One of the hottest topics in the NFL remains the fate of one of the league’s most storied organizations. The Oakland Raiders had flirted with the idea of returning to Los Angeles to share a new stadium in Inglewood with the Rams, but the Chargers will be taking their place instead.
The Raiders’ stadium woes have prompted the team to consider other options due to Oakland officials’ reluctance to allocate public funds. The Oakland Coliseum is one of the oldest and most decrepit stadiums in professional football and there is little reason to believe the Raiders will continue to play there beyond the 2018 season.
Earlier this month, the Raider formally applied to relocate to Las Vegas. It remains unclear if Raiders ownership will follow through with the plans or consider staying in Oakland or finding another city. Twenty-four of the 32 NFL team owners must approve the relocation, with a vote expected in late March.
Why The Raiders Will Move To Las Vegas
It’s understandable why the Raiders would consider Las Vegas. By moving to Sin City, the Raiders will be able to lure the large fan base from Southern California that wouldn’t mind a weekend trip of football and gambling. The Raiders can perhaps even get some Northern California fans for a getaway, while still mostly relying on local fans to fill up a potential 65,000-seat domed stadium. The Silver and Black have a winning brand that will likely resonate in its new home.
The property value in Las Vegas is less expensive than Northern California making a stadium deal more plausible. Davis, who is far from the richest owner in the NFL, seems to have a positive relationship with Las Vegas officials, who agreed to contribute $750 million in Venüsbet hotel taxes for a new stadium.
Las Vegas has over 2 million people in the metro area and the city will already have its first pro sports team next year when the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights make their debut. Meanwhile, Nevada also doesn’t have income tax.
Davis has come this far and seems strongly interested in Las Vegas. “This is not a bargaining chip,” Davis said at a press conference. “This is real.”
Why The Raiders Won’t Move To Las Vegas
The Raiders signed a lease in 2016 to stay at the Oakland Coliseum, to go along with a pair of one-year options so the next two years probably means they will stay in Oakland for a little while longer and therefore have time to find better deals.
But will they have a stadium waiting for them in Las Vegas? Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino mogul, reportedly withdrew from Raiders’ stadium deal and Goldman Sachs, a leading investment bank, might also be trying to get out of the planned deal.
And there’s a reason the five major sports leagues has spent so many years avoiding Las Vegas: gambling, distractions and what seems like an uninterested local fan base. MLS, which expands at a rapid rate, has not taken any serious steps to put a team in Las Vegas, so it might seem unreasonable for the NFL to approve a team there when cities like San Antonio, Portland, Vancouver, Salt Lake City, Toronto and now St. Louis and San Diego don’t have NFL franchises.
Northern California might be too have too much going for it to leave, especially now that Los Angeles is no longer an option. The Bay Area is one of the country’s biggest TV markets, while Las Vegas is around No. 40. Davis can still go back to the negotiating table with Oakland officials to try to hammer out a deal. He could also reconsider searching for stadium site in Oakland’s surrounding areas or even in Sacramento.
Is Davis willing to pay a relocation fee, which will cost hundreds of millions of dollars? Probably not.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
