The Raiders will remain in Oakland this season and next, before heading to Sin City. Their new $2 billion stadium will not be ready until 2020. This will be on the heels of the Rams and Los Angeles Chargers opening their $2.6 billion stadium in 2019.
Did you expect any other franchise other than the Raiders could have relocated to Las Vegas?!
The rumors of the Raiders leaving Oakland, California have been ongoing for years. However, most thought they would head to San Antonio, Texas instead, and play at the legendary Alamodome. San Antonio has shown it can fill the 65,000 seat stadium, most notably when the New Orleans Saints were displaced after Hurricane Katrina. The Raiders may end up playing here in 2019, since UNLV’s Sam Boyd Stadium features an extended maximum capacity of only 40,000.
Will Vegas have enough locals to fill a 70,000+ seat football stadium in the next three years? You know current Raider fans are not going to make the 8 ½ hour drive from Oakland, just like St. Louisians aren’t driving 27 hours to Los Angeles, or Clevelanders driving six hours to Baltimore when their teams left.
With the Raiders coming off a 12-4 season, and expected to be Super Bowl contenders for the next several years, 40,000 just will not cut it in Raider Nation.
The move was approved on Monday after a 31-1 vote by league owners. Miami Dolphins’ owner Stephen M. Ross was the lone detractor, citing that teams owed it to the local fan bases to stay put. Meanwhile, Ross explored the possibility of moving the Dolphins to Palm Beach, until renovations were made to Hard Rock Stadium last season.
Vegas is a place known for risk, as well as where many bad decisions are made. Supporting the Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL when they open their inaugural season in October will not be an issue in Vegas. You’re expecting fans to fill the T-Mobile Center that holds under 20,000 fans. Owner Mark Davis got the new stadium deal his father never could. The LA Coliseum opened in 1946--the Raiders moved in in 1982. The Raiders opened Oakland-Alamedia County Coliseum in 1966, and have shared the dwellings with the Oakland Athletics since 1968. The A’s have been rumored to be getting a new home for more than a decade, including moving to nearby San Jose. Al Davis pushed for a new stadium for years, but had to settle to renovations on an outdated structure, much like Art Modell did before moving the Browns in 1996.
Geographically, the Raiders can remain in the AFC West, and it cuts down on travel time to Denver or Kansas City. For the NFL, it’s digging into an untapped market they have been scouting for years. For the Raiders, it’s getting out of the hole that is Oakland. We talked about the Athletics, but even the NBA’s Golden State Warriors are moving away after next season. The Warriors are moving 12 miles to San Francisco when their new arena is finished in 2019.
Even NFL Commish Roger Goodell expressed disappointment towards Oakland’s city officials for not exhausting all resources to keep the Raiders in their current home. Mayor Libby Schaff went on record Tuesday stating, “I’m moving on. I’m not fighting this decision.” (Credit to The Mercury News.) Francis Slay in St. Louis and Michael White in Cleveland fought the league through the legal system for weeks and months to block the move, and Schaff is caving in after 24 hours?!
Las Vegas has the Raiders now, but Oakland certainly does not deserve them for the next two years.
-JC24