The stadium may not be ahead of schedule, but the name change is.
Earlier this month, when the Raiders dropped “Oakland” from their name, the plan was to rebrand as the Las Vegas Raiders in March. Instead, the move became official today.
The Raiders have announced that they are the Las Vegas Raiders. It’s the fourth time the team’s name has changed; from Oakland originally to Los Angeles to Oakland again and now to Las Vegas.
The move happened after owners decided to approve the Rams’ stadium concept in Inglewood, picking it over a proposed Chargers-Raiders collaboration in Carson. The Chargers received dibs on the opportunity to partner with the Rams, opening the door for the Raiders to vamonos to Vegas.
The Raiders at one point flirted with San Antonio during an extended process that flowed from the reality that an acceptable stadium deal would not be available in Oakland. Once Las Vegas and Nevada kicked in $750 million for the project, the move to the place the NFL previously had shunned became a no-brainer.