ALAMEDA – Raiders owner Mark Davis walked into the media room on Wednesday, ready to drive a stake through the gold paint story circulating the day before.
The Raiders didn’t paint the O.co Coliseum’s 50-yard line gold as the rest of the league did at their home venues, in honor of Super Bowl 50. The game’s golden anniversary will occur this winter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
Oakland’s 50-yard line wasn’t white as some sort of passive protest. Davis made that perfectly clear, and said the gold markings would be present for the Raiders next home game, a Week 5 contest versus Denver.
[RELATED: Report: Raiders refuse on-field markings honoring Super Bowl 50]
“Nobody respects the Super Bowl more than the Raiders,” Davis said. “We had a little to do with the (AFL-NFL merger) and those types of things. We’ve played in 10 percent of the Super Bowls, and we hope to play in next year.”
Davis said he spoke with 49ers owner Jed York about stories that came out suggesting there was some hidden agenda behind it. Davis said it has everything to do with sharing a stadium with MLB’s Oakland Athletics.
The Raiders don’t paint end zones or logos on the field during baseball season, which coincided with the team’s first two home games. The A’s season will be done by the Raiders next home game, and all appropriate markings will be on the field.
“It’s unbelievable the ideas that people are throwing out there in terms of reasons why we’re doing it,” Davis said. “It’s just beyond me. I don’t normally talk about non-stories, but I wanted to clear this up.”
