The Story Behind Raiders Nation South LA

Where It Started

Los Angeles was Raiders country before a lot of people want to admit it. From 1982 to 1994, the Coliseum was home. The team left, but the fans never did. They got older, had kids, passed the colors down, and kept showing up every Sunday — in garages, at backyard barbecues, at bars that stayed loyal when the jerseys got harder to find.

Raiders Nation South LA started in 2013 with a simple idea: if the community was going to keep showing up, it might as well show up together. What began as a handful of die-hards watching games at Rock It Bar & Grill in Hawthorne grew into something none of us fully expected — an officially recognized booster club, a registered nonprofit, and a year-round engine for community work across South Los Angeles.

What We Built

Watch parties became fundraisers. Fundraisers became scholarships. Scholarships became graduates. Graduates became the reason we keep going. Along the way, we added a youth football clinic, a back-to-school supply drive, a Thanksgiving turkey giveaway, and a holiday toy drive to the calendar. None of it was planned from day one — all of it grew because the people in this club kept asking the same question: what else can we do?

Today RNSLA is built on three things. The game — we are Raider Nation first and that never changes. The neighborhood — South LA is home and every dollar we raise, we try to spend here. And the next one — whether it is the next member, the next scholar, or the next kid we hand a backpack to, we are always thinking one generation ahead.

What Comes Next

We are still a volunteer-run operation. We still meet in the same spots. We still argue about the depth chart. And we still believe that a fan club, done right, can be one of the most useful institutions a neighborhood has. If you have been riding with us since the beginning or you are just hearing about us for the first time — pull up. There is always room.