Al Davis wanted to move Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas?

The idea of a professional sports organization in Las Vegas is pretty difficult. That’s not to say it won’t eventually happen, but commissioners have understandably been reluctant to allow a team to play in Sin City (or Nevada as a whole).

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Due to the gambling laws, most leagues will continue to avoid Las Vegas but if former Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis would have had his way, he apparently would have preferred to relocate his franchise to the capital of second chances.

That’s the word from former NFL quarterback David Humm who spent parts of seven seasons with the Oakland Raiders franchise.

“He would have loved to have moved the Raiders here. He told me that many times,” said David Humm, a former Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback who played in the NFL from 1975 to 1984.

“He loved this town,” Humm stated. “But there’s no way commissioner Pete Rozelle would have allowed it because of the sports books and gambling.”

Davis of course was no stranger to Las Vegas as he held many birthday parties in the beloved city and spent a vast amount of time in the Nevada desert.

It’s hard to imagine that Davis would have actually moved the Oakland Raiders franchise to Las Vegas over Los Angeles assuming the two opportunities presented themselves at a similar time frame, though Davis was determined to leave Oakland after he struggled to gain support for stadium improvements in the early 1980’s.

It’s a little shocking we didn’t hear much about a move to Vegas after Davis decided to relocate back to Oakland, but such a desire would have promptly been shut down by the NFL which is why Davis may not have considered it to be a realistic opportunity.

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