NFL owners shouldn’t stop Raiders’ move to Las Vegas

Sunday, Dec. 18, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Nobody likes to see someone lose something they love, and that’s certainly the case with the passionate fans of the Oakland Raiders.

But as difficult as this may be to acknowledge, Las Vegas is offering the NFL team a better deal than the one put together by Oakland-area backers to keep the team rooted in California. By all indications at this point, league owners would be misguided not to allow the Raiders to move.

The biggest difference between the two deals? The one here is more concrete.

The Oakland proposal, put together by former Raiders defensive back Ronnie Lott, is merely the framework for a deal. It provides the basis for negotiations that would keep the Raiders in the Bay Area.

In Las Vegas, state and county leaders already have signed off on $750 million in public funding for the stadium. To that, the Raiders/NFL would add $500 million and the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson would put up $650 million.

Although there have been reports that Adelson and Raiders owner Mark Davis are having difficulty coming to terms on the deal, the Las Vegas proposal seems much firmer than Lott’s. And let’s be clear: Since Nevada and Clark County leaders have committed the tax money to the project, the public is expecting Adelson to put the community’s needs in the forefront of the negotiations and bring this deal home.

It would appear that for NFL owners, a sticking point is whether Las Vegas would be a good market for a team. That’s a legitimate concern to some extent, given that Las Vegas would be the fifth-smallest NFL town.

But comparing the city to those other smaller communities — Green Bay, Wis.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Buffalo, N.Y.; and New Orleans — is apples and oranges.

A Las Vegas team wouldn’t need to rely on a local fan base as much as the Packers, Jaguars, Bills and Saints, and the reason is that those teams aren’t playing in places that draw 42 million-plus visitors. It’s not a huge stretch to think fans in other NFL cities would circle their team’s games in Las Vegas on their calendars and travel here for a party weekend on those dates.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had long seemed to be cool toward Las Vegas, based partly on a concern over the possibility of influence by gamblers. But he appears to have warmed up to Las Vegas as a league site, at least based on comments he made last week after a meeting of league owners.

“There are some real strengths to the Las Vegas market,” he said. “It’s clear the Las Vegas market has become more diversified and more broadly involved with entertainment and hitting big events. There is a growth to the market. You can see the trajectory and where it’s going when you look at the data. There are some very positive things about it.”

All very true.

Meanwhile, Davis has been resolute in saying he’s committed to moving the team. If he’s truly all in, that’s another good reason for NFL owners to back him. A vote is expected by midyear 2017, and 24 of the 32 owners would need to approve the deal in order for the move to happen.

Despite what happened last week, when Oakland-area leaders approved the Lott proposal, there’s nothing to indicate that the owners shouldn’t allow Davis to leave for Las Vegas.

Although Goodell is correct when he says “relocations are painful and something we want to avoid at all costs,” this one makes sense.

It will be a sad day for the team’s Bay Area fans, no doubt — especially since they lost the team once before to Los Angeles. They deserve sympathy. But unless something changes drastically between now and next month, the owners shouldn’t let emotion trump a good deal in an exciting new market.