Fans will have to wait until 2020 for the Raiders to be Las Vegas’ new NFL team.

Texans’ owner: public money isn’t why vote was for Vegas

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Texans owner Bob McNair, chairman of the NFL’s finance committee, disclosed Monday that public money was not the issue that caused the owners to vote 31-1 in favor of the Oakland Raiders’ move to Las Vegas.

McNair said the Oakland A’s lease at Oakland Alameda Coliseum was the primary stumbling block in the Raiders’ attempt to get a new stadium on the current site.

“Right now, they (Oakland) have a lease with the A’s that doesn’t expire until 2024 (and) that just clouded the whole issue if that was going to stay in place,” McNair said. “They have the authority to cancel it.

“If they had cancelled it, and made the land available, we would have worked with the Raiders and figured out how to finance it without any public financing.

“The public financing wasn’t the issue, but access to the land and having control was really the deciding factor.”

As the finance committee chairman, McNair was involved in the negotiations that lasted for more than two years.

“Our first choice was to get a viable stadium in Oakland,” he said. “We never could get the city to make the kind of commitment, and I’m not talking about a lot of money but committing the land and giving access to it.

“I’m happy for the Raiders in that we have a solution for them. That’s what we’ve been trying to do for quite a while.”

Miami cast the only negative vote. Naturally, Raiders owner Mark Davis was excited about getting approval, but he also was disappointed for the team’s fans.

“I love the fans in Oakland,” Davis said. “I hope the fans understand the decision wasn’t the players and coaches. It was me.”

Davis will have three lame-duck seasons before his new 65,000-seat palace is ready in Las Vegas for the 2020 season.

Davis is getting $750 million in public money for the stadium, which will cost $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion.

The Raiders have a deal in place to play the next two seasons in Oakland. Davis said after the vote that he would like to play the 2019 season in Oakland, too, if the city and fans want them.

“We represent Raider Nation,” Davis said. “Our goal is to bring a championship to Oakland.”

Davis thanked the Las Vegas governor, mayor and his former partner, Sheldon Andelson, who pulled out after a brief association with the Raiders owner.

Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league and Raiders did everything they could to get a new deal in Oakland, and they’re “disappointed” that another franchise is relocating.

“We worked as hard as we could to try to find that solution,” Goodell said.

The Raiders join the Rams and Chargers as teams that have relocated in the last two seasons.