Fear not, Raiders fans, the Black Hole will move with Mark Davis' team from Oakland to Las Vegas.
While original fears that the notorious end zone spot dubbed the "Black Hole" might get lost in the move, rumblings out of Las Vegas have shot that down.
"A lot of the folks that sit in the Black Hole in Oakland bought tickets in the south end zone at Allegiant," Raiders president Marc Badain told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "Whether that happens organically, we'll see what happens."
How rowdy that section becomes after the move remains to be seen. Cisco Ortega, the vice president of the Black Hole group's headquarters and president of the Las Vegas chapter, told Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal there are members of the organization littered throughout the new $2 billion stadium.
"I believe there's about eight (members in the south end zone)," Ortega said. "There will be other Black Hole members in the section over and different sections in the stadium. ... I know that area (end zone) is known as the Black Hole area, but the entire coliseum in Oakland we had Black Hole members throughout that whole stadium."
Badain noted that 40 percent of purchases of personal seat licenses for the 65,000-seat stadium came from outside the state of Nevada. Given Vegas' proximity to Los Angeles and the relatively short flight from Oakland, it's not a surprise that an intensely loyal fan base would travel to meet its team after the latest move.
The transferring of the Black Hole from Oakland to Vegas underscores devotion of a fan base that is second to none. Even as the long, slow divorce from Oakland played out, the fans in the stands never wavered, never shunned the franchise. Getting their hometown team whisked to the glitz and glamour of Vegas didn't seem to dent Raiders fans much at all. Their hearts just moved to Nevada.
"We'll be launching our Black Hole chapter (in Las Vegas) with an official chapter party," Ortega said of the planned Super Bowl launch. "We're already here, we have our office. ... We are more than just fun stuff. We make ourselves known in the community."
After moves from Oakland to L.A. back to Oakland and now to Vegas, Raiders fans hope they'll finally have a permanent community to set up shop and unleash a new Black Hole.
