Oakland Raiders relocation: 5 reasons it is wrong
By John Buhler
2. Las Vegas is transient with a tourism-based economy
Nobody cares about the stigmas of yesteryear placed on Las Vegas over the city’s ties to gambling. The NFL realizes that people have gambled on their product for years and there are ways to reap the benefits of that on-the-side financial action if the NFL is interested.
Frankly, Las Vegas is more of a family tourism destination than anything at this point. While there are enough people to fill a 65,000-seat stadium eight times a year, there are reasons to be weary of the Raiders going to Las Vegas outside of the taboo associated with gambling.
Two of the biggest issues for the Raiders to Las Vegas are this: Las Vegas has a transient population and an elastic economy based on tourism. There are very few native Las Vegans, so there isn’t an immediate attachment to the NFL or really any sports for that matter. Transient cities tend to be lukewarm in their support of professional sports teams, especially if they don’t win regularly.
A good bit of the Las Vegas population doesn’t have a college degree and there are only four Fortune 500 companies in Las Vegas to begin with. California has 53, the third-most of any state behind Texas and New York.
In short, NFL in Las Vegas would have more of a Jacksonville or Tampa Bay sort of vibe to it than people want to believe. The Raiders in Las Vegas may have the glitz and glamor of a Los Angeles or a New York. However, there’s not enough steak for that kind of sustained sizzle with NFL football in Southern Nevada.