Nevada offers the first significant action for the Raiders. What’s next?
The Oakland Raiders’ future remains up in the air, but things are starting to pick up some steam. On Friday, Nevada lawmakers voted to approve spending $750 million in hotel tax dollars on a football stadium. Hotel taxes will increase 1.4 percent to help fund the stadium, and also contribute to expanding the convention center. The governor is expected to sign the amendment.
The convention center portion is likely important because some of the big casino companies were against spending on a new stadium. They wanted a hotel tax to go toward expanding the convention center, which would bring in more revenue than a stadium.
All of this comes a day after a KPIX report that former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo might be getting involved in trying to keep the Raiders in Oakland:
Former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo could be coming to the rescue of Raiders fans. That’s because his company’s vice president is meeting with city leaders at Oakland City Hall as we speak, right now. They’re talking about redeveloping this land (Coliseum site), and also possibly keeping the Raiders here in town. Now, while that’s going on, of course, Nevada lawmakers are deciding whether or not to use public money to get the Raiders to move to Las Vegas.
Former 49ers and Raiders safety Ronnie Lott has another group also working to try and get something done. Neither has made significant advancement as far as I know, which puts them severely behind the curve compared to Nevada. The NFL would still have to approve a move to Las Vegas, but if Nevada is going to offer up a ton of corporate welfare, the NFL is likely to jump all over that. God forbid Sheldon Adelson pay for something fully himself.
And Raiders owner made it very clear he is happy to go all-in on this:
"I would like to thank Governor Sandoval, the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, and the members of the Nevada Legislature on this historic day, " said Raiders owner Mark Davis. "All parties have worked extremely hard to develop and approve this tremendous stadium project that will serve as a proud new home for the entire Raider Nation."
The city of Oakland has not offered up the kind of public money the league likes to see. It would be a shame to see Oakland lose another sports team, but the city has more important things to spend tax money on than sports. If that means the Raiders join the Warriors (and potentially the A’s) in moving out of Oakland, so be it.