageue’s policy reads. “If another club holds its preseason training camp within that exclusive territory then it cannot be marketed locally.”

Owner Mark Davis addressed that policy while speaking with ESPN.

“That’s where we’re having camp, but the Chargers and Rams have the ability to block us from [promoting], ” Davis said. “It’s fine.

“It would be nice if all the fans could be there, but, whatever. Like I said, the Chargers and Rams have that ability.”

So do the Raiders actually benefit from training in Los Angeles if they’re not permitted to tap into that local market? There certainly are upsides. The weather in Orange County during a sweltering summer is considerably more appealing than the Nevada desert.

Head coach Antonio Pierce — who played nine NFL seasons and came up with the idea to train in Orange County — touted a bonding experience among players for going out of town.

“It’s about team bonding,” Pierce told ESPN. “When I played … we never stayed at our facility. I was used to traveling and going away and kind of 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.”

If getting away from home is the primary objective, then there are certainly worse options than landing in Southern California. But the Raiders — and their fans — surely yearn for more.

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