Las Vegas Raiders

Report: NFL owners seeking CBA extension in part to help fund Las Vegas stadium

Published Nov. 15, 2016 1:56 p.m. ET

Andrew Lynch

The idea of the Oakland Raiders moving to Las Vegas gained significant momentum this week, as the Nevada legislature approved a bill that would raise taxes on hotel rooms to help finance a $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat domed stadium. Now, it sounds like the NFL is doing its due diligence for a potential relocation.

Via ESPN.com:

NFL owners have approached the NFL Players Association several times in recent months about negotiating an extension to the current collective bargaining agreement, and they plan to initiate those discussions again soon, sources close to the situation told ESPN's Dan Graziano.

One reason the owners want an extension is because they have exhausted all of the stadium credits that were negotiated in the 10-year deal with the players that was signed in 2011. The league is interested in trying to secure money to help fund a stadium in Las Vegas for the Oakland Raiders and possibly another facility in San Diego, sources said.

The current collective bargaining agreement, which expires after the 2020 season, was the result of the longest lockout in NFL history. Despite the 136-day negotiations, no games were missed.

In 2015, Cincinnati Bengals offensive lineman and NFL Players Association president Eric Winston told The Washington Post, "it would be hard to imagine any new deal if there's not a change" to commissioner Roger Goodell's authority in disciplinary matters. According to the ESPN report, however, there is a sense that most players "do not feel strongly enough about the commissioner's control over discipline to make it a major negotiating topic."

The aforementioned "stadium credits" were a novel approach to funding new stadiums negotiated into the 2011 CBA. Previously, up to $1 billion of total revenue was deducted off the top to be applied to stadium construction, expansion and renovation. The remaining revenue was split 50-50 between the two sides, meaning players in reality received 45 percent of revenue. Under the 2011 agreement, though, the league and its players instead negotiated a 1.5 percent deduction of revenue for stadium credits that resulted in the players receiving no less than 47 percent and no more than 48.5 percent of revenue.

The state of Nevada has pledged $750 million in public funds to the stadium project. Of course, the league would still need three-quarters of the owners to approve a potential move by the Raiders (or any other team) in a vote that could come as soon as January. On Friday, Raiders owner Mark Davis released a statement that mentioned the team's "new home":

“I would like to thank Governor Sandoval, the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee and the members of the Nevada Legislature on this historic day,” Davis said Friday in a statement released by the Raiders. “All parties have worked extremely hard to develop and approve this tremendous stadium project that will serve as a proud new home for the entire Raider Nation.”

Las Vegas will introduce its first team in any of the four major professional North American sports in 2017, when an NHL expansion team will take up residence in the T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip. And many Vegas residents seemingly can't wait for an NFL team to join hockey in the Nevada desert.