NFL won’t allow casino owners any stake in Raiders’ possible move to Las Vegas

By Case Keefer (contact)

Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017 | 2 a.m.

The NFL isn’t counting out Las Vegas as the potential new home to the Raiders. It’s just ruling out most of the people who could help make it happen by filling the $650 million void left when Sheldon Adelson pulled his commitment out of the proposed $1.9 billion stadium earlier this week.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell intimated Wednesday at his annual Super Bowl state of the league news conference that a casino owner like Adelson, Las Vegas Sands CEO, couldn’t be involved with the Raiders’ relocation.

“I don’t see an ownership position in a team from a casino,” Goodell said. “That’s not something that’s consistent with our policy, not likely a stadium either.”

Goodell hadn’t explicitly stated that position since the Nevada Legislature earmarked $750 million in public money to build the stadium last year. But it’s one many speculated the NFL owners held since the relationship between Adelson and Raiders owner Mark Davis began to deteriorate.

It’s problematic for Las Vegas considering almost anyone local with the ability to step in for Adelson financially would come from the gaming industry. If the Raiders are to move to Las Vegas, it now appears that they would need to secure outside financing from an investment bank like Goldman Sachs, which was linked to the stadium project before following Adelson out.

“From our standpoint, we have rules that are in place,” Goodell said. “The Raiders haven’t asked us to compromise those rules as it relates to our policy. We will continue to have that policy going forward.”

Sports betting seemed like an insignificant issue as recently as two weeks ago when the Raiders filed their relocation papers with full funding in place for the new stadium. But the league’s previously draconian stance on gambling was a reason some stayed pessimistic about the prospects of the Las Vegas Raiders even as everything lined up for a move.

They’ll all be proven correct if the deal falls through because Davis is unable to find the $650 million to complete the project.

“As it relates to whether gambling can coexist with the NFL, in fact, it does,” Goodell said. “It’s happening today. It’s sponsored by governments. It exists throughout our world. What we have always said is there needs to be a fine line between team sports gambling and the NFL.”

That fine line apparently stops at someone from the gaming industry even holding a minimal stake in a team.

The Raiders do have time to rectify the issue.

Goodell stressed that the league was in no hurry to make a decision. He didn’t commit to a previously reported vote at the annual meetings at the end of March in Phoenix where 24 of the 32 owners would need to approve the move.

“Financing the stadium is just one (element),” Goodell said. “Obviously the stadium project itself, the depth of the market, all of those are things we’ve studied over the last several months but that will increase in intensity over the next month or so as we move forward in that process.”

There are no indications that the Raiders are ready to back down from their intentions of moving. They issued a statement after Adelson’s exit pledging a continued commitment to wind up in Las Vegas, and the director of the Governor’s Office of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday reported the same feeling.

They’re just going to have to get creative when it comes to funding. They’re going to have to find a partner outside of gaming.

“We want to protect the integrity of our game,” Goodell said, “and that’s how we will always be.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.