The National Football League stadium committee and finance committee finally will take a long look at what Las Vegas and Nevada are proposing to do to make Raiders owner Mark Davis happy enough to consider moving his team from Oakland to the Nevada city.
It is common knowledge that Nevada will offer Davis the largest stadium subsidy in American history, about $750 million, which will be covered by a hike in the Clark County hotel tax. The actual cost of the stadium is projected to be $1.9 billion, but that number may be low as stadium building costs typically increase during the construction. And then there is the matter of who is paying for stadium maintenance. Will the stadium be on the tax roll or will a special stadium district be created that kicks money back to the Raiders owners? It appears that Oakland doesn’t the will or money to build a state of the art NFL stadium that Davis and league owners like.
Casino owner Sheldon Adelson is reportedly investing $650 million in the project, while the Raiders organization will put up $500 million for the construction. The NFL blocked an attempt by Davis and his Raider partners to build a stadium in Carson, California with the Spanos family, the owners of the San Diego Chargers. Instead the league allowed St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke to move to the Los Angeles area for the 2016 season and eventually to Inglewood, California.
The Spanos family could join Kroenke in Inglewood as early as 2017. Davis and the Raiders ownership were told they could move to LA if the Spanos family declined.
There are some concerns that Las Vegas might not have the corporate money or the population to support an NFL team. Sports gambling is not a problem for Davis or the NFL. If the money is there, Las Vegas will get the Raiders.
By Evan Weiner For The Politics Of Sports Business
This article was republished with permission from the original publisher, Evan Weiner.