For a long while now, there has been plenty of talk of relocation within the NFL. While the San Diego Chargers may play their final season in San Diego this year before moving to Los Angeles, the Oakland Raiders are also looking to leave the city they have been in for over 20 years.
Los Angeles and San Antonio have been bandied about as possible destinations, but Raiders owners Mark Davis has made it clear he wants to see the Raiders move to Las Vegas. About two weeks ago, Davis committed $500 million towards building a new football stadium in Las Vegas to house the Raiders, declaring that the city and the team would be “a great marriage.”
But don’t start buying up the last Oakland Raiders memorabilia just yet. Davis may appear to be in love with Las Vegas, and a Raiders move is certainly possible. But there are plenty of roadblocks in the way of a move, especially since it is Vegas.
The first problem is that there is no stadium whatsoever. Yes, Davis and the city of Las Vegas have expressed interest in building a stadium. But unless Davis plans on funding the entire project by himself, much of the funding for this stadium will come from the Nevada state legislature, which will not meet until February.
Before that, the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee must recommend to the state government whether constructing an entirely new stadium is a worthwhile venture.
The Infrastructure Committee’s decision becomes even more important when you realize that there is an alternative towards building a new stadium.
Lot of work ahead in Vegas
That is improving the Las Vegas Convention Center, and Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority officials have declared that those improvements are necessary in order to attract the trade shows and conventions which are a huge lifeblood for Vegas. Funding both the convention center expansion and a new stadium would be impossible.
Even if the Infrastructure Committee chooses the stadium, there is another potential roadblock in the San Diego Chargers. San Diego will vote on a new stadium to keep the Chargers in their city in November.
Davis claims that his plans to put the Raiders in Vegas are not for leverage and that he is sincere about his desire to put the Raiders in Vegas. But if the San Diego voters approve the new stadium and the Chargers stay, who believes that Davis would rather have his team in Las Vegas than Los Angeles?
If that was not enough, then Davis also needs approval from the NFL, specifically in the form of approval from at least 24 of the 32 NFL teams. Professional teams have always been reluctant to move to Vegas because of the implications of having a sports team in a gambling hotspot.
Now, given the spread of gambling to much of the rest of the United States, it may appear that such concerns are not valid. But Vegas is still Vegas, and the NFL has denied other events previously hosted in Vegas such as a fantasy football convention run by Tony Romo.
If the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, the Nevada state legislature, and the NFL all approve a move, and if the San Diego Chargers choose to move to Los Angeles, then we will probably see the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020. But assuming that everything will go as planned is very optimistic. While the Las Vegas Raiders is not totally farfetched, readers have plenty of reasons to be skeptical this will actually happen. A more realistic possibility is that the Chargers do choose to stay in San Diego, and that the Oakland Raiders will return to Los Angeles after a 20-year hiatus.
