The Raiders' move to Las Vegas in '20 "appears to be back on track after a brief scare over reaching an agreement" on a stadium lease, as the team and Las Vegas Stadium Authority "wrapped up negotiations" yesterday on a lease for the Raiders' events company to use a new $1.7B stadium for 30 years, according to Adam Candee of the LAS VEGAS SUN. An "updated draft will be sent" to LVSA board members to review in advance of tomorrow's scheduled meeting in "hopes they will approve the lease" before NFL owners meet Monday and Tuesday in Chicago. LVSA Chair Steve Hill said, "I don't really anticipate that there will be major concerns, so I do think that the lease will be approved in time for the owners meeting." Candee notes NFL owners must "vote to ratify the lease and after next week, they will not meet again until October." Pushing back the vote would "significantly delay an already tight schedule for stadium approvals and construction" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 5/17). Las Vegas-based financial consultancy Applied Analysis Principal Jeremy Aguero yesterday said that the "finishing touches of the deal involved implementation of language from several sources into the document." He also said that he "expects that all the essential details of the contract will be distributed" to LVSA board members today so that they will be "prepared to vote" at tomorrow's 1:00pm PT meeting (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 5/17).
MARKET WATCH: Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban on Monday said there is "no good reason” for the NFL to place a team in Las Vegas. Cuban: “It’s no disrespect to Las Vegas, it’s a great city and it’s vibrant. But they’re going to a smaller market, it’s transient. They only have to sell eight games a year and there’s a lot of money there but there are so many teams that have moved in the NFL." He said it is "just another example of chasing every last dollar." Cuban added that "tends to backfire because now you have fans in San Diego, St. Louis, Oakland, that are not NFL fans." Cuban: "All these movements is their version of a fight on a plane. It’s not good for a brand” (“OTL,” ESPN, 5/15).
