The Oakland Raiders have yet to use gold markings at O.Co Coliseum for the 50-yard line or for the NFL shield logo in the end zones.
Despite comments from the stadium’s general manager Chris Wright indicating the Raiders had no plans to use the markings to honor Super Bowl 50 with the gold markings, Raiders owner Mark Davis said otherwise on Wednesday. Per Davis, the reasons for the lack of markings in the team’s first two home games are due to the still ongoing baseball season of the Oakland Athletics.
“It’s baseball-related,” Davis said, via Bill Williamson of ESPN.com. “Nobody respects the Super Bowl more than the Raiders. 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 it next year.”
Wright had said the Raiders had given them instructions not to paint the field with the gold markings that have been implemented across the league.
“It has nothing to do with baseball,” Wright said. “The last six home baseball games are through this weekend, and there will be no gold marks for the rest of the Raiders’ regular season.”
Davis said he called 49ers owner Jed York to clear up any potential misunderstandings regarding the matter with Super Bowl 50 set to be played in Santa Clara in February.
“It’s just beyond me,” Davis said. “I don’t normally talk about non-stories, but I wanted to clear this up.”
The A’s final home game is this Sunday. The Raiders next home game is against the Denver Broncos on Oct. 11 and the gold field marking should be in place by then.
