Las Vegas Raiders

Texas billionaire luring the Raiders has meddled in moving teams before

Published Jan. 18, 2016 9:58 a.m. ET

foxsports

Red McCombs' first venture into professional sports ownership brought San Antonio a basketball team.

His next one could bring the iconic Raiders to town. And now, the 88-year-old billionaire knows exactly what buttons to push to pry them away from Oakland for good.

McCombs' track record as an owner suggests he can't sit still. He bought, relocated, and sold the Spurs after three seasons (and an ABA-NBA merger, which drove the team's value up). He owned the Denver Nuggets for 10 years, then re-purchased the Spurs. And he tried every trick in the book to get the Minnesota Vikings a new home as owner from 1998-2005.

He used the threat of relocation often. In 2002, he timed a press release to coincide with an NFL market study in Los Angeles -- a not-so-subtle hint he could pick up and move there at any time. San Antonio was always named as a relocation option, too.

At the time, the Vikings had nine years left on their Metrodome lease. The Raiders are far easier to move -- they haven't signed a lease for 2016 -- and might be McCombs' easiest job yet.