Davis made the comments during a meeting of the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee at UNLV.
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Davis, Adelson and others want to put $650 million into the stadium, with the rest being generated by tourism taxes. In 2015, the team collaborated with the San Diego Chargers in exploring the construction of a $1.7 billion stadium in Carson, California, but the bid fell apart, sending both teams looking for other options. Los Angeles, the second largest TV market in the country, has not had an National Football League franchise since the Raiders moved out. “If Las Vegas can come through…we’ll be the Las Vegas Raiders”.
Goodell was asked about a possible Raiders move to Vegas while meeting with reporters at the NFL Draft on Wednesday.
Davis is expected to be at a meeting Thursday of a commission studying the stadium issue, and there are reports he will publicly commit to moving his team if the city will commit to a stadium.
Las Vegas is the country’s No. 41 media market with a local fan base far smaller than the Bay Area.
Mark Davis jokes, the “Las Vegas Raiders” are now undefeated. “I believe if we give them an offer they can’t refuse and that’s what we are talking about right now, I don’t see a problem”. Posing with fans behind a Las Vegas Raiders banner with black and silver coloring on Thursday, Mark Davis soon spoke about a commitment to a new stadium of $500 million in Las Vegas for the Raiders. By that time, the Chargers could make a move to Los Angeles like the Rams just did.
They are also asking to create the Clark County Stadium Authority, similar to the authority that oversees the Oakland Coliseum and Oracle Arena.
The group wants more specifics from stadium proponents about their financing plan, and it will conduct its own analysis to determine what size of public contribution would be a good deal for the public, said chairman Steve Hill of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. The team is likely to stay at there for the next few seasons until the new Vegas arena is built, should it get the go-ahead.
Davis has said in the past that he wanted to keep the Raiders in Oakland but he’d also been trying to find the team a permanent home. While approval of a San Diego stadium initiative is a necessary first step to get the ball rolling in San Diego, it’s not a guarantee that a stadium will be built in San Diego. If that doesn’t work, though, don’t bet against the Las Vegas Raiders taking the field in 2020.
“To bring a great organisation like the Raiders to something like Vegas is incredible, but it’s bigger than that”, Beckham said.
Davis said the Raiders would continue to play in Oakland until a Las Vegas stadium is ready.
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“We are as excited as everyone in having David Beckham and the leadership of the Raiders come to our town, but we are even more pleased and excited to witness the commitment to the convention and trade show industry that supports tens of thousands of jobs and opportunities for everyone in our community”.
