Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas
Davis gained league approval to move the team after years of failed efforts to renovate or replace the Oakland Coliseum, which had been consistently rated as one of the worst stadiums in the NFL.
The Las Vegas Posse, part of the Canadian Football League's effort to enter the U.S. market, lasted one season in 1994 and suffered from a poor on-field product and low attendance.
Attendance and on-field performance were respectable, and the team embraced the city's culture,[13] but the Outlaws' modest success was overshadowed by the failure of the XFL.
[16] However, the 49ers went ahead without the Raiders and broke ground on the $1.2 billion stadium on April 19, 2012,[17] and afterwards sold $670 million worth of seats including 70% of club and luxury suites, making it more unlikely that the Raiders would want to explore any idea of sharing the stadium as they would then be secondary tenants with little to no commercial rights over the highly lucrative luxury suites.
The development team also included JRDV Urban International, HKS Architects, and Forest City Real Estate Services.
[22] The abandoned Concord Naval Weapons Station, 26.6 miles from Oakland, was announced in 2013 as a possible location for a new stadium but developments failed to materialize.
San Antonio remained in contention through at least November 2014, when Raiders staffers scouted the stadium and began negotiating with city officials.
[29] On February 19, 2015, the Raiders and the then San Diego Chargers announced that they would build a privately financed $1.78 billion stadium in Carson, California if they were to move back to the Los Angeles market.
[32] The council voted without having clarified several issues, including who would finance the stadium, how the required three-way land swap would be performed, and how it would raise enough revenue if only one team moved in as tenant.
[34] The Chargers exercised their choice and announced their move to Los Angeles in January 2017, shutting the Raiders out of the Southern California market.
The meeting was set up by Napoleon McCallum, a former Raiders player turned Las Vegas Sands employee.
At the meeting were Davis and McCallum, along with then-UNLV president Don Snyder and Bo Bernhard, executive director of the International Gaming Institute.
Interviewed by sports columnist Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News, Davis said that he had a "great" visit in the city.
On April 1, 2016, Davis toured Sam Boyd Stadium to evaluate whether UNLV could serve as a temporary home of the team.
He talked with UNLV football coach Tony Sanchez, athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy, adviser Don Snyder and school president Len Jessup.
On April 28, 2016, Davis said he wanted to move the Raiders to Las Vegas and he pledged $500 million toward the construction of a proposed $2.4 billion domed stadium.
[42][44] At a media conference in UNLV's Stan Fulton Building, Davis also said the club had "made a commitment to Las Vegas at this point in time and that's where it stands."
In an interview with ESPN after returning from a meeting for the 2016 NFL draft he explained why southern Nevada might be a better location than the East Bay of the Oakland–San Francisco Bay Area and how he tried to make it work in Oakland; he also spoke of the meeting saying, "It was a positive, well-organized presentation that I believe was well-received", and said, "It was a very positive step in finding the Raiders a home."
On May 20, 2016, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he would support Davis and the Raiders' move to Las Vegas: "I think it would be good for the NFL.
NFL.com's Judy Battista reported from the NFL spring league meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 24, 2016 that Davis planned to relocate the Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas if Las Vegas & Clark County government officials, as well as wealthy businessmen, could come up with a suitable stadium proposal.
[51] On September 15, 2016, the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee unanimously voted to recommend and approve $750 million for the Las Vegas stadium plan.
Davis also indicated a desire to play at least one preseason game in Las Vegas, at Sam Boyd Stadium, as early as the 2018 season.
The Oakland proposal was officially announced in December 2016,[61] and called for a $1.3 billion, football-only stadium built on the existing Coliseum site.
It included mixed use development for possible office or retail space, hotel or residential living and parking, as well as 15 acres set aside for a new baseball-only facility for the Oakland Athletics if the A's so desired.
The Union-Tribune noted that any possible Raiders move to San Diego or bringing a team to the city would have been aided by a proposal for a soccer-specific stadium and mixed development.
On February 16, 2017, the San Diego Union-Tribune obtained a letter from Doug Manchester that stated he had "assembled a powerful group of associates" who would develop a 70,000-seat stadium on the land of SDCCU Stadium; the letter also stated the project would provide "a viable alternative" to the Raiders in case Las Vegas fell through; the group also stated that they were "open to working with the Chargers, Raiders, other NFL owners, or a new ownership group"; it also stated an NFL franchise could participate as a partner or tenant: "Our group will provide the funds previously allocated to be provided by the City of San Diego and guarantee the stadium's expeditious construction.
On March 6, 2017, the Raiders revealed that Bank of America would be replacing Sheldon Adelson's portion of the funding for the new stadium in Las Vegas.
The NFL issued a press release on April 14, 2017 outlining a statement of reasons as to why the league's ownership approved the Raiders' application to move from Oakland to Las Vegas.
[76] In January, construction crews began blasting caliche rock with dynamite to excavate and create the stadium bowl.
[84] The Raiders then, with admitted reluctance, resumed negotiations with the Coliseum[85] and announced a renewal with that venue on February 25; the agreement, which ran for one or two years depending on whether the Allegiant Stadium was ready for play in 2020, required approval from the city of Oakland and the NFL.
