The Nevada Senate voted in favor of a $750 million expenditure for a new stadium that could host the Oakland Raiders in the near future. Responding to the vote on Friday, Raiders owner Mark Davis issued a statement that makes it seem like the move has already been made from Northern California to the great state of Nevada.
“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.”
Note the words, “will serve” in Davis’ statement — a clear sign he is putting Oakland in his rear-view mirror.
There has been a push by the NFL to keep the Raiders in Oakland. Former Raiders players, Ronnie Lott and Rodney Peete, have spearheaded a stadium proposal to keep the Raiders in Oakland as part of that push (more on that here).
But Davis’ eye has been on the Raiders moving to Las Vegas for years now. In fact, he filed for the “Las Vegas Raiders” trademark recently and bought the Las Vegas Raiders website way back in 1999.
Now that Davis has his public funding for a new stadium in Las Vegas, it seems like the Raiders moving to Nevada is a done deal. But there are still some hurdles to overcome, primarily as it pertains to revenue sharing, which we detailed here.
But clearly, Davis isn’t worried about that detail.
In his mind, the Raiders are already gone.