The Raiders are moving to Las Vegas because that is what the NFL wanted. Period.
This isn't about Oakland's failure. This isn't about fans. This is and always was about money. And Las Vegas is where the NFL stands to make a ton of money while most of the risk is on everyone else.
It is better this way, for everybody, in the long run.
What Oakland did was draw the line and hold strong in the face of the ever-mighty NFL. What Oakland did was uphold the chainlink being built around major metropolises across the nation. And the message is clear: you pro sports franchises, major corporations disguised as community trusts, need to pay if you want to take advantage of these major markets. Period.
San Francisco said it. Los Angeles said it. San Diego said it. And now Oakland said it, under relentless pressure from outsiders who still don't see our city as major.
If the NFL wants to be here, it has to pay the price. If any franchise wants the sizable television rights deals, the large sponsorships, the Silicon Valley wealth pouring into its business, the dense population of fans with disposable income and a grassroots level loyalty, you have to pay the price. This is no longer a place so thirsty for your presence it will assume the risk while you rake in the profits.
Mark Davis couldn't pay that price here and now he's going to a much lesser market and hoping a transient fan base can hold up his franchise. Cool.
But make no mistake. He is going to Las Vegas because the NFL set up him up. The league was not going to pass up on that $750 million handout, so it played a major hand in pulling this off for the Raiders. Let's break it down.
The Raiders have said they have $500 million on a stadium. But $200 million is a loan from the NFL.
Davis got a Hail Mary loan from Bank of America for $650 million after casino owner Sheldon Adelson and financier Goldman Sachs backed out. But Davis can't get a loan that large. There is no doubt the NFL vouched for that loan behind the scenes, serving as the safety net that made Bank of America feel comfortable.
On top of that, the relocation fee _ reportedly $300 million to $375 million _ is but a loan. The Raiders will never have to pay it. The NFL will get that money directly from revenue over the years.
So that is in essence over a billion dollars courtesy of the NFL going towards the Las Vegas stadium.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said they tried hard to get a stadium done in Oakland but there was no viable plan. But viable plan is code for no free money. They did try hard to coax a handout from Oakland. It wasn't there, so the NFL wasn't nearly as invested in making it happen in Oakland.
Why couldn't Davis get a $650 million loan from Bank of America for a stadium in Oakland? That plus the $500 million the Raiders already have is $1.15 billion. Throw in the $100 million the league granted the Raiders toward an Oakland stadium as a consolation prize for losing Los Angeles. That right there is enough to find the Ronnie Lott stadium proposal, which was $1.3 billion.
So why would they do it for Las Vegas and not Oakland? Because $750 million in public money is Las Vegas, courtesy of a hotel tax. And philosophically, the NFL will always take the free money.
Now if an owner wants to take on the risk, more power to them. All that owner has to do is convince the other owners there is a financial boon waiting for them. But that is the exception. The rule for the NFL is to go where the handout it. Because hundreds of millions in profits taste so much better when the risk is on someone else.
Which is why the NFL could be back in Oakland. Think about it. The Bay Area has been a two-team market since 1995. Two questions to consider.
One: will the other 32 owners just let the San Francisco 49ers expand its kingdom and have a top-five market to itself? All the while, the Raiders dip into the Los Angeles fan base.
Two: how long before another team in a small market _ which just saw see a major market open up with an abandoned fan base and a potential boon in revenue _ tries to make a move on Oakland?
The Jacksonville Jaguars owner has plenty of money. Can the Titans survive long term in a college town in Nashville? How committed are the Bengals to Cincinnati?
Don't give me the they-would-never speech. It's been proven that emotional, fan-centered view is just a marketing ploy. The NFL owners will go where the money is.
Davis couldn't fund a stadium in Oakland so he had to go. But what if an owner with bigger pockets wants this market and will secure funding on his own, like Stan Kroenke did in Los Angeles? The NFL will again be in position to rake in piles of cash with no risk. In Las Vegas and Oakland.
But that's why this is good for everybody involved. Yes, for the NFL, which has to know where this is headed. These stadiums are getting so expensive, these teams so valuable, that privately financed stadiums have to become the norm. Either that or they can exist in mediocre markets where they might get some buy in from the municipality hoping the NFL can legitimize their city.
But one has to wonder if these smaller markets can expand franchise values and produce the huge profits to which owners are accustomed.
Yes, for the Raiders, who get the stadium they have wanted for years. Perhaps they can succeed as a regional draw or perhaps they will learn a hard lesson about how all money ain't good money.
Yes, for the fans, who get to see blatantly what this is really about _ big business. Maybe the emotive, community element fans cling to, which the NFL has mastered taking advantage of, will give way to logic and business savvy. Fans should be more awake than ever to the NFL's true motives and can start demanding the league to truly invest in the people and communities from which they so readily extract.
Yes, for the municipalities, who can eventually see the NFL is just fleecing these cities. Hopefully more will stand up to the influence of the NFL and demand that the billions the league will earn translate into real benefits to the cities and counties they inhabit. Maybe they can enter real, mutually beneficial partnerships one day.
