Raiders owner Mark Davis already has said that Las Vegas will be the team’s new home. If that statement left any doubt that he fully intends to move the Raiders out of Oakland, his comments from Wednesday removed it.
“Oakland was in the driver’s seat if they could’ve put together anything,” Davis said Wednesday, via the Associated Press. “They came up with nothing. . . . Las Vegas has already done what it is supposed to do and we have to bring it up to the National Football League and get permission to move to Las Vegas.”
That last part implies that Davis will respect the league’s process, leaving only if he gets 24 votes and not trying to force his way out via the legal system if he doesn’t.
And so the question becomes whether Davis will get the votes. As PFT reported over the weekend, a decision is expected in six-to-nine months, with a 75-percent likelihood of success.
It’s not hard to spot the clear “yes” votes. The Cowboys support it, perhaps in part to ensure the Raiders will never land in San Antonio. (The Texans likely will support the move for that reason, too.) The Chargers will support it, because it keeps the Raiders out of Los Angeles and reduces the total number of California teams back to three.
The 49ers will support it, because it gets the Raiders out of the Bay Area. The Rams will support it, because there’s a strong belief in league circles that they don’t want to share L.A. with the Raiders, Chargers, or anyone.
Potentially opposing the move will be the Giants, Steelers, and Bengals, at a minimum. Whether another six will reject the move depends on many factors and plenty of behind-the-scenes maneuvering.
Even then, there may be plenty of owners who will wait to make a decision until the time comes for formal presentations. In January, the L.A. committee’s recommendation that the Chargers and Raiders move instead of the Rams died quickly when the competing projects were introduced to the full room.
A similar outcome could happen as to Las Vegas, with the wind blowing one way before it’s time to make a decision and then sharply cutting in the other direction once it’s time to put the cards on the table and explore all the issues and factors at once.