To nobody’s surprise, the NFL owners approved a proposal Monday in Phoenix that will send the Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas.
It's official: The #Raiders are going to Vegas. They cleared the 24 vote threshold.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 27, 2017
And according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, only the Miami Dolphins opposed.
Raiders to Vegas: 31-1 Miami opposed, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 27, 2017
This was an outcome that was widely reported as a given heading into the Annual League Meeting, and there were a few major reasons it went through so smoothly.
First off, the city of Oakland never did give the Raiders or the NFL a viable solution to stay in the Bay Area — something commissioner Roger Goodell made crystal clear over the weekend.
Secondly, the city of Las Vegas laid out a red carpet with plenty of green trimming. In addition to the $750 million in public funds to build a stadium in Vegas, the city also approved $200 million in additional funds to be utilized for infrastructure. Additionally, the proposal indicated the cost of the stadium would be down by $200 million compared to initial estimates. There was no way that deal was going to get turned down.
Finally, there’s the matter of additional money flowing into the pockets of every NFL owner as part of this relocation, which you can read more about here.
Mark Davis, the owner of the Raiders, has had his eye on moving to Vegas for a long, long time. He even purchased the URL for the Las Vegas Raiders way back in 1999. This is a dream come true for the son of legendary Raiders owner Al Davis, who must be smiling down from above.