A group of investors, led by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, are reportedly meeting with Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis about bringing the NFL franchise to Sin City.
Adelson is said to have scheduled a meeting on Friday with Davis, and the discussions will include a look at a vacant 42-acre site that has been earmarked for a 65,000-capacity, $1 billion-domed stadium, reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The site was recently purchased by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and in a memo leaked to the website Ralston Reports, UNLV president Len Jessup said he would be welcoming officials from the Raiders to tour sites for a “potential new home.”
The Raiders were recently denied a chance to move to Los Angeles in a vote by NFL owners, who decided to allow the Rams to relocate to a stadium just outside L.A.
The Raiders’ lease with the Oakland O.co Coliseum expires next year, and Davis could find a willing new partner in Adelson, who is chairman of Las Vegas Sands, the casino developer that has lent its financial support for the building of the new UNLV-bought stadium.
As noted by ESPN, such a move would face a significant roadblock from the NFL, which has long resisted franchise moves to the gambling capital of the country. “The NFL has never been high on Las Vegas as a location,” Gerry Bomotti, UNLV’s senior vice president for finance and business, told the Review-Journal. “I think they are concerned about our betting, legalized gambling.”
Coins2Day has reached out to the Raiders for comment, and we will update this post once we hear back.
