Raiders’ stadium in Las Vegas clears major hurdle

The Oakland Raiders’ future seems to be headed toward Las Vegas, via Carson City, Nev., with the committee overseeing a proposed new 65,000-seat stadium voting Thursday morning to approve the deal, clearing one major hurdle as billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson attempts to achieve his dream of a NFL stadium (and team) for the city.

The Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee’s final vote just before noon was to proceed with the plan without creating any tax exemption for the stadium.

Both Las Vegas and Oakland have been working toward getting a stadium for the Raiders, and it remains to be seen what kind of response the City of Oakland has to this move by the forces in Las Vegas.

Now the decision-making process heads north to the state capitol in Carson City and the desk of Gov. Brian Sandoval.

Now that a deal has been reached, it is up to Sandoval to decide whether to call a special session of the state legislature to finalize the deal. If/when that happens, the developers could go to the NFL to propose a Raiders move from Oakland to Las Vegas.

Proponents of the plan want Sandoval to call the special session and have the state legislature approve the deal as quickly as possible before they and pitch the plan to NFL team owners.

Before a move could happen, the Raiders would need to get approval of three-fourths of the owners, a vote that could take place in January when the owners meet.

If the Raiders either back out or can’t get the votes to move, a smaller stadium would be built for UNLV football.

According to KNTV’s Bryan Callahan and Nevada political analyst Jon Ralston, the other issues had been voted on, including excluding the City of Las Vegas from having a seat on the stadium authority, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman being the only vote in favor.

After that, the committee voted unanimously to go ahead without a 39 percent cap on public contributions to the project and without any revenue sharing agreement. The agreement is that The Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Adelson’s primary vehicle in this fight, will put up the first $100 million for the stadium project in addition to contributing $50 million in land.

The Raiders’ interest seems to be considerable. Team owner Mark Davis met for three hours last week with Adelson, who is leading the push for the stadium and the Raiders’ move.

According to Ralston, before the talks started there was a period of public comment. He said in a tweet potential speakers from the public were in “a line out of the door.”

Before a move could happen, the Raiders would need to get approval of three-fourths of NFL team owners, a vote that could take place in January when the owners meet.