The Oakland Raiders are rumored to be inching ever closer to a move to Las Vegas, with one NFL owner now saying there is at least a 50-50 chance that the team relocates within the next year.
The Raiders were at the forefront of relocation rumors for the past few years as the NFL looked to fill a void in Los Angeles by moving at least one team there. With a tenuous relationship with the city of Oakland and plenty of questions regarding their stadium deal, the Raiders were seen as a logical fit to return to their former home in the City of Angels.
But the St. Louis Rams instead made the jump, announcing after the season that they would move to Los Angeles next season. That has done little to quell rumors regarding the Oakland Raiders, however.
This week, Bleacher Report writer Mike Freeman spoke to an unnamed NFL owner who said the chance of the Raiders leaving for Las Vegas “is now 50 percent — and maybe as high as 75.”
Owner: Raiders chances of Las Vegas move “as high as 75 [percent]” (via @mikefreemanNFL ) https://t.co/YjujNYuwfD pic.twitter.com/MeKnZDCEB0
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 13, 2016
The Raiders had long flirted with the idea of leaving Oakland, even making visits to San Antonio last year to meet with public officials and discuss the potential for relocation. But these actions were seen as a stalking horse to win a better deal from the city of Oakland on a new stadium.
Freeman believes the rumors of the Oakland Raiders moving to Las Vegas are legitimate this time.
“I’m beginning to believe that—if this isn’t a ploy by the Raiders to get more cash from Oakland—this Raiders-to-Vegas thing has a real chance of happening. I’m far from the only one who thinks that. The sentiment is clearly growing—and growing far faster than people know—throughout the upper hierarchy of the sport.”
Freeman’s source said the sentiment regarding a potential Las Vegas NFL team has shifted considerably in recent years. The idea of a team in Sin City was once “considered poison,” the owner said, but the potential dollar signs have changed that.
“That’s not the case any longer,” he said. “One of the things owners see is there’s a lot of money to be made there.” He laughed. “A lot of money will ease those gambling concerns.”
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has even said publicly that he would support the idea of a team moving to Las Vegas — as long as it had “the right ownership.”
The Las Vegas Raiders? Count Jerry Jones as one influential owner who’s open to the idea https://t.co/qjDFkRfmFp
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) May 11, 2016
However much truth there is to the rumor, it is another sign that the Raiders may not have much of a future in Oakland. Early this year, the San Diego Chargers were given an open invitation to join the Los Angeles Rams in a partnership, league sources told ESPN . If the Chargers did end up moving, it was believed that San Diego would make a hard pitch for the Raiders to replace them.
As Pro Football Talk reported, the idea of the Oakland Raiders moving seems a lot more plausible now than during its past visits to San Antonio.
“The prospect of a San Antonio is met with a shrug, especially since anyone who understands anything about the league realizes that the Cowboys and Texans would never stand for that. But San Diego could scare Oakland; a departure of the Chargers could make the powers-that-be in San Diego more determined than ever to build a stadium, and the possibility of luring Oakland’s arch rivals to town introduces a revenge mindset that could help sway voters, if a stadium initiative ever heads to the ballot box.”
If the rumors of a move to Las Vegas are true, the Oakland Raiders could still have a battle ahead. While many owners are warming the idea of a team in Las Vegas, others are still opposed, including New York Giants co-owner John Mara.
[Image via Instagram /Oakland Raiders]
