NFL takes gamble on Vegas Raiders
PHOENIX – There has been no ruling yet from the NFL whether the Raiders will be allowed to have slot machines or just blackjack tables in their locker room to relax and perhaps make a few extra bucks before home games.
I think I’m kidding, but what is true is Las Vegas just bought the Raiders by enticing them with a $750 million gift of public money – to be raised through an increase in hotel room taxes — to get them out of Oakland. Roger Goodell and the NFL owners can spin it any way they can – lack of cooperation from Oakland officials, no public money or in its place no sweetheart deal on land and infrastructure, the presence of the A’s and their stadium issues – but the NFL is on the move again. Corporate welfare at its finest. The message: If you don’t pay for it, we will move. We can pay for it, but we don’t want to. The NFL is shoveling dirt into the Black Hole.
Since 1982, here are the teams that have moved, all over stadium issues: Raiders, Colts, Cardinals, Browns, Oilers, Rams, Raiders, Rams, Chargers, Raiders.
In the last three months, the Chargers elected to leave San Diego for L.A. and Monday the owners voted 31-1 – the Dolphins were the only team to vote against, concerned about going from a bigger to smaller market. In the last 15 months, three relocations have been approached.
So much for loyal and passionate fans, like they’ve had in San Diego and Oakland. It’s all about the stadiums and San Diego and Oakland had the two worst in the league.
The average stadium built during Goodell’s tenure included an average of $326 million public in money.
“It’s absolutely out of control,” David William, president of the Alliance for Taxpayer Protection told the Daily News last year. “It’s the biggest waste of money that taxpayer money can be spent on mainly because these owners are billionaires. They should be funding their own stadiums. Taxpayers should not be footing the bill.”
The Rams are the exception. Owner Stan Kroenke is one of the richest men in the world and he’s building a $2.6 billion extravaganza in Los Angeles with no help from the public. Of course, he abandoned St. Louis so he could hit a gusher in the Los Angeles market. The Giants and Jets were never moving anywhere, of course, except across the Meadowlands parking lot, and they managed to build their $1.8 million stadium without any public money. The PSL ripoff is not counted as public money.
The Raiders will remain in Oakland playing in the dilapidated Oakland Coliseum for the next two seasons. Raiders owner Mark Davis is hoping they let him stay for the 2019 season, or the Raiders will have to play in UNLV’s 35,500seat stadium for one year until their $1.7 billion stadium not far from the strip is ready to open.
How will they deal with being a three-year lame duck? Will the fans in the Black Hole still show up? “I wouldn’t use the term lame duck,” Davis said. “We’re still the Oakland Raiders and we are the Raiders Nation. There’s going to be some disappointed fans and angry fans. It’s going to be up to me to talk to them and let them know why, how and what has happened.”
Davis is his father’s son, that’s for sure. His late father, Al, went from Oakland to Los Angeles in 1982 and from Los Angeles back to Oakland in 1995. Now 22 years later, the clock is ticking on the Raiders’ days in Oakland. “My father used to say that the greatness of the Raiders is in its future and the opportunity to build a world-class stadium in the entertainment capital of the world is one opportunity that will give us the ability to achieve our greatness,” Davis said.
Las Vegas will pay the $750 million, which could be used for more important things such as more schools and teachers. Bank of America is providing the Raiders a $650 million loan. The Raiders are paying $300 million and the NFL $200 million. “Our goal is to have 32 stable franchises for each of those teams and the league,” Goodell said. “We worked very hard and never want to see the relocation of a franchise. That means exhausting our options and doing everything we can possibly can to get a solution in the existing market.” The Raiders are going to have to educate their players to stay away from shady characters who might try to buy their soul to influence the outcome of games. But that could happen anywhere, not just in Las Vegas. The difference is players will be exposed more often to these types at the casinos in Las Vegas unless the NFL comes up with a no-casino ban.
In a recent interview with the MMQB, it was clear Goodell did not view the presence of legalized gambling as its ruination. “I think also you have to realize the changes that are evolving in society on gambling,” Goodell said. “Second: I think Las Vegas has evolved as a city. It’s not just a singular industry. While it is still dominated by that (gambling), there is a lot of entertainment going on there, including political conventions. Our leaders in government are all going there.”
The league is willing to wager $750 million of Las Vegas’ money this is going to work.