Raiders 50-Yard Line Isn't Golden Yet Because of Baseball?

There are conflicting reports on why the Oakland Raiders are refusing to place special gold marks on the 50-yard line at Oakland Coliseum for their home games, as all other NFL clubs are doing.

The NFL has asked teams to color their 50-yard line marks gold in celebration of the Super Bowl's 50th anniversary which will be held Feb. 7 at Levi's Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, reported Sports Business Daily.

Brian McCarthy, the NFL's vice president of communications, told Sports Business Daily the Raiders haven't done it because the Oakland Athletics, which share the stadium, were still using the field but will add the gold marks at the end of the baseball season.

But Chris Wright, AEG Facilities vice president and the coliseum's general manager, said those weren't the instructions given to the coliseum by the Raiders.

"It has nothing to do with baseball," said Wright. "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."

Raiders' owner Mark Davis said on Wednesday, though, according to San Jose Mercury News, that Oakland will paint the 50 yard line gold after the A's seasons ends at the former Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

"We're waiting until the baseball season's over," said Davis. "We don't paint our shield on the field, we don't paint the end zones, we don't paint gold things, but we'll be painting them for the Denver game."

The Oakland A's season ends Oct. 4, and the infield dirt will be filled with grass by the time the Raiders host the Denver Broncos on Oct. 11. That's when the team traditionally paints its end zones black and adds the Raiders logo to midfield.

Before Davis's announcement, theories of why the Raiders didn't paint the numbers spread widely, noted CBS Sports, including making a statement on their chance to reach the Super Bowl and showing their dislike for their "across the bay" rivals the 49ers, who are hosting the big game.

"That being said, if I'm the Raiders and I'm looking for either new stadium money from the NFL or permission to move to (Los Angeles), I'm probably doing whatever the league asks," said John Breech of CBS Sports.

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