Las Vegas Raiders

Raiders Stadium Update: Start Printing the Las Vegas Gear

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

With the Las Vegas stadium funding half-way to approval, the Raiders are on track to apply for relocation at the NFL Owners meetings in January.

On Tuesday, the Nevada legislature completed step 1 of 2 in approving funding for a new stadium in Las Vegas. The Senate approved the bill and now it moves to the State Assembly. They are expected to pass the Bill by the weekend.

But this is all a formality. Ever since Nevada Governor Sandoval called the special session last week, the talk around Vegas was that he wouldn’t call the session if he didn’t think he had the votes to get the Bill passed.

This Bill was skillfully crafted to also include the funding of the Las Vegas Convention Center expansion. With that inclusion, everyone is content with this Bill. Representatives from every major casino operator in town has weighed in with their support.

Oakland has 3 months to do what they couldn’t get done in the past 10+ years

The elected officials in Oakland are their own worst enemy. They have an opportunity to get out from under the debt and hassle of trying to maintain the decaying Oakland Coliseum.

A group led by Ronnie Lott and the former owner of BET, are seeking to buy the land that the Coliseum and Oracle Arena currently occupy. But the Mayor refused to meet with them, until the NFL commissioner urged her to.

Anyone hoping to keep the Raiders in Oakland, needs to have a stadium plan ready to present to the NFL owners in January, when Mark Davis is expected to apply for relocation.

January NFL Owners Meetings

The whole timeline of the Vegas stadium is driven by the goal of presenting the approved funding proposal to the NFL at their owners meetings in January. In conjunction with the formal application to relocate to Las Vegas.

The expectation of that owners vote has been guessed about for months. The truth is, if there is no other option for the Raiders in Oakland on the table come January, the owners have no choice but to approve the move to Las Vegas. I have a feeling they may use the same anonymous voting method they did when they approved the move for the Rams back to L.A.

You think Stan Kronke wants to share the L.A. market with the Raiders? I don’t either. That’s one vote.