The Los Angeles Raiders are the latest team to attempt a move as they have filed papers to move from the Bay Area to Las Vegas
Las Vegas might be adding another professional team to its slowly growing collection of hometown clubs.
In a report early this morning, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Oakland Raiders will file relocation papers with the NFL to move from Oakland to Las Vegas. Oakland owner Mark Davis will need at least 24 of the other 31 league owners to vote in approval of the team’s move to Sin City.
The Raiders would become the third franchise in under two years to file for relocation, as the Rams and most recently, the Chargers, have both changed their respective address’ to Los Angeles. The Chargers just this past week made the announcement they will be moving north to Los Angeles and will be playing their home games at the 30,000-seat StubHub Center, which is also home for the Major League Soccer’s L.A. Galaxy.
Though Davis will be filing for relocation of the Raiders, the team wouldn’t be making the full move to Nevada until likely 2019 when the proposed stadium in Vegas would be completed. The Raiders would play the 2017 and 2018 seasons in Oakland. There hasn’t been much movement by the city of Oakland to keep the Raiders, as numerous attempts at viable stadium proposals have come short of satisfying Davis and the organization’s wants. The move was initially thought to be one that might be opposed by fellow NFL owners, but it has now picked up steam and earned the approval by many around the league, including New England owner Robert Kraft.
The Raiders have pledged $500 million towards building a new stadium in Vegas, which would be apart of a total $1.9 billion stadium project. The proposed stadium plan would require taxpayers to contribute $750 million towards the new venue. The vetting process for relocation should take a few weeks and come to a conclusion sometime during the spring, culminating in the owner’s voting on the move. Davis’ window of filling for relocation was from when the Raiders were eliminated from the postseason until Feb. 15.
