Las Vegas Raiders
A few months after the AFL's first draft in 1959, owners of the Minneapolis new team (later known as the Minnesota Vikings) accepted the invitation to join the National Football League. Needing a replacement, the AFL tried to find one quickly. Oakland was thought to be an unlikely city to have a professional American football team. The AFL owners picked Oakland after Los Angeles Chargers owner Barron Hilton threatened to drop his team unless a second team was placed on the West Coast. The city of Oakland was awarded the eighth AFL team on January 30, 1960, and the team took over the Minneapolis club's draft picks. The new Oakland team was called the "Raiders", which is used as a synonym for a pirate. The team logo includes an illustration of a pirate.