Owners approve Raiders to Vegas
PHOENIX — The odds were against Las Vegas from the start — the roundthe-clock gambling, its Sin City reputation and a population deemed too small to adequately support a pro football team.
For decades, the NFL steered clear of putting a franchise there. But all that changed Monday.
The NFL, in a resounding 31-1 vote, overcame all its objections and gave the Oakland Raiders approval to move to Las Vegas and build a $1.9 billion domed stadium. This marks the NFL’s third relocation in the last 14 months, coming on the heels of the Rams and Chargers moving to Los Angeles, and is seen as an extraordinary development for a league that has championed the stability of their franchises.
Despite the last-ditch efforts of Oakland politicians to keep the team, the Raiders and the NFL argued there were no viable stadium options in that city and that the club had to move for its financial health. In the past two years, the NFL had been studying the Las Vegas market, along with the Raiders’ plan, and ultimately warmed to the idea.
The league’s longstanding discomfort with being formally associated with gambling had evaporated in recent years with the ubiquity of online gambling and the NFL’s infatuation with London, where sports gaming is a massive industry.
“I think the owners and the league’s attitude toward the [Las Vegas] market has changed over time and so has their willingness to accept it for what it is — a great entertainment city,” said Joe Ellis, president and chief executive of Denver Broncos. “Yes, it has gambling, but there is less of an emphasis than there used to be on that. I think there is more acceptance perhaps of the city overall."
Owners also lost their concerns about a team moving from the Bay Area, the nation’s sixth-largest media market, to Las Vegas, which ranks 40th.
That is believed to be one of the main reasons Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross opposed the relocation vote, although he was alone in that.
“The existing size of Las Vegas, the diversification and the growth that it has undergone over the last 20 years combined to make it a mid-sized market today but one that is exhibiting significantly above-average growth,” said Eric Grubman, an NFL executive vice president whose focus is stadiums and markets. “Those things combined to give the rest of the ownership confidence.”
The Raiders will not be moving right away. In an awkward arrangement akin to a divorced couple living under the same roof, the team will remain in its current home for two and possibly three seasons and still go by the Oakland Raiders. Las Vegas does not currently have a stadium that can sufficiently play host to NFL games.
“I wouldn’t use the term ‘lame duck,’ ” said Raiders owner Mark Davis, whose plan calls for the stadium to be finished in time for the 2020 season. “We’re still the Oakland Raiders, and we represent the Raider Nation . ... There’s going to be some disappointed fans and angry fans, and it’s going to be up to me to talk to them and let them know why, how and what has happened.”
Unable to find a stadium solution after 22 years in Oakland, the late Al Davis moved the Raiders to Los Angeles in 1982. In 1995, arguing the NFL had sabotaged his plans to build a stadium at Hollywood Park, Davis moved the Raiders back to Oakland. In a twist of synchronicity, after another 22 years in the East Bay, his son won approval to move them again.
“My father used to say the greatness of the Raiders is in its future,” the younger Davis said. “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 that greatness.”
The Raiders would have had the option to join the Rams in Los Angeles had the Chargers not done so. The Raiders still have a large following in Southern California, and fans routinely fly up to games in Oakland. Now many of them will simply re-route to Las Vegas.
The Raiders appeared to suffer a devastating setback in early February when both casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson and investment banking giant Goldman Sachs backed away from the Raiders’ project and said they would no longer be involved. But earlier this month, the Raiders revealed that Bank of America had stepped in to shoulder the financing burden.
Under the reworked financing plan, the $750 million in public money would be augmented by about $500 million from the Raiders (including a $200-million NFL loan), and Bank of America would provide a construction loan for the rest. According to the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, the estimated cost for the entire project is $1.9 billion, including a $100-million practice facility and $100 million for contingency expenses.
In a letter to the NFL, Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf shared detailed renderings of a $1.3-billion football stadium on the current Oakland Coliseum site. The plan would involve a $600-million contribution by Fortress Management Group, a New York hedge fund. The NFL deemed that plan not viable and historically has not favored the idea of a thirdparty developer — and not a team — promoting a stadium plan.