Two NFL owners said that there was "zero discussion" of a potential Raiders move to Las Vegas at last week's owners' meeting, adding that none of the owners had "seen any research, market studies, or plans about how the Raiders and the NFL would succeed" in the market, according to Ben Volin of the BOSTON GLOBE. A source said that the Bay Area "has much more value for the NFL than does Vegas, and the best option is clearly for the Raiders to stay put." Volin: "[Raiders Owner Mark] Davis is a long, long, long way off from pulling it off" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/29). In N.Y., Bart Hubbuch noted league insiders "describe themselves as blindsided by how suddenly and rapidly a move" by the Raiders to Vegas by Davis is "picking up steam among Davis' counterparts." Plenty of "significant obstacles remain, but the idea of the Las Vegas Raiders is a lot more realistic today than it was just two months ago" (N.Y. POST, 5/29).
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said she feels "very confident" about potentially bringing the Raiders to Vegas. Goodman: "We really have been working very hard to work out the details. It's all about the numbers, always about the money, and whether or not the public is going to have any participation in it. ... What we're looking for in funding this is trying to find different avenues where we can get the dollars to help build this stadium because the economic boon to the entire community will far outweigh any cost." Goodman said of the reported number of $750M needed in tax money to fund a stadium, "We are pretty close on that number now. ... We are always talking about ways that we can reduce that number, but we want to build a first-class stadium. ... We are looking at about 65,000 seats" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 5/31).
