Mark Davis has yet to receive official pushback from fellow owners after declaring his intentions to relocate the Raiders to Las Vegas, but the item did not come up at this Tuesday’s owners’ meetings in Charlotte. Details are lacking on the Raiders’ viability in Vegas to the point that multiple owners told Ben Volin of the Boston Globe they haven’t received any “research, market studies, or plans” about how the team could succeed in Sin City
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Although this process resides in its early stages, with a stadium deal in Nevada not yet agreed upon, some owners appear to be displaying some skepticism about another Raiders move.
While a prospective $1.4 billion stadium is much more enticing for the Raiders than staying at O.co Coliseum, the Las Vegas market doesn’t interest the league nearly as much as the Bay Area does, an NFL insider told Volin. The preference within the league is for the Raiders to stay put rather than traverse a relocation path for the second straight year.
The disparate sizes of said markets drive this sentiment, with Vegas ranking as the country’s No. 42 media market and the Bay Area its sixth. Despite the 49ers already standing as the more secure Northern California franchise, the region remains favorable for the NFL when compared to the nation’s gambling capital.
In addition to the corporate wealth situated in Northern California for business-partnership purposes, Volin points out that the 49ers’ trek to Santa Clara places them further away from downtown San Francisco. The Raiders presently playing 17 miles from downtown San Francisco has a claim to the area’s appeal despite the teams technically sharing a market.
Owners have yet to study Vegas as a market, however, but also have no idea at this point if the Raiders moving there is a viable option. Despite reports that Davis is ready to “walk the walk” when it comes to moving his team to Nevada — even going as far as to say Los Angeles is no longer in the team’s plans despite its standing behind the Chargers as a candidate to join the Rams there — Volin concludes the most realistic and profitable plan remains finding a solution in Oakland, the support of influential owners Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft notwithstanding.
However, the city of Oakland and the Raiders have made next to no progress in their talks for a new stadium, which has led Davis to publicly pursue other areas. Calling the Raiders-to-Vegas talk premature, Roger Goodell did speak with Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf earlier this week in hopes of the league finding a “combined solution” to keep the team in its original location.
Photo courtesy USA Today Sports Images
Finally someone with some sense. It is about time the truth about the two markets comes out.
This is pretty simple raiders are just crappie ghetto fans who are the biggest cheapskates . They want everything for free! The main base in Oakland don’t care enough about the team to try to build them a stadium. They aren’t wanted anywhere else but San Antonio and let’s be real the cowboys and Texans won’t let that happen. What we really have is a bunch of freaks who want to dress up in Halloween costumes and annoy football fans of the town they live in. If raiders fans were 1/10 the fans that the chiefs or Broncos have then guess what they would of had a new stadium a long long time ago. The city of Oakland has easily 2 to 3 times the amount of people and available taxes than either of those two cities yet can’t get a new one built or get fans to show up even with the best team they have had in 15 years. Sorry to dump on you pathetic raiders fans but sometimes the truth just needs to be told.!
I’ve been a fan since 1974 and have never lived in Oakland. Denver and KC may very well manage their cities better than Oakland, which is why they have money and Oakland claims they do not. Regardless, Oakland does not want to spend public funds on a stadium. The Raiders don’t want everything free. They are ponying up their share. The league is ponying up theirs. Oakland is not. Just as a fyi, the Broncos stadium was built with 72% public funding. Oakland is being asked to fund less than half.
Please read my comments above to educate yourself on the issues in Oakland. Oakland has made an offer, yet Davis wants more. I truly believe in this situation the league should make an exception, and cover the 300 million gap to complete a stadium deal in Oakland. For example, in addition to the G4 loan, the league can withhold 25 to 50 percent of the shared revenues each year until the debt is paid off. I believe shared revenue was 255 million last year and expected to exceed 300 million this year. If the team paid the league 100 million a year, for approximately 5 years, that would account for 500 million dollars. Certainly the league can afford that and it seems like a logical deal. Prior to the Rams return to LA, the league was considering funding their own LA stadium and renting to two NFL teams. Seems to me if the league can build their own stadium, they clearly can make an exception and help the Raiders with more funds. In the end, the increased revenue is better for everyone involved.
First, the so-called offer wasn’t an offer at all. It was an ill conceived concept put forth by a developer tgat wanted to rape Oakland and the Raiders and didn’t even have sufficient funding identified. It was so bad that it was immediately rejected as unworkable. The City of Oakland hadn’t made an offer yet but they have out up road blocks on every effort tge Raiders made to something going. That is reality. In regards to your idea I have a couple questions. First, just exactly how would the Raiders pay player salaries with only half the revenue? Second, where would they build since Oakland won’t give up the land?
Davis.
Mr. Walker, clearly you don’t know very much about Oakland fans or the City of Oakland. This year, despite threats of a move, Raider fans have exceeded 50,000 season tickets for the first time in team history…not even the Los Angeles Raiders surpassed 50,000. In 1994 the city put up over 200 million to bring the team back to Oakland, and almost immediately upon the team’s return, they were already making threats of leaving town again. For the past 20 years the team has looked at other cities as options. Never once has the team been fully committed to the city of Oakland. Today, in 2016, the city is still paying millions in debt for the renovations made in 1994 to the coliseum and Oracle Arena. With that said, many are unaware the city has offered half of the coliseum site and 120 million for infrastructure. The truth is Mark Davis simply does not have the business vision to own an NFL team. The Bay Area is home to numerous Fortune 500 companies which could easily be tapped for investment in a new stadium. Unfortunately, Mr. Davis is the hooker at the bar waiting for the first money offer…he’ll jump in bed with anyone.
You know nothing about this. You don’t even use propre English. It’s “would have had a new stadium”, not “would of”. Get that right before you call us ghetto fans.
By the way, we sold out of season ticket this year despite our owner doing everything he can to abandon us. We also sold out all of the games last year and the year before when we were 0-10. Doubt the Chiefs or Broncos would do that. Especially the Chiefs fans who boycotted games because they were pouting about their sucky team.
You’re an idiot!!!
1st:Raiders fans aren’t “crappy ghetto fans”(thanks for being a judgemental racist).
2nd: If you KNOW any pro sports owner who isn’t a cheapskate, point them out. Davis is committing over $500 million to a stadium he doesn’t insist having all the bells & whistles Dallas’ stadium has.
3rd:Raiders fans took out second mortgages to buy tix, if that’s not a devoted fan base, nothing is.
Your post makes you sound as bitter as you are ignorant!!!
Stupid comment and you obviously have no clue what you’re talking about
I’m a Texan and we would love them to come to San Antonio.
The loyalty of Raider fans cannot be questioned. We have one of the most loyal fan bases in the NFL, in case you didn’t get the memo. You’re just a hater.
Market size is only one component to viability. Corporate money is a big deal, because corporations buy luxury suites. One of the problems for the Raiders in the Bay area is that there are five other teams competing for corporate money and the Raiders are fairly unattractive because most corporations are in San Francisco or Silicon Valley.
The draw of Vegas is the same as Oklahoma City was for the NBA. It’s why the NHL went into Raleigh instead of Charlotte. When you’re the only game in town you’re going to get all the corporate money.
Market size isn’t as big a deal when it comes to NFL attendance. Since they play on Sundays people will travel from Oakland, LA, and elsewhere in the country. There are Raider fans everywhere and a weekend in Vegas sounds better than a weekend in Oakland.
The city of Oakland will be fine with the Raiders getting a new stadium as long as they don’t have to put up any money. If that deal would’ve worked for Davis they would already have a stadium.
From a league perspective Las Vegas makes sense simply because of the money involved, which includes 750 million from the public (Shame on them).
Mr. Davis will certainly never be broke. From a franchise perspective it’s a terrible move. Tradition and history goes out of the window. The team will never have a true home field advantage as visiting team fans show up by the thousands. Not to mention sharing the stadium with a second rate College football program. And just how many season tickets do they really think they will sell. Next thing you know, Raiders game tickets will be offered as a prize for attending a time share presentation. Los Angeles is a much better option if Oakland is to be abandoned again. make no mistake, there is plenty of investment money available in Oakland, Mr. Davis just doesn’t know how to get it. He needs to sell the team.
Here is an idea, Moreno owner of the LA Angels is also having issues remodeling, let alone extending contract negociations. Maybe and just maybe Davis And Moreno should have a sit down and discuss viable options.
Las Vegas fans need to come down off their pink cloud and look at reality. 1.Mark Davis has no money 2. NFL owners really don’t want him as an owner and will probably use this latest folly to get him out of the way for someone with real money to build a stadium in Oakland. 3. The SNTIC favors expanding the LVCC 4. Las Vegas taxpayers will not approve taxpayer funding that benefits a billionaire and 5. The unescapable truth is no logically thinking owner is going to allow a dumb ass to move an asset from the #6 media market to #41
Let’s be honest about all this. When the Raiders moved to L.A the league never followed through on thier end of a stadium deal. Now the Raiders are playing in a complete dump, and need to improve thier environment. This is simple folks. Vegas is an attraction to many NFL owners, and now Oakland has once again opened the door for the rest of the others to pursue. The NFL does not want the Raiders to move simply because they know the possibility of success the Raiders can achieve. Davis needs to just make the move. Sure alot of folks will be pissed off, but who cares? This league will never allow the Raiders to do what is best for the team.
Not so. Al went to LA on the promise from city leaders (Mayor Tom Bradley) the LA Coliseum was going to be remodeled and luxury boxes would be built. They reneged and Al went stadium shopping. First Irwindale, then Hollywood Park, the site of where the Rams are now building a stadium. So Al went to the NFL with his plans looking for funds to build, the NFL was willing, on the condition that the stadium be built to accommodate two teams. Al in typical fashion told the league to kiss off, blamed them for interfering with his stadium plans and headed back to Oakland. Isn’t ironic that the Rams are going to be building a stadium right where Al wanted to and with the condition that it be built to accommodate. To further the irony, the 2nd team could end up being the Raiders. Al’s problem was the same as Marks – No Money to properly capitalize the project. Mark however is like a hooker in a bar looking for anyone who will flash money in his face so he can do a lap dance for them. He’s really out of his league and should take on a partner of sell the team outright so the Raiders can get a stadium built in Oakland, which is what many owners in the league want.
What the NFL really wants is for the Raiders to share Levi’s Stadium with the 49ers. A lot of people don’t know that Levi’s was actually built to house two NFL teams. Part of the reason it got the financial support it got from the league was predicated on the fact that it would be built with two home teams in mind. Mark Davis wants no part of that. He wants the Raiders to have their own facility, not sharing one with the 49ers as the senior partners and I for one don’t blame him. I suspect that’s part of the reason the other owners are trying to force Mark to sell the team, because he won’t kowtow to the league’s wants. In terms of an Oakland solution, the ball has been in the city of Oakland’s court for awhile now with no movement in sight. Last Vegas at least has the beginnings of a plan. Oakland has nothing.
Mark wants out of the Bay area period. Despite what he says, his actions clearly state that. He insists on not sharing Levi with the 49ers yet he was willing to share with the Chargers in Carson and the Runnin Rebs in Vegas. He couldn’t fill the funding gap in Oakland without public money, but Carson was to be privately funded through Goldman Sachs and when the public funding In Vegas falls through, I’d be willing to bet Adelson and company will offer up out of the near $30B they are worth. He’s insisted on ingress, egress, parking, tailgating, reasonable prices and overall fan experience for Oakland, yet he’s compromised all or some of those things by proposing far more expensive stadiums on smaller lots in these other cities.
Think about it along those lines and see if your perception changes.
The NFL knows they have a stinker on their hands with the ownership of the SJ 49’ers. Raiders are poised to be a contender now, and continued success and improvement will attract investment. The worm turns.
Ken “Mr.T” Raider
If anyone thinks the Raiders will get a new stadium in Oakland, forget about it that’s never gonna happen. I don’t like sharing a stadium with a baseball team at all. Those pesky Oakland A’s got that baseball diamond in the middle of the football field and players can get hurt. As a Raiders fan myself I say get the hell outta Oakland, and please “can ” Vegas. San Antonio probably not, as for LA, it depends if the Chargers decline the option. “Oakland is pathetically BROKE!!” If I was in Oakland with a Raider gear those gang bangers will be after me with a shotgun like stick up kids. They don’t care about the Raiders they want the gear because of the color and logo, Oakland is rough for a city.
I’ve been an OAKLAND Raiders fan since I was a kid, so about 50 years. I even have an Oakland Raiders tattoo on my leg, and it’s very noticeable. Note the word OAKLAND – on my leg
DON’T MOVE, PLEASE! I don’t know if I can get behind the team if they move It would literally be heartbroken.