The NFL's rhetoric on moving a team to Las Vegas is softening at a convenient time. Now that the Rams have relocated to Los Angeles, the league needs another city to strong-arm taxpayers into footing the bills for new stadiums across the country.
The NFL seems intent on using Las Vegas as its next threat to land publicly funded stadiums
With Los Angeles now largely off the table, the NFL suddenly appears open to a team moving to the Sin City.
Photo by David McNew/Getty Images
In an interview last month, commissioner Roger Goodell said his position on gambling is changing. “All of us have evolved a little bit on gambling,” Goodell said. “To me, where I cross the line is anything that can impact on the integrity of the game. If people think it is something that can influence the outcome of a game, we are absolutely opposed to that.”
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who played a prominent role in orchestrating the Rams' move to Los Angeles, was more blunt in his support for a team playing in the Sin City when asked recently about the possibility.
Jerry Jones is in favor of the idea of an NFL team in Las Vegas. He says the entertainment aspect outweighs gambling concerns
— Clarence Hill (@clarencehilljr) May 11, 2016
Falcons head honcho Arthur Blank has expressed reservations about Las Vegas’ size -- it would be the fifth-smallest market in the NFL -- but said he thinks a franchise would be able to successfully isolate itself from the legalized sports betting that permeates the city.
For years, the NFL has used the threat of relocation to coax money out of cities and municipalities. In 1984, the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis after Baltimore failed to acquiesce to the team's stadium demands. Twelve years later, Art Modell relocated the Browns to Baltimore after Cleveland sued him for breaking the Browns' stadium lease during his search for a taxpayer-funded facility.
This trend only intensified when the Rams left Los Angeles for St. Louis in 1994. Over the ensuing two decades, more than half of the teams in the league threatened to move to LA -- often with the hope of acquiring public money for the sake of stadium construction. Almost all of them succeeded.
St. Louis tried desperately to keep the Rams last year, offering to finance $150 million of the proposed $1.1 billion project while the state pledged an additional $400 million. But Rams owner Stan Kroenke never appeared to seriously entertain the offer. Instead, he blasted St. Louis on his way out the door.
In San Diego, the Chargers have unveiled a ballot initiative that would fund a $1.8 billion stadium and convention center downtown by raising the city's tax on hotel stays. This would support $1.15 billion in publicly issued bonds, leaving the NFL and Chargers on the hook for the remaining $600 million.
The Raiders, meanwhile, are locked in a war with Oakland over their desire for a new stadium. Mayor Libby Schaaf remains steadfast in her refusal to allocate taxpayer funds toward providing the Raiders with a new home. The team agreed on a one-year lease to play this season at the nearly 50-year-old Oakland Coliseum, with options for two seasons after that.
In an effort to create leverage, Raiders owner Mark Davis said recently he would contribute $500 million to build a new football stadium in Las Vegas. The bulk of the money to finance the $1.4 billion domed facility would come from a 1 percent hotel tax hike, which would generate an estimated $750 million in revenue.
The NFL’s stance on gambling is largely rooted in convenience. Though several states now deem daily fantasy sports as a form of legalized gambling, 29 of 32 NFL franchises have partnerships with daily fantasy providers DraftKings, FanDuel or Yahoo! Inc. When asked about this apparent contradiction on Mike & Mike in April, Goodell said he doesn’t consider daily fantasy to be gambling.
With Los Angeles now largely off the table, the NFL needs another city it can use as a scare tactic to help billionaire owners secure taxpayer funds for their stadium projects. It’s no coincidence that the NFL’s views on placing a team in Las Vegas are suddenly beginning to change.
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