Menu
Franchises

NFL Owners Appear Likely To Approve Raiders' Relocation Plan For Las Vegas

NFL owners will almost surely approve the Raiders' relocation to Las Vegas by noon PT today at their meeting in Phoenix, conditional on the team securing a lease and hiring a developer. After the vote, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Raiders Owner Mark Davis, Texans Owner Bob McNair (finance committee chair) and Steelers President Art Rooney II (stadium committee chair) are set to speak to the media. The Raiders would play two more seasons in Oakland. It is unclear where they would play in '19, with the $1.7B Las Vegas stadium not slated to be completed until '20 (Daniel Kaplan, Staff Writer). Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones said, "It’s going to be an exciting day for Vegas." In Las Vegas, Adam Candee writes, "For decades, this day felt tantalizingly close yet impossibly beyond their fingers for Las Vegans weary of being leveraged by professional sports franchises in all four major sports to get a better deal at home." Even the Raiders "looked shaky when casino magnate Sheldon Adelson backed out" of his $650M stake in the Las Vegas stadium project in January. A Raiders contingent including Davis and President Marc Badain will "explain how the team will pay" for its $1.7B stadium project and "why its options are exhausted for remaining in a larger TV market with a stronger economy." If 24 of the league’s owners vote for Nevada and its $750M commitment of public tax money, the Raiders "could begin playing in Las Vegas" by '20, which "could push the final thumbs-up to the league’s next meeting in May" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 3/27).

DONE DEAL? In L.A., Farmer, Klein & Woike cite sources as saying that both the NFL's stadium and finance committees -- groups comprising 18 owners -- "will endorse the relocation [today] before the full membership of 32." It is "not known whether those committees are unanimous in their support of the Raiders’ plan, but a significant majority favors it" (L.A. TIMES, 3/27). USA TODAY's Tom Pelissero cites another owner who "estimated a vote count in the range of 28-4" in favor of relocation. The owner said, "It's a done deal" (USA TODAY, 3/27). THE MMQB's Peter King writes he "couldn’t find many (just one, actually) club officials or owners" yesterday who "thought the Raiders’ move wouldn’t be approved." The one was an AFC team official whose owner "might vote against it simply because the owner" is against "abandoning a rising team in America’s sixth-largest market ... for the 40th-largest market." Goodell said of the possible relocation, "It is painful all the way around. The first thing you think about is the fans. It's [a] disappointment that we weren't able to get to a successful conclusion." King writes, "For years the NFL treated anything in Las Vegas like it was poison." But Goodell said the league is "not changing our position as it relates to legalized sports gambling." Goodell: "We still don’t think it is a positive thing" (MMQB.SI.com, 3/27).

LONG TIME COMING: In San Jose, Mark Purdy writes Davis is "in the driver’s seat, at least in the way his fellow owners look at things: He’s got the big bucks lined up." Looking at it from Oakland’s point of view, "trying to compete against such a deal is unfair." Looking at it from the owners’ point of view, this is "affirmation that building an NFL stadium is the most glorious and worthy use of public money any city or state could imagine." The Las Vegas proposal has "remaining holes to patch, including specific lease terms and infrastructure questions." But the "general feeling" is that by tonight, Davis will "feel like a true anointed prince of the NFL realm, for the first time in his life" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 3/27). ESPN's Mark Dominik said this is "tremendous for the league." Dominik: "Raiders fans travel, Raiders fans are everywhere." He added the move is good for the league because another stadium situation is "cleared up" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 3/27). Dominik also said Las Vegas is a "different world than we all want to see." Dominik: "Sure, the gaming and casinos are a big part of it, but there are good public schools, there's a good place to raise a family." He added, "I don't think it will just attract the single guys" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 3/27).

EYE ON THE PRIZE: CBSSPORTS.com's Jason La Canfora reported many owners "have serious reservations about the market size of Las Vegas, its uncertainty as a pro sports market, its television market size, its lack of corporate infrastructure ... to say nothing of the owner or two who might still harbor some sort of ethical misgivings about the whole gambling thing." But money "trumps all and the free money is more than up to snuff" (CBSSPORTS.com, 3/26). CSNBAYAREA.com's Scott Bair wrote the Raiders "worked a sweetheart deal that mines significant money from the public," and they "don’t have investors with direct ties to gambling" (CSNBAYAREA.com, 3/26).

ROLL OF THE DICE: PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio wrote the NFL's gambling concerns "seem to be obscured by the sound of the league’s looming jackpot." It will be important for both the Raiders and the NFL to have "clear plans in place for plopping players, coaches, executives, and other team employees into a place where gambling is more prevalent than good food quickly." At some point, "someone connected to the team will develop a gambling problem," and someone with a "significant gambling debt will be ripe to be compromised." The NFL "needs to be ready to prevent it" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 3/26). The AP's Tim Dahlberg writes, "What seemed unimaginable to most just a year ago is about to become a reality." The "same league that treated Las Vegas with disdain for so many years is ready to embrace it now." That "says as much about the changing mores of sports betting as it does about the fact NFL owners start salivating like Pavlovian dogs when someone else is paying for a glittering new stadium." The Raiders "would not only give the city one of the premier sports attractions in the country but could help legitimize sports betting across the country" (AP, 3/27). 

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/03/27/Franchises/Raiders-Vegas.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/03/27/Franchises/Raiders-Vegas.aspx

CLOSE