NFL team owners are expected to consider allowing the Oakland Raiders to relocate to Las Vegas on Monday at the league’s annual meetings, which begin Sunday in Phoenix, Arizona.
A posting on the league’s website said the matter is slated for a vote Monday after another presentation from the Raiders, who would relocate to a proposed $1.9 billion (1.75 billion euros) domed stadium with 65,000 seats in the US gambling capital.
The Raiders would need approval from 24 of 32 club owners to make the move from the San Francisco Bay area, where they share a 50-year-old venue with Major League Baseball’s Oakland A’s, the only such shared stadium in America.
With just over 35,000 seats for baseball and 56,000 for the NFL, it ranks as the second-smallest venue in both leagues.
While Oakland city leaders made several pitches for a new stadium, none of the offers were considered viable by Raiders owner Mark Davis, who lost out in a bid to relocate to Los Angeles just over a year ago. Both the St. Louis Rams and San Diego Chargers have moved to Los Angeles, where they will eventually share a new state-of-the-art facility.
With anticipated ownership approval, the Raiders would play their 2017 and 2018 seasons as lame ducks in Oakland to complete their lease while their new home is being prepared.
They would then pack up and move to Las Vegas with an interim home at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas for 2019 before their new home near the Las Vegas Strip would be ready in 2020.
The vote could be delayed until NFL meetings in May over relocation fee issues.
While the Rams and Chargers paid $650 million to call Los Angeles home, the Raiders might pay around half as much given the smaller market size of Las Vegas likely not providing the same boost in franchise value the other NFL clubs received. Owners could also approve the move and settle on a relocation fee later.
A lease deal with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board must also be secured for the new venue.
Davis applied to move the Raiders to Las Vegas in January, with the stadium deal to include $750 million in public funding plus $500 million from the Raiders and the NFL, mainly from personal seat licenses and a $650 million construction loan from Bank of America, which stepped in to keep the deal afloat after casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and investment bank Goldman Sachs backed out.
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