RAIDERS GOING NOWHERE FAST
Will owners block Raiders move to Vegas?
To hear Mark Davis tell it, Las Vegas residents should already be planning their housewarming party for the Oakland, soon- to- be Las Vegas, Raiders.
The Way We Hear It, not so fast my friends.
When Nevada’s Republican governor Brian Sandoval signed a bill last Monday approving a $ 750 million tax plan to build a new multi- use stadium in Las Vegas for the Raiders to play in, Davis responded as if the fix was in, groundbreaking is imminent and the Raiders are on the move.
We assume the Raiders’ fledgling owner knows better than that.
Davis’ first order of business to eventually move his team anywhere was to go to Houston this past Tuesday and Wednesday and give his fellow owners an update on the stadium situations in Oakland and Las Vegas. An update, that’s it.
He is not in a position to request permission to move until he formally files a request, which will presumably happen in January.
Davis will then need the approval of at least 23 of his fellow owners to make the move – we assume he will vote yes to gain the 24 votes necessary – and it is assumed that vote wouldn’t even be held until the winter meetings in March.
In the meantime, we hear that Davis finding 23 votes to approve a move to Vegas is nowhere near a sure thing, and that is not even the only bridge he has left to cross.
On Nov. 8, the citizens of San Diego will cast ballots on Proposition C, which would generate the tax dollars necessary to build a new stadium for the Chargers.
If the referendum were defeated, the Chargers would then almost certainly be forced to move to Los Angeles to share the future Kroenke palace with the Rams.
If the Chargers get their new home in San Diego though, the Raiders have already been approved for a move to Los Angeles, one that would be much less expensive for them and potentially more lucrative.
According to multiple sources, Davis has given up interest in L. A. and is much more focused on getting to Vegas, but few can figure out why.
The Raiders currently play in the country’s sixth biggest market combining Oakland and San Francisco in the Bay Area.
Los Angeles is the nation’s second- biggest market while Vegas is 40th, ranking ahead of only Jacksonville ( 47), New Orleans ( 50), Buffalo ( 53) and Green Bay ( 68) among NFL cities.
Why would a savvy businessman want to pass on the second- and sixth- biggest markets for the 40th? Is Davis a savvy businessman? We’re hearing these are questions that will play a huge part in the Raiders owner’s ability to get the 23 votes he needs.
Here are a few more of the hurdles we’re hearing Davis still needs to clear.
Davis already has committed $ 500 million to the cost of the new Las Vegas stadium, with $ 200 million of that to come in the form of a loan from the NFL. The other $ 300 million is on him.
Then there are the relocation fees. Kroenke paid the league approximately $ 515 million just for the right to move from St. Louis to Los Angeles.
While Las Vegas isn’t nearly as desirable a destination, we’re hard- pressed to see his fellow owners giving Davis a discount.
That’s a little over $ 800 million Davis has to come up with, and league rules prohibit him from borrowing against his ownership stake in the team. Our sources tell us Davis doesn’t have that kind of wealth.
Next up, a number of his fellow owners are sensitive to the imaging problems the league is already facing for allowing the Rams to leave St. Louis in spite of the city’s best efforts to keep its team, and that becomes even more problematic if the Chargers head north for L. A.
Some owners would much rather see Davis focus on finding a way to build a new home in Oakland rather than deserting a third fan base in 12 months.
We also have a number of sources telling us that a lot more than a few NFL owners simply have their doubts as to how good a businessman Davis is and how far they should trust him.
Unlike the Maras, Rooneys, Spanos’ and other offspring of the owners of heritage franchises, Davis grew up away from the family business rather than learning it, and as near as anyone can tell, not really doing much of anything else either.
It wasn’t until his mid- 40s that Davis began to learn the business and work closely with his late father, Hall of Fame owner, general manager and coach Al Davis. Some sources close to the situation report he was often tolerated as much as mentored.
We’re hearing some owners are concerned that Davis is in over his head with Vegas and Nevada politicians, and billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who will contribute approximately $ 650 million to the stadium project and retain sub- stantial operating control.
A key figure to watch here is Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, not because he was reported to be the power broker who manipulated the Rams’ move to L. A., but because Jones maintained a very close relationship with the elder Davis over the last decade of his life and has always coveted the success and respect Al Davis earned as a “football guy” rather than a businessman.
No owner has a better feel than Jones as to who the younger Davis really is, and it is an unknown as to whether Jones will support him as an ode to his late father or resist him due to concerns about his abilities.
Finally, there is the 10- ton gorilla in the room. The NFL has invested tens of millions of dollars, decades of lobbying and political maneuvering and called in practically every political favor it has to battle the evils of gambling and more specifically legalized sports betting.
To now reward the only state in the country where sports betting – the biggest chunk of which is betting on NFL games – with its own NFL team would be a stunning departure from the NFL’s core principles.
It would also make it seemingly impossible for the NFL to continue to battle the expansion of legalized sports betting across the country and, the Way We Hear It, that is not a battle a number of the current owners are prepared to abandon.
There are some owners – quite possibly including Jones – who are prepared to move on from their crusades against gambling, but there is also still a significant group of hardliners who have no intentions of abandoning that cause.
It only takes nine owners to thwart a move of the Raiders, or for that matter any NFL team, and it is not only possible but likely that at least at the moment, there are more than that ready to say no to Vegas.