With the hope retaining the Raiders, city of Oakland and mayor Libby Schaaf submitted an updated stadium proposal last week, but commissioner Roger Goodell wasn’t particularly impressed with the specifics of the plan, as he detailed in a letter to Schaaf, per David Debolt of the East Bay Times.
“The material that we reviewed earlier today confirms certain information that had previously been communicated orally, such as a willingness to bring bank financing to a stadium project, and a proposed valuation of the land at the Coliseum site,” Goodell wrote to Schaaf. “It also confirms that key issues that we have identified as threshold considerations are simply not resolvable in a reasonable time. In that respect, the information sent today does not present a proposal that is clear and specific, actionable in a reasonable timeframe, and free of major contingencies.”
In other words, Schaaf’s “updated” strategy was not updated at all, but rather a rehashing of the same plan the city had been presenting for some time. Indeed, Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News reported Friday that Oakland’s new plan “did not move the chains forward,” while Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets neither the NFL nor the Raiders have a different view of the situation as a result of Schaaf’s letter.
“Despite all of these efforts, ours and yours, we have not yet identified a viable solution,” Goodell wrote. “It is disappointing to me and our clubs to have come to that conclusion.”
Instead, the Raiders’ intention to relocate to Las Vegas appears all but finalized, and NFL owners are expected to vote Monday on the club’s plan. The Raiders and owner Mark Davis will need to garner 24 votes (out of 32) in order to move to Sin City, at which point they’ll pay a cheaper relocation fee than did the Rams and Chargers to move to Los Angeles. Additionally, the Raiders have secured a record $750MM in public money for a $1.9 billion stadium in Vegas.
Bad idea to have a professional sports franchise in Sin City…
I don’t think it’s a bad idea. Face it, there’s always going to be gambling whether a team is in LV or not. I don’t know that it will change anything.
I think it will have a big impact on tourism as it’s a cheap and easy to reach destination from practically anywhere with plenty of hotels, attractions, and nice weather.
I just don’t think the fan base will be supportive enough to fill the stadium on a consistent basis.
wrong
This would be the second sports franchise to be in vegas. NHL has the golden knights playing next year
Nope. This will be huge for the NFL
Why?
It’s a tourist spot. Tourists come to vegas for other reasons than to see a baseball game. I vacationed there earlier this summer and didn’t have time to do half the things I wanted to do. That and a lack of loyal consistent fans makes this a bad idea IMO.
Idk about that… I live in SoCal and there are tons of Raiders fans. When the Chargers and Raiders play there will be more Raider fans in the Charger stadium.
What I am getting at it, from SoCal Vegas is a 3-4 hour drive. If determine you can drive home after a game. But from SoCal to Oakland is 8-10 hours of driving. So to say it’s only going to be transient fans, I think people are underestimating their fan base.
When is Oakland going to address the ridiculous taxes imposed on Cali teams? They could iron out all the financing for the new stadium and it would still likely be a better financial move on the Raiders part moving to Vegas.
Living up north, it’s much cheaper for me to fly to Vegas, get a hotel, go to a Raiders game there, and then fly home while taking in some of Vegas’s other attractions than flying to Oakland and doing the same there.
Vegas may not have nearly the local population numbers that Oakland has but rest assured, they will have the same amount of people wanting to attend a game.
They will obviously draw more “non-home team” fans in Vegas compared to Oakland, but a sell-out is still a sell out.
The only thing “sold out” here are the Raider fans in Oakland. You can talk about taxes (imposed by the state) but the bottom line is the uniform, screw the public attitude of the billionaire NFL owners and their puppet, Roger Goodell.
VEGAS SUPER BOWLS
Exactly what’s the point of having a team in a city where no one is coming to see them in particular. and yea la to Vegas 3-4 hour drive but after a Sunday/Monday night game who the hell is gonna want to do that. Especially after having a few drinks…
It’s sad, the raiders belong California but to see that Oakland isn’t trying to keep them is mind boggling.
A up and coming team with the talent they have deserves to be back by dedicated fan, not a tourist attraction…
Backed dedicated fans*
I have lived in Vegas my whole life. Locals are stoked that the Raiders are coming. Vegas was a terrible idea for hockey but the NFL will thrive.
Baseball. I thought it wascfootball.
So. California Raider fans will have the best of both worlds now, a up and coming SB contending team and alot closer to LA than before. I-15 will be a Raider Highway to Vegas for 8 home games and 1 road game when they play the Chargers in LA. I think the NFL is doing the Raider Fans a big favor in moving to Vegas, a weekend in Vegas and a football game, can’t get better than that. And as far as gambling on the Raiders, will only be able to do it when the Raiders are on the road.
Huge Raider fan base in Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Nevada. Cheap flights in and out of Vegas. Can’t wait to get season tickets.
Must be your left wing ideals blocking you from understanding reality. The NFL is a business, not apart of your communist fantasy land in california.