The Oakland Raiders are a professional football team in the National Football League. The team is located in Oakland, California and play their home games at O.co Coliseum. The O.co Coliseum has a capacity of 63,132 and opened in 1966. The team plays in the AFC West division and is currently coached by Dennis Allen. The team was established in 1960 and was one of the seminal members of the AFL, and joined the NFL in 1970 after the AFL-NFL Merger.
The team has featured 18 head coaches in their more than 50 year history including seven since 2002. Hall of Fame coaches Al Davis and John Madden both coached for the Raiders with Madden compiling a 103-32-7 record with the team in the regular season and a 9-7 record in the playoffs. Madden and Art Shell are the only two coaches in team history who have won Coach of the Year honors with Madden taking the honor in 1969 and Shell winning in 1990. The team has made 21 playoff appearances, most recently in 2002. The team has won the division title 15 different times including a streak of three straight between 2000 and 2002. The team has won four conference championships, to go along with three Super Bowl championships in 1976, 1980, and in 1983.
The Raiders organization has featured 20 total Hall of Famers including 11 who spent the majority of their career with the Raiders. The team has a policy of not retiring numbers, nor do they honor former players officially or unofficially. Three former Raiders have won the MVP Award: Ken Stabler in 1974, Marcus Allen in 1985, and Rich Gannon in 2002. Three former Raiders won the Super Bowl MVP Award including Fred Biletnikoff, Jim Plunkett, and Marcus Allen.
The Raiders have a number of rivalries; however, their two biggest rivals are the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Since their first meeting in 1960, the Chiefs and Raiders have faced off 106 times. The Chiefs hold the lead in the regular season 53-44-2, as well as 2-1 in the playoffs, including a 41-6 trouncing by the Raiders. In the “Battle of the Bay,” the 49ers and the Raiders, despite being in different conferences, have one of the fiercest rivalries. In 2011, outside of a preseason matchup between the two teams, a shootout broke out, causing future preseason games to be cancelled between the two teams.
