The Oakland Raiders’ road to Las Vegas hasn’t been smoothest, but the latest signs indicate they’ll still get there.
There’s a “very good chance” the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas is approved at next week’s NFL Spring Meeting, the MMQB’s Albert Breer reported Wednesday in a story leaked by colleague Peter King.
Per Breer, the NFL “has made workable one potential roadblock” of the Raiders’ move by setting a relocation fee in the “range of $325 million to $375 million,” a relative bargain compared to the $650 million fee the Rams and Chargers paid for their respective moves to Los Angeles.
NFL owners also are expected to vote on the relocation at next week’s meetings, which, Breer writes, is “a good indication the league feels it has the requisite three-quarters of the league’s 32 owners to approve the move to Las Vegas.”
The Raiders already have filed relocation papers, so if they receive at least 24 votes from NFL owners, they’ll officially be given the green light to leave Oakland.
Perhaps the biggest hang-up in a potential move has been the Raiders’ stadium project, which was put in jeopardy after financier Goldman Sachs pulled its support in late January. But Bank of America since has stepped up to provide the necessary funding for a new stadium, and the NFL now feels “bullish” about the project, per Breer.
One owner even boldly proclaimed the Raiders have a higher ceiling in Las Vegas than the Rams and Chargers do in L.A.
“I think in 10 to 15 years, you’ll see the Raiders doing better than at least one of the L.A. teams and potentially both L.A. teams,” the owner told Breer.
Thumbnail photo via Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports Images
