“The existing size of Las Vegas, the diversification and the growth that it has undergone over the last 20 years, combine to make it a mid-sized market today”, said league executive Eric Grubman, the NFL’s point man on stadium projects, “but one that is exhibiting significantly above average growth”.
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None of these are reasons for owner Mark Davis and the Raiders not to take the sweetheart of a deal being offered by the powers that be in Las Vegas, but they are absolutely things to consider from a competitive standpoint, once the Raiders move into their new digs in Sin City.
“That’s never easy – having been in the situation when we played in Houston when they were moving to Tennessee”, Elway said, recalling a November 26, 1995 Broncos-Oilers game played in front of 36,113 fans in the 59,969-seat Astrodome.
Raiders officials have said they plan on staying in Northern California until the new 65,000-seat, $1.9 billion domed stadium is complete. The only team not voting for the move was Miami. Let us know if you think this is a good or bad decision by the NFL. “They all should want to be in South Florida – never ending”.
The Raiders will play in Oakland for the next two seasons with the 2019 season up in the air.
-There is a Redskins related note on this move, as Washington hosts the Raiders at FedExField during the 2017 season.
Invoking his father Al’s name, and copying what the Hall of Fame owner did with the Raiders, Mark Davis is moving the franchise out of Oakland. “We’ve now had three teams move in the last 16 months, so any time a team relocates, it’s hard on their fan base [and] their community”. “I’ll still be a fan, but it’s tough to see them go”. “How you lose a franchise twice, I don’t really know”.
I certainly hope I’m wrong, but it feels like there is a chance the Raiders will have the worst home field advantage in the NFL.
Goodell responded to the stadium proposal ahead of this week’s annual league meeting in Phoenix, sending a letter on Friday evening to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf that he believes the city has yet to find “a viable solution” to keeping the Raiders there. I’m sure Vegas residents would rather see that $750 million in public funds used towards schools or infrastructure, but it’s too late for that. That pairing was one of the driving factors in the vote. “But again, this is the entertainment business, and business has to be done”.
“Our focus is [Bell] being ready for the 2017 season”, Colbert said. “There was an option here in Oakland, with the most loyal fans in the National Football League, and you guys just ripped that away, with no heart”. “We’re still the Raiders and we represent Raider Nation. We’re just the loyal fans”.
“I wouldn’t use the term, ‘lame duck, ‘ ” Davis said. “But it has always been our goal”.
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It isn’t the first time the Raiders have left fans heartbroken. “We would love nothing more than to bring a championship back to the Bay Area”. I can tell you that in the Cleveland game at the end of the season, I would have wished for a rule like this.
