Prior to the season in March 1980, fellow NFL owners voted against the proposed move by the Raiders from Oakland, California to Los Angeles. Raiders team owner Al Davis along with the Los Angeles Coliseum sued the NFL charging that they had violated antitrust laws. A verdict in the trial would not be decided until before the 1982 NFL season and thus the 1980 and 1981 Raiders would continue to play in Oakland while awaiting a judgement.
Oakland Raiders announce future move to Los Angeles in defiance of NFL vote
In 1979, Raiders owner Al Davis announced his intention to move the Raiders to Los Angeles. Negotiations between Davis and the Oakland Coliseum regarding potential improvements to the facility came to an end in February 1980. At the NFL's annual meeting on March 10, 1980, team owners voted 22–0 against allowing the move, with the Raiders not participating and five teams abstaining. Davis announced he would ignore the vote and move the team anyway.[2]
The Raiders played the entire 1980 season in Oakland. At a Monday Night Football game against the Denver Broncos on December 1, 1980, Raider fans protested by entering the Oakland Coliseum five minutes after the start of the game and holding up signs stating "Save Our Raiders" at each half's 2-minute warning. By some estimates, "almost two-thirds" of the Coliseum's seats had been empty at the game's kickoff.[2]
The announced move was involved in four lawsuits: the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission sued the NFL charging antitrust violations, the NFL sued the Raiders charging breach of contract, Raider season ticket holders filed a class-action lawsuit, and the City of Oakland filed for eminent domain of the team.[2]
In May 1982, a jury ruled that the NFL had violated antitrust law by attempting to prevent the move, clearing the way for Davis to move the Raiders for the 1982 season. In April 1983, after the team's first season in Los Angeles, a separate jury awarded the Raiders $35 million in damages.[2]
The league added a 15th officiating crew, promoting Bob McElwee to referee. The league previously had 15 crews in 1976 (when the league expanded to 28 teams) and 1977. After referee Bernie Ulman retired after the 1977 season, the league used only 14 crews for the 1978 and 1979 seasons, requiring all 14 of them to be on hand for the weekly workload of 14 games.
Major rule changes
A ten-second runoff will be implemented when a team commits the following actions to conserve time within the last minute of either half or overtime (with the half/game/regulation ending automatically if 10 or less seconds remain on the game clock; this was changed to after the two-minute warning in the 2017 NFL season):
Fouls by either team that prevents the snap (e.g. false start, encroachment, etc.)
Intentional grounding
Illegal forward pass thrown from beyond the line of scrimmage
Throwing a backward pass out of bounds
Spiking or throwing the ball in the field of play after a down has ended, except after a touchdown
Any other intentional foul that causes the clock to stop.
Any excess time-out taken for injuries by either team.
Teams can take a time-out (if available) to prevent the runoff.[3]
Players are prohibited from striking, swinging, or clubbing to the head, face, or neck. The personal foul could be called whether or not the initial contact was made below the neck.
A "Guidelines for Captains" section was added to the rules.
Records
The New Orleans Saints lost their first 14 games to start the season that matched a record set by the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Division Races
From 1978 to 1989, ten teams qualified for the playoffs: the winners of each of the divisions, and two wild-card teams in each conference. These are the leaders for each playoff slot, week by week. Teams listed in week 16 indicate playoff participants.
Thanksgiving: Two games were played on Thursday, November 27, featuring Chicago at Detroit and Seattle at Dallas. Chicago would prevail in overtime, while Dallas emerged victorious in a 51–7 rout.
Note: The San Diego Chargers (the AFC 1 seed) did not play the Oakland Raiders (the 4 seed) in the Divisional playoff round because both teams were in the same division.
St. Louis Cardinals: Jim Hanifan became the Cardinals' new head coach. Bud Wilkinson was fired after the team started the 1979 season at 3–10, and the team's personal director Larry Wilson served as interim for the last three games.
The Cincinnati Bengals switched from gray to black face masks. The Bengals also added TV numbers to the sleeves of their jerseys, becoming the last NFL team to do so.
The Denver Broncos discontinued wearing orange pants with their white jerseys.
The Houston Oilers dropped the blue pants worn with their white jerseys for this season only.
The Green Bay Packers switched from gray to forest green face masks.
The Miami Dolphins switched from gray to aqua face masks.
The New York Giants went to a simpler three-stripe pattern on the sleeve cuffs and jersey collar, while also removing the white stripes on their helmets, leaving the red stripe in the center as the only stripe on the helmet. They also changed the shade of blue on their jerseys from navy to the more familiar royal blue.
This was the third year under the league's four-year broadcast contracts with ABC, CBS, and NBC to televise Monday Night Football, the NFC package, and the AFC package, respectively. Phyllis George returned to The NFL Today, replacing Jayne Kennedy (who had previously replaced George in 1978).[4]
NBC made history with an announcerless telecast of the December 20, nationally televised Saturday game between the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins. With both teams out of playoff contention during the last week of the regular season, NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer used this as a one-shot experiment in an attempt to boost ratings.[5]
Late in the 4th Quarter of a Monday Night Football game between the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins on December 8, ABC Monday Night Football announcers Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell broke the news of the passing of former Beatle, John Lennon, who was shot twice outside of his Manhattan apartment.
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