In terms of the housing market, new Raiders coach Jack Del Rio has bought a fixer-upper.
That’s the roster he inherited, and the team’s facility as well.
According to Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com, Del Rio said he hopes to be able to update the team’s training facility in Alameda, to bring it up to modern NFL standards.
“It was kind of like how I felt about taking the job,” Del Rio said. “I knew there was work to be done, and I’m excited about having the opportunity to mold this place and make an impact.”
The first order of business is upgrading the weight room and practice fields. The fields are in better shape since General Manager Reggie McKenzie was hired in 2012, but more work is being done.
“We’ve got some plans that you’ll see unfold with the weight room and the fields,” Del Rio said, “that the players are going to be very excited about when they get back. . . .
“We want to make sure that everything we’re doing every day gives us an opportunity to win our division and be in position to win championships.”
In addition to the field and weight rooms, players will come back to a revamped strength and conditioning and nutrition program.
It might sound like a small step, but the process of being taken seriously as an NFL franchise depends on such things, at least among the players they need to be taken seriously on the field.