The Oakland Raiders-to-Las Vegas rumor mill is kicking into high gear: First you had bazillionaire Sheldon Adelson hinting that he’d meet with Raiders owner Mark Davis about playing in a new Vegas stadium (so long as Adelson got $780 million in public money to help build one), and now it’s “multiple sources” saying the Raiders could play some exhibition games or even one regular-season game a year in Vegas to “build their fan base” if a new stadium is approved.
Davis wouldn’t comment, so it’s pretty likely that these sources are from Adelson’s camp — especially when you consider that the report comes from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which is owned by Sheldon Adelson, who has previously thought nothing of arm-twisting his newspaper employees to write what he wanted about his personal business dealings. (Though maybe he’s just such a lovable guy that they do it without being asked. Who knows?) Either way, it helps Davis, too, who gets to use Vegas as a threat in his ongoing stadium negotiations with Oakland, and maybe San Antonio or any other cities he plans on threatening to move to. A savvy negotiator creates leverage, and what better way to create leverage than to own your own newspaper? Corporate synergy is a beautiful thing.
If any one team could pull it off moving to Vegas it would be the Raiders.Bad boy team,Sin filled city.What’s not to like about that? “If you build it they might come” A better market than San Antonio me thinks,and a possible viable option to the LA market.
Just a few obvious Reasons Why the Raiders (or any other NFL team for that matter) will NEVER be in Las Vegas:
1. this “proposed” stadium in LV would be built for the University of Nevada Las Vegas first and foremost, and could “possibly” be used as a home for a NFL team. NFL prefers that teams own and operate their own venues, with a strong revenue stream that they can tap into.
2. The local economy in Las Vegas is not particularly strong.
3. The LV market size barely cracks the Top 40
4. Las Vegas is a transient city, meaning that its residents are constantly moving to and from the city. This does not bode well for a solid base of fans to spend $$$ on luxury suites, club seats, and lower bowl seats in a new stadium. If you don’t think the NFL has taken complete notice of this, you’re as crazy as the people trying to actually lure a team to LV.
5. The median household income for the Las Vegas Valley is $58,432. In the Bay Area, that # skyrockets to $80,000 yearly.
6. As everyone is already well aware, the legalized gambling and casinos that authorize it are a huge “red flag” for the NFL for obvious reasons. You can all bring up other cities that authorize legalized gambling, and that may have a professional sports franchise in close proximity, but it’s just not Las Vegas. There’s obviously a reason why all professional sports leagues have continued to avoid putting one of their franchises in that market place.
7. The HOU owners meeting more than confirmed how the NFL and majority of owners feel about Mark Davis. He took a huge ass-kicking, and was completely segregated from the conversation. Pretty clear is that Davis has few allies among his fellow owners, and will never receive the necessary 24 owner votes of approval to relocate the team outside of the Bay Area. Not to mention the fact that many of the owners really like the Bay Area market, its economy growth potential, and the 2-team market appeal it possesses.
8. May seem foolish, but many owners and the league are definitely leery of the temptations that come along with the Las Vegas night life.
Neal, how does the relocation fee fit into this? If it’s $550 million, that would seem to wipe out any “public funding” advantage that a smaller market could offer the Raiders.
The relocation fee from Oakland to Las Vegas would not be $550m. That’s just a number the league dreamt up for L.A.
Joe “Slay Silva: It’s not a bad list. However, I don’t know where you got the idea that “NFL prefers that teams own and operate their own venues.”
As far as I know, the Patriots are the only team that owns their own stadium. The Jets and Giants co-own a stadium and the Rams will own a stadium. No other team does.
In fact, I’d dare say the NFL prefers their teams not to own a stadium. If you own the stadium, you can’t get taxpayer money, at least not directly. The NFL hates that but will put up with it in markets like NYC, LA and Boston if pressed.
If the NFL actually wanted owners to own their own stadium they would have found a way to have Mark Davis build one in the Bay Area, even if they had to give him the money to do so.
Jets/Giants stadium is owned by the Jersey sports authority, not the teams.
Neil,
I don’t think that is the case any longer.
New Jersey owned Giants Stadium. The Giants and Jets financed the construction of the new Met Life Stadium, and I believe that they share ownership of the building. Not sure about the land it’s on.
Although the state was still on the hook for approximately $400 million in infrastructure improvements, demolition of the old Giants Stadium ( which I believe the state was finally able to get the Jets and Giants to pony up some of the demolition costs) and debt service related to the upgrades made to Giants Stadium some years before.
So the new stadium wasn’t exactly “free” to the taxpayers.
Scola; youre correct about the ownership of stadiums, but theres an interesting thing that should be noted: the most used stadiums in the NFL for non-NFL events are the stadiums you named. The owners were willing to pay more because they knew theyd make the money back. Everyone else knows they wont so they go the opposite end and try to pay as little as possible, no matter how much damage it could do to that city/state.
Neil: Per wikipedia (which we all know is 100% accurate) the stadium is owned by MetLife Stadium Company, LLC a 50-50 partnership between the two teams, but the land is owned by New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.
Ryan: I’m not sure how you measure that (revenue, event count?) but if I was to guess I’d guess Jerryworld is the most used stadium for non-NFL events and the City of Arlington owns that monstrosity.
Thanks for the correction, Scola.
In any event, who owns the deed on a building isn’t really the point — it’s who owns the operating rights. I’m not sure why the Jets and Giants decided to own their stadium instead of letting New Jersey have it and leasing it back for $1, but either way they get all the revenue from it, which is the goal. If an NFL team in Vegas got all the NFL revenues from a UNLV stadium, and didn’t have to pay much in rent or operating costs, I’m sure the NFL would be pleased as punch.
The other seven reasons are more problematic.
Sorry Neil. Didn’t see this earlier reply.
I thought they owned it because they built it with private money, which is kind of the point here. That’s the last resort for the NFL.
Joe “Slay Silva: Their economy may not be strong, but they still find people willing to pay $100,000 for bottle service every weekend, so filling up luxury suites doesn’t correlate well to income averages.
I wouldn’t put the team there I were Mark Davis, so I agree with you on #4, but the rest is apples to oranges. How many people attending Packers game live in/close to Green Bay vs +1 hour commute? It takes just over an hour to fly from LA or Oakland to Vegas….. Las Vegas would easily fill up the stadium for NFL games, but like you said, establishing a strong fan base there would be difficult. Although Jacksonville’s managed to keep a team despite mediocre fan support.
The only thing you’re wrong about is sports betting being a problem, everyone that’s 18-50 yrs old & watches sports is betting on it. More states are approving gambling, so that stigma is slowly wearing off, especially with all the DFS partnerships with pro sports teams. And I’ve read, “Vegas sports books” would take local NFL/NHL games off the books, but people would still get offshore action, proving how ridiculous the pearl-clutches are when it comes to gambling.
As far as nightlife in Vegas goes, Johnny Manziel may be a frequent visitor, but he allegedly beat his girlfriend in Texas, so I don’t think being* in Vegas gives people the idea to experiment with domestic violence. My point being, anyone that’s going to put their career in jeopardy to get drunk & fight would probably do it anywhere…….Miami’s nightlife is practically swimming in cocaine and most of the players there do just fine.
Alex: Those people paying the big bucks are a combination of vacationers and convention-goers. The actual people in Las Vegas aren’t buying bottle service at some club. They’re the service industry folks who wash the glasses and clean the floors. It’s a living.
One might argue Las Vegas would be an ideal place for a Super Bowl or other event people fly in for, but basing your business model on people flying in to watch a regular weekly game is….I’ll go with “untested.”
Again, I wouldn’t move the team there if it were me, but those convention-business types would probably all go to the game before spending $100,000 on bottle service, sparklers, and 6 single moms wearing bikinis to give them attention…..
I would immediately book a trip to Vegas if they announced a Super Bowl there, even if I didn’t have tickets. That would top any fight night. Except they would have to stop pretending it would effect the lines… There’s no way they have a Super Bowl in Vegas without sportsbooks also taking action on it.
Vegas is the Raiders, the Raiders are Vegas.
Though it’s all managed through different business entities the Dolphins’ stadium is also owned by Stephen Ross.