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Top eight takeways from Raiders’ relocation to Las Vegas

The future home of what will then be known as the Las Vegas Raiders

6. The public financing dynamic

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross

We’ve heard NFL players speak out about the idea of public financing. By and large, it’s been against the idea of using taxpayer money to help fund stadiums for billionaire owners of NFL teams. That makes just too much sense.

The idea here is that cities should not waste hundreds of millions in cash for a sporting venue when there are other issues political leaders need to handle. As mentioned above, this is one of the primary differences between Oakland and San Diego. One had the capability to use public financing, the other really didn’t.

The Miami Dolphins and owner Stephen Ross were the one team that voted against the Raiders’ relocation. For Ross, who had just put up $500 of his own cash to renovate Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, it was all about the use of public funding in Vegas (more on that here).

That’s understandable. But it’s also painting with a broad brush. Ross’ net worth currently sits at $7.4 billion, whereas Davis’ net worth is $500 million. That really is comparing apples to oranges.

Continuing to paint with a broad brush, the larger question here is whether public financing should be used for any professional sports venue. Sure, when these venues couple as places where the entertainment industry frequents, money can be brought into the city. But in reality, that’s minimal in comparison to what taxpayers have been asked to foot in recent years.

It’s a debate that will continue to ran rampant until the NFL itself goes away from using public backing. Raiders owner Mark Davis may be the face of this issue now, but he made the sound business decision to take the $950 million Vegas offered and run with it. He can’t be blamed for playing the game, just as the city of Oakland can’t be blamed for failing to cough up hundreds of millions it simply doesn’t have.

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