The interest that Raiders owner Mark Davis is showing in Las Vegas isn’t a bluff, or an attempt to play one city against another, writes Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News. According to Bonsignore, Davis is becoming increasingly convinced that “the Oakland ship has sailed,” and is pushing to make Las Vegas the Raiders’ new home.
“It’s really a tremendous opportunity,” Davis said. “A fresh start in a growing market that’s easily accessible to areas of the country that are hot-beds for Raider Nation. But not just that, we want to be a member of the community. We want to build a strong, local fan base, and we believe we’ll do just that. And when people think about Las Vegas, it won’t just be for entertainment and vacations and casinos. They’ll think about the Raiders. The Las Vegas Raiders. That’s a game-changer in so many ways.”
While Davis sounds enthusiastic about the idea of moving his franchise to Vegas, he’s not the only owner interested in the possibility. One high-ranking NFL executive tells Bonsignore that Vegas would be “a great home for the Raiders,” and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones suggested publicly this week that he would likely be on board with the idea.
Jones didn’t specifically mention the Raiders when discussing the idea of an NFL team moving to Vegas, but as Todd Archer of ESPN.com details, the Cowboys owner indicated he would welcome the discussion, calling the city “one of the real crown jewels of communities” in America.
“As you well know, you have to have the right situation,” Jones said. “You have to have the right ownership, want to and then a lot of other considerations that have to come into play. For me, I think that certainly the fact that Las Vegas has a gambling aspect to it is far overshadowed by the entertainment value, if you will, family appeal, that you have, the convention appeal. So it does not have disfavor with me, in my opinion, relative to being an NFL city.”
Jones is just one owner out of 32, but he played an instrumental role in the Rams’ move to Los Angeles, throwing his support behind Stan Kroenke‘s project and getting other owners on board with the Rams’ relocation plan. If the Cowboys owner pushes equally hard for a Raiders move to Las Vegas, it would be a great sign for Davis’ franchise.
Still, although the Raiders look like the strongest candidate to consider a move to Las Vegas, mayor Carolyn Goodman suggested during an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio (SoundCloud link) that if it doesn’t work out with the Raiders, the city plans to continue to push forward with its stadium project in the hopes of attracting another NFL team.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
This has disaster written all over it!
How so? I know it’s a gambling center, but people bet on games all the time, if there fear is rigging of games then you just have proventions against it, there is an indoor football team and a triple A minor league team all ready in LV, i think it would be a interesting experience. More importantly, it thins out the Californian NFL scene since there are what, including LA Rams, 4 teams in the state, and moving to LV would free up the competition in the Bay Area. Also they move out of O.Co which is a cramped, bland, cereal bowl “structure”. Personally, I think the raiders should move to LV I could bring some positive effects. Or it could be a total disaster.
Where else would they go? Like @TheMichigan said, California is pretty cramped as is and O.Co is a pretty bad stadium. I don’t believe San Antonio is a great option considering they would have to compete with Jerry World and the Texans. The only talked about place that makes any sense (outside of Vegas) is LA but the Raiders would be sitting with their hands tied since they can’t do anything for another year at least. If you don’t know the circumstances I’m talking about, the Rams and Chargers have an agreement that gives the Chargers a year to make a decision on whether or not they go to LA, stay in San Diego, or go elsewhere. Until San Diego finalizes a decision on that or the year deadline passes, then LA isn’t an option for the Raiders.
I think the NFL lost the ability to argue that Las Vegas is disqualified as a city because it has casinos on the basis of the dangers of gambling the moment several of its owners took an equity stake in Draft Kings and Fan Duel. They seem to have no problems profiting from these types of online activities (which numerous states have looked at and deemed to be gambling activities, and which pretty much any objective person would look at as a gambling activity); so they’ve already lost the moral high ground on that argument.
As far as the potential for players to throw games because of gambling, that kind of gambling can occur anywhere and is happening with bookies, not at casinos. They’re also not going to allow them to gamble on their own games or sport. They just aren’t going to risk the PR fall out of it hitting the paper or the blow back from the state regulators of that coming out. They aren’t allowed to do anything that might be fixed or they lose their license. No reputable, regulated casino is going to allow a high profile, highly paid, NFL player to go in with their game check and settle a massive gambling tab. That’s the kind of thing that happens with illegal bets, not legal bets. Thomas Vanek’s Islanders check was signed over to a bookie, not an Atlantic City casino.