CHARLOTTE, NC — Less than a month after Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis After “committing to Las Vegas,” it appears several influential figures within the league are ready to follow his lead.
The Raiders’ potential move to Las Vegas will be one of the hottest topics Tuesday when team owners gather at the Ballantyne Hotel for the NFL’s spring meeting. Future Super Bowl sites and changes to the replay system will also be discussed.
Although it’s not on the agenda, much of the media attention will likely be focused on New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who filed an appeal Monday of his four-game suspension in the controversial Deflategate case.
Brady’s lengthy legal battle with the league has driven a wedge between NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Patriots owner Robert Kraft. It will be interesting to see if Goodell and Kraft are also at odds over the Las Vegas issue.
Kraft’s comments made national headlines weekwhen he said Las Vegas “would be good for the NFL,” and he plans to support Davis if he wants to move the Raiders to a city that has been considered taboo for decades because of legal gambling.
Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys has also voiced his support for Las Vegas, putting at least two of the league’s most powerful owners on the Raiders’ side. Jones and Kraft are investors in DraftKings, a fantasy sports company.
Jones was instrumental in helping Rams owner Stan Kroenke move his franchise from St. Louis to Los Angeles this year. Kroenke is also believed to be in favor of moving the Raiders to Las Vegas, which would require approval from 24 of the league’s 32 owners.
“I think we’ll make them an offer they can’t refuse,” Davis said April 28, when a proposal to build a $1.4 billion, 65,000-seat stadium near the Strip was presented to the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee. The project would be financed by a public-private partnership that includes the Raiders, Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Majestic Realty.
For the Las Vegas Raiders to become a reality, many hurdles must be overcome, and the stadium financing plan may be the most significant hurdle. It will be discussed in more detail Thursday at the next SNTIC meeting.
Goodell has never publicly supported Las Vegas as an NFL city, and he’s expected to answer that question again at his press conference Tuesday. But several major owners and league executives appear to be supportive of the idea.
The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.
Contact reporter Matt Youmans at [email protected] or 702-387-2907. Follow us on Twitter: @mattyoumans247
