Oakland Raiders To Las Vegas: Organization Moves One Step Closer To Relocation To ‘Sin City’


The Oakland Raiders moved one step closer to relocating to Las Vegas on Thursday when it was announced that a Nevada oversight committee approved a $750 million public funding plan for a new stadium, according to CBS News’ Mark Albert. This is huge news for the Raiders and owner Mark Davis, as they are now one step away from building a stadium and moving to Sin City.

“The approval Thursday from the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee is a major victory for the plan, which still needs approval from the governor and Legislature,” according to the Associated Press.

“Stadium proponents including the Las Vegas Sands want to raise the hotel tax for a venue that’s estimated to cost $1.9 billion. They don’t want to return any profits to the public because they say they’ll make little or no money on the 65,000-seat stadium.”

The next step in the process, if approved by Nevada governor Brian Sandoval and the state legislature, would be to get approval from the NFL owners in order for the Raiders to move to Las Vegas. Relocation requires a 75 percent majority vote by the owners which means that 24 of the 32 owners would have to vote yes to allow the Raiders to move from Oakland to Las Vegas.

The owners are next scheduled to meet in January and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has said previously that he wouldn’t stand in the way of the Raiders’ potential move to Las Vegas if the owners approved it.

“Ultimately, it’s the ownership’s decision,” Goodell said during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show. “It requires 24 of the 32 owners to approve any relocation to any market.”

Back in January, CBSSports.com’s John Breech made it pretty clear that if the $750 million was approved in public funding for the $1.9 billion stadium that the Raiders would be on the move to Las Vegas.

“During the presentation, the Raiders — and their partner, the Sands Casino Group — made one thing absolutely clear: If the state of Nevada is willing to commit $750 million in public funding towards a new NFL stadium, then the stadium will get built and the Raiders will move to Vegas.”

The Raiders attempted to be a part of the Rams move to Los Angeles earlier this year, but Rams owner Stan Kroenke preferred the San Diego Chargers to the Raiders because Raiders’ fans could be big trouble, according to Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole.

“One of the big reasons, an underlying reason for the Rams wanting to have the Chargers in Los Angeles with them is that the Rams don’t really want to have the Raiders there,” Cole said. “They view the Raiders as part of a marketing challenge because of the Raiders’ history there and specifically because they’re building such an elaborate complex in the Inglewood area that’s going to feature shopping. The Rams frankly don’t want to have a lot of Raider fans in that area. That’s what’s working against the Raiders working against Los Angeles in this situation.”

ESPN’s Seth Wickersham and Don Van Natta Jr. also added that the Raiders’ apparel being affiliated with gangs as a reason owners didn’t want the Raiders to move to Los Angeles.

“Most owners wanted to avoid a Raiders return to Los Angeles, owing to Al Davis’ burned bridges and the co-opting of the team apparel by gangs, concerns so deep that some wouldn’t even consider Carson.”

Complex.com reported that Raiders apparel is the third-most sought after gang attire behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds. The members of People Nation and Folk Nation in Chicago have adopted it as their official attire.

Possibly, owners will feel a little better about the Raiders’ potential move to Las Vegas, but Davis will probably still have to do some selling as there are owners who feel as if Vegas could cause problems with the gambling and party scene that’s associated with the city. Some owners reportedly are concerned that it could cause problems with player conduct.

[Featured Image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]

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