NFL’s joint committee expected to recommend Raiders move to Las Vegas
By Kareem Gantt
In a sign that may point the way for the Raiders move to Las Vegas, the NFL’s joint committee is expected to recommend a vote on the move this month.
The Oakland Raiders have to be pleased with what they are hearing from the NFL these days.
After slumming it inside the dilapidated Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum for years without any outlet for escape, the NFL’s joint committee is moving closer to providing the team with one. According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the committee is expected to recommend that the league’s owners vote on the Raiders potential move to Las Vegas this month, providing that the Raiders offer more detail on how they will make it work in Sin City.
The NFL's joint committee -- provided the Raiders get some more work done -- is expected recommend owners vote on the Vegas move in March.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 7, 2017
Regardless, this is a blessed sign for a team that has remained in limbo on a home for the past decade. Their original exit strategy fell through after the league granted the San Diego Chargers their request to move to Los Angeles and share a brand new stadium with the L.A. Rams in Inglewood if a hotel tax measure to finance a new stadium in downtown San Diego was defeated.
It was, and the Chargers are now exercising their clause and are moving to Hollywood for the 2018 season. With two NFL teams now in L.A., the Raiders, who so badly wanted to be back in Southern California after a 22-year absence, found themselves on the outside and looking for alternatives.
That’s where Vegas came into play.
After being blackballed because of their immense gambling industry, pro sports leagues are now looking to Vegas to expand. The NHL jumped in first and awarded the city an expansion franchise, the Golden Knights, slated to start play at T-Mobile Arena nex season.
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With the NHL gambling on success in Sin City, the NFL seems to now be all-in on putting a team in a city flushed with cash, which couldn’t have come at a better time for the Raiders.
There’s still some time to go, but for now, at least, it looks like the Raiders finally have the exit door that the team thought they would never find.