Steelers vote for Raiders move
Oakland’s switch to Las Vegas gets 31-1 approval
PHOENIX — The Steelers were one of 31 NFL teams Monday who overwhelmingly approved the relocation of the Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas.
Steelers president Art Rooney II, who is chairman of the league’s stadium committee, said the move to Las Vegas was necessitated by the inability of the Raiders to get a new stadium built in Oakland. Las Vegas legislators already have approved $750 million in public funding for a new stadium for the Raiders.
“I think anyone who has visited Oakland and played a game there in the last several years understands the situation there was difficult at best,” Rooney said Monday at a news conference at the NFL owners meetings. “We needed a solution. We are here today with a situation where I think the future of the Raiders can be much more solid, playing in a first-class stadium.”
The move of one of the most controversial yet popular franchises in league history will not occur until 2020, when construction of a $1.7 billion domed stadium is expected to be completed. The only team not voting for the move was Miami.
“You know that our goal is to have 32 stable franchises, for each of those teams, and also the league,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said. “We work very hard and never want to see a relocation of a franchise.”
The Raiders will continue to play at the Oakland Coliseum in 2017 and 2018 and possibly 2019, although Goodell said the league would look into potential venues for 2019. Until the move, the team will remain the Oakland Raiders.
“The Raiders were born in Oakland and Oakland will always be part of our DNA,” said Raiders owner Mark Davis, son of the late maverick founder and owner of the franchise.
Davis said he had “mixed feelings” about the move, weighing the excitement about moving to the “entertainment capital of the world” against the disappointment and perhaps even anger felt by Raiders fans in Oakland.
“I love Oakland. I love the fans in Oakland,” Davis said. “And I know there’s going to be disappointment, and maybe, some anger. I just hope in the future as we play in Oakland this year, that it wasn’t the players, it wasn’t the coaches that made this decision, it was me who made it. And, if they have anybody [they want] to talk to about it, it should be me. And I will, in the coming days, try to explain to them what went into making this difficult decision.”
No rush for Bell’s return
General manager Kevin Colbert said he is not concerned about putting any timetable on Le’Veon Bell’s return from groin surgery, mainly because there isn’t one.
Bell had surgery March 13, and Colbert said his rehabilitation is right on schedule.
“Our focus is [Bell] being ready for the 2017 season,” Colbert said. “At what point does he return? The doctors, trainers and Le’Veon will determine that. But the goal is to have him 100 percent for the 2017 season. So, whatever path the experts tell us to take with that, we’ll follow.”
Recent history would suggest Bell will have no problem being ready for the start of the regular season. His rehab and quick return to top form at the beginning of last season, when he was returning from ACL surgery, is a good barometer of his recuperative powers.
With the Steelers more than $16 million under the salary-cap limit, Colbert was asked if that cushion might make it feasible to sign Bell to a long-term contract before July 15. The Steelers placed the franchise tag on Bell, meaning he will play the 2017 season for $12.12 million.
“I think we’ll approach that once we continue to see the spring unfold,” Colbert said. “As we’ve said, we thought it was more important, not to say important, but there was more urgent business, because there were free agents that were signing as free agency started. We had to make decisions on those guys, as well as our own, as to whether we wanted to keep [someone] or let a player sign elsewhere. So that was the more urgent business.
“But the goal has always been to sign Le’Veon to a long-term contract. At what point that gets done, I can’t say. Because it will be a very complicated-type of deal. But it has always been our goal.”
Thoughts about overtime
There were two ties in the 2016 regular season — the most in the past 19 years, but Rooney doesn’t think the latest proposal to shorten an overtime period will result in more.
The owners are considering a proposal to shorten overtime for preseason and regular-season games from 15 minutes to 10 minutes.
“We’re not looking for more ties, obviously,” Rooney said. “And so, maybe this is one of those rules we can put in for one year and see how it goes before we make it permanent. I can tell you that in the Cleveland game at the end of the season, I would have wished for a rule like this. So I think it’s worth discussion. I’m not sure we’ve come to a conclusion on where we would vote on it.”