Sisolak To Raiders: Come To Las Vegas in 2019 IF You Want To Move A Year Early

By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com

 

Breakups can be nasty, especially when lawyers are involved.

 

And those on-again, and now definitely off-again lovebirds — the city of Oakland and the Oakland Raiders — are having a rough go at it as the former partners head for certain Splitsville.

 

The Raiders’ new love — Las Vegas and Southern Nevada — are happy to open the door to the NFL team a year earlier than expected before the Summer of 2020 when a new $1.8 stadium project is scheduled to be done not too far from the Strip. The Raiders fell hard for their new Las Vegas mate when Southern Nevada showed them the public money — $750 million for the domed, 65,000-seat stadium that Oakland was not willing to offer.

 

Clark County Commission Chairman/Raiders Super Fan/Nevada Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Sisolak told LVSportsBiz.com Sunday that he has talked with Raiders President Marc Badain about the topic of having the Raiders play in Las Vegas in 2019 if the NFL team needs a place to call home before the 2020 Las Vegas stadium opening.

 

The spurned city of Oakland is reportedly preparing a lawsuit against the Raiders, with Oakland looking for a juicy payout from their former NFL partner for leaving.  Divorces can be messy and expensive, after all.

 

In response to a potential lawsuit, the Raiders have threatened to leave Oakland one year early and skip out of the town for the 2019 season if the city sues the team. The Raiders were hoping to play out the string in Oakland in 2019.

 

Thing is, the Raiders’ possible temporary 2019 digs in Las Vegas are not exactly the Bellagio of football stadiums.

 

Sisolak said the Raiders could use Sam Boyd Stadium or Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the 2019 season if they need a place to hang out until the new palatial stadium palace opens in 2020.

 

Speedway chief Chris Powell said he’s all ears when it come to “special events” at the sprawling Speedway grounds north of the city of Las Vegas.

 

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“We’ve not been approached on this issue, but as is always the case, we will entertain any ideas for special events here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.” Powell said in an email to LVSportsBiz.com.

 

Meanwhile, good ol’ Sam Boyd Stadium is hardly NFL ready and the lame duck stadium would require millions of dollars of upgrades before it hosts an NFL team. UNLV’s football team will leave Sam Boyd Stadium when the new Raiders stadium opens in 2020.

 

Badain offered a friendly “no comment” on the matter of Las Vegas being a home in 2019.

 

It’s well-known that Raiders owner Mark Davis would prefer to move the team to Las Vegas in 2020 to christen the new stadium on a 62.6-acre site on the west side of Interstate 15, bounded by Russell Road and Polaris and Facienda avenues.

 

Another 2019 option could be the former NFL stadium in San Diego, which was vacated when the Chargers left for Los Angeles. That could work given the Raiders’ strong fan base in Southern California.

 

Nobody said breakups are easy. Especially when an NFL team leaves a city for a new partner.

 

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