The mayor of Las Vegas believes the Raiders are ready to make a move.
Mayor Carolyn Goodman told ESPN that Raiders owner Mark Davis isn’t just using Vegas as leverage to get a better stadium deal in Oakland. According to Goodman, a move to Vegas is close to happening.
“Mark Davis has assured us that Las Vegas is not getting played in a Raiders stadium deal,’' Goodman said. “I know we will have a team.’'
The proposal for a domed NFL stadium in Las Vegas includes the Raiders paying $500 million, the Sands Corporation paying $150 million and taxpayers paying $750 million. To pass the tax increase, the Nevada legislature would have to act.
“The Raiders will come if Nevada handles this properly,” Goodman said.
Some around the NFL believe the league is simply too averse to gambling to allow a team to move to Vegas. But the league isn’t averse to accepting hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money to build a stadium, and if Nevada approves the deal, it would be hard for the NFL to say no.