Lease negotiations between the Raiders and the Las Vegas Stadium Authority have "intensified in the past few days as NFL owners set a soft deadline of May 23 for approving the document," according to Adam Candee of the LAS VEGAS SUN. League owners will gather in Chicago on that date for spring meetings, and they "want to bless the Raiders lease because they will not gather again until fall." LVSA Chair Steve Hill said, "We’re going to do what we can to get the lease basically in final form by then, if it’s possible. We told the Raiders we’ll do everything we can to make that happen." It remains "unclear what would happen if the sides can't come to terms on the 30-year lease and it's not sent to the league by that date." Both sides acknowledge "little margin for error in the next three years to construct and open the 65,000-seat domed stadium in time" for the '20 NFL season. The Raiders and the authority "already faced a tight timeline for completing a dozen required documents including the lease by the end of September" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 5/11). CBSSPORTS.com's John Breech wrote 30 months "might not be an easy number to hit." The last NFL stadium to be built "took 32 months (U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis)," while Mercedes-Benz Stadium "will likely be a 39-month project." If the Las Vegas stadium were to "run into any issues, that could mean the Raiders end up playing one more season in Oakland" (CBSSPORTS.com, 5/10).
