Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

ray brewer:

Las Vegas Raiders has a nice ring to it

2016 Best of Photo: Steve Marcus

Steve Marcus

Raiders owner Mark Davis poses with Raiders fans during a bill signing ceremony at UNLV Monday, Oct. 17, 2016. The bill will increase hotel room tax to help finance a $1.9 billion stadium.

Sandoval Signs Bills For Stadium and More Cops

A truck decorated with a Raiders helmet and Launch slideshow »

We repeatedly asked ourselves, surely in disbelief of how fast the process accelerated: What could prevent the Oakland Raiders from relocating to Las Vegas?

That was the prevailing question over the past year since plans for a new $1.9 billion stadium near the Strip to lure the franchise from the Bay Area were announced.

One by one, the dominoes fell in place. Financing for the stadium was approved with $750 million in public money, the NFL softened its stance on Las Vegas, and Raiders owner Mark Davis on Thursday officially followed through on his intentions to relocate here.

A year ago, I thought the Las Vegas Raiders were a dream and that Davis was using our community as leverage to get a new stadium in Oakland. I thought the NFL wouldn’t entertain a franchise in “Sin City,” where league brass had previously voiced concerns about our sports gambling.

Thursday, it became a reality when Davis submitted relocation papers with the league. The move will require approval from 24 of the NFL's 32 owners during a March vote, clearing the way for Las Vegas to join the exclusive fraternity of 32 cities with a team.

This was one of many steps. It's OK to rejoice at Thursday's news, but don't crack open the bottle of champagne just yet. There's still work to be done and concerns to be answered. Here are a few potential roadblocks:

Eight owners could band together and vote against the move. But it’s unlikely because Nevada is shelling out millions and every owner would jump at the opportunity for that funding for a new facility. Arthur Blank of the Atlanta Falcons previously said Las Vegas is too small of a city to support a team, but he appears to be in the minority. It’s a close-knit group of owners, and they wouldn’t deny one of their own.

Financing for the stadium could fall through. The initial plan was for the Raiders to contribute $500 million and Sheldon Adelson of Las Vegas Sands Corp. to provide $650 million. But they still haven’t come to terms. Regardless, investment firm Goldman Sachs Group has expressed interest in funding if Adelson and the Raiders can’t agree. Terms, though, need to be official by the vote in March to give owners something concrete to consider. Same for exactly where in Las Vegas the stadium will be built.

• Most of the league’s money comes from television revenue and the Las Vegas market is too small. It doesn’t make sense for the league to leave the sixth media market of the Bay Area (San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose) for Las Vegas, which ranks 40th with 719,000 TV households, according to Pro Football Talk. We’d be the fifth-smallest market, larger than only Buffalo, Green Bay, New Orleans and Jacksonville. Games on TV, not people in the seats, drive revenue.

What about betting on the games? That should have never been an issue. This is the only state where sports-gaming is regulated. We have standards and protocols to make it difficult for games to be fixed. Wagers of more than a certain threshold are documented and casinos are in constant contact with each other. If there is any suspicious activity, the game is taken off the betting board. Plus, no player making the league minimum of $465,000 is willing to risk his career by placing a wager or fixing the game.

Why is another team moving? It could be considered a black-eye for the league with three teams relocating in two years. And those other two teams, the Rams and Chargers, haven’t exactly been received with open arms in their new home of Los Angeles. But that won’t be the case in Las Vegas with the Raiders, a franchise with a deep fan base here and a four-hour drive from Southern California, where many other fans are.

Let’s celebrate today and start looking at tomorrow. Having the NFL here would change the fabric of our city and bring a tremendous economic boost, especially on game weekends. Let’s not fumble on the goal-line.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy