7:46pm: Davis will meet with Adelson on Friday to potentially discuss stadium details. Las Vegas Sands leads a group of investors proposing to build a $1 billion domed stadium near UNLV that would be the Rebels football team’s new home and possibly an NFL franchise’s as well, Howard Stutz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.
Las Vegas Sands has had conversations with other teams as well, senior vice president of government relations and community development Andy Abboud told Stutz.
“We are moving forward with the stadium concept with or without an NFL team,” Abboud said. “We see a lot more opportunities — conference championships, bowl games, NFL exhibition football, boxing, soccer, neutral site games, and music festivals. There is an entire
segment out there. Nothing will move that needle like a new world-class stadium.”
Las Vegas Sands will pitch this idea to the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee in February or March, Stutz reports.
7:32pm: The Raiders’ interest in a Las Vegas move is “very real,” Cole reports (on Twitter). Davis and Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson have been discussing this for two years. The team’s been playing on one-year leases at O.co Coliseum in that time span and is negotiating another short-term arrangement in Oakland for this season.
6:50pm: Raiders owner Mark Davis offered an emphatic no-comment on a potential relocation to Las Vegas, via Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (on Twitter).
4:44pm: Could the Oakland Raiders turn into the Las Vegas Raiders? It’s at least a consideration for Raiders management and a Las Vegas-area group, according to UNLV president Len Jessup (via Ralston Reports).
[RELATED: Raiders Could Consider Move To San Diego]
Jessup sent a note to a small group of UNLV-related people on Thursday to let them know that the Las Vegas Sands is pushing to build a brand new stadium in Southern Nevada for the school. Meanwhile, Sands leadership will host Raiders officials in Las Vegas to check out their “potential new home.” For his part, Jessup says that he would be very interested in a partnership with the Raiders.
“Certainly, if a public-private partnership can be forged that includes the development of a new special events stadium on the 42-acre site that has little or no cost to UNLV…then it is something we would look at very seriously,” Jessup said in the letter.
Of course, it remains to be seen exactly how serious the Raiders are about a potential Las Vegas move. Also, the NFL might be wary about moving a team to Las Vegas, particularly given the PR issues they have had in recent years. Trips to Las Vegas could lead to trouble for NFL players and the league will probably also have concerns about placing a team in a gambling hotbed.
When asked about the possibility of putting a team in Las Vegas in January of 2015, Roger Goodell did not totally dismiss the idea.
“I haven’t had any dialogue with officials in Las Vegas about how that could happen successfully for Las Vegas and for the NFL,” Goodell said. “A stadium would be a big component to that. I’m not sure that exists right now. I do understand the passion of the fans in Las Vegas and their interest in football.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NFL most definitely will not allow this move. Now San Antonio/Austin Texas corridor would be a nice fit. Jones of Cowboys, and McNair of the Texans would not be so agreeable to the move. B.J. “Red” McCombs who once owned the Minnesota Vikings, and who lives in SA Tx. has stated he would love to be a co-investor with Mark Davis. Heard that Davis owns a parcel of land on the IH35 corridor between Austin and SA.
NFL should have a stadium in Vegas. Embrace th gambling. Super Bowl should be held in this stadium every year. One of a handful of cities with great weather, the airport, hotels, restaurants, etc to handle the Super Bowl crowd and not flinch. Each team in Super Bowl gets large % of gate, large % of tickets, etc.
The NHL was looking into in recently
Surprised there are no pro teams of any major sport on Vegas.
That well never happen, no way nfl would send a team to a gambling town.
Biggest untapped market. I could see “No way MLB lets Pete Rose start a franchise in Vegas,” but NFL can survive the biggest gambling sport having a home team in Vegas.
I’m so tired of hearing about the gambling side of the argument for the NFL in Vegas the Raiders would be a perfect fit close enough to Oakland so the original fan can travel they would be the only major sports team in the area and the way it sounds someone is building a stadium so perfect fit.
Part of the biggest draw for the NFL is the GAMBLING! Fantasy football leagues, daily fantasy sites like fan duel, your weekly picks, or buying squares. I wonder what viewer ratings would be for out of market games would be if not for those forms of gambling.
I think the biggest concern is the effect it will have on opposing teams players. It’s a party town. There is literally nothing to do there but drink and gamble. Your team comes in for the weekend, how many of the players and staff are going to avoid the draw and just stick to the sport. Look how upset everyone got when a player from Cleveland was spotted in the city.
If you want to bet on your own teams success that should be your right. But scumbags ruin it for everyone and try to make a quick buck.