National Football League

The Raiders' greedy move to Vegas makes sense now but will end up a disaster

Published Mar. 27, 2017 3:52 p.m. ET

Chris Chase

Call Mark Davis and the Oakland Raiders fleeing to Las Vegas whatever you want. Low. Unfair. Malicious. Greedy. Just don't call it a gamble. Vegas is about to put $950 million of free money into the Raiders coffers, immediately raising the valuation of the team by hundreds of millions. Gamble? This is a sure thing.

For now.

This fact doesn't make Davis' move -- turning his back on the city that's supported his father's team for decades and even took it back when Al moved the Raiders to Los Angeles in the 1980s after a similar stadium dispute -- any less contemptible. And we'll get to him later. But disavow yourself the notion that professional sports and the business around it is anything less than a cutthroat industry that operates the same way as every other capitalistic enterprise on the planet: Whoever has the most money wins.

It's reality. Take off the Black Hole masks, forget the Kumbaya halcyon days of the past when teams were wedded to the cities that loved them, a past that never actually existed anyway. See: Dodgers, Brooklyn. Look at the big picture, and Oakland's choice is actually pretty simple: While other teams play in multi-billion dollar palaces, the Raiders play in a 1960s multi-purpose stadium they share with baseball's Oakland A's, a situation that's untenable in today's NFL. In their quest for a new stadium, the Raiders were told they'd get no money from Oakland, only some land, infrastructure funding and a promise to cut down on bureaucratic red tape (seriously). Las Vegas, meanwhile, offered $750 million in public funding for a stadium, $200 million more in maintenance costs over the next few decades and Bank of America funding, all with the need for Oakland to chip in a little more than a quarter of the stadium cost. Any owner of a business would be negligent in not taking that deal.

That's not the way these things are received, of course. Fans believe a team and its city are interchangeable, two codependent entities making the journey together. Just ask the city of Seattle, which is still smarting from the departure of the NBA's SuperSonics a decade later.

Sure, Davis has responsibilities to the fan base that made the Raiders what they are today. There's a level of affection only the most cold-hearted owner could ignore. But money trumps devotion every time. It trumps most things, including, in this case, a team moving from the sixth-biggest NFL market and one of the more affluent areas of the country to the 40th-biggest market and a city that lives and dies by the bull and bear markets. Money makes moot the NFL's previous disgust with Vegas. (As recently as three years ago the league denied a Las Vegas tourism commercial during a Super Bowl and asked Tony Romo to cancel a fantasy football conference scheduled to be held there.) When NFL owners stand to make millions from the third relocation in 14 months -- they voted 31-1 for the move -- the question becomes "what gambling problem?"

Through the short-term business lens, it's hard to see fault.

The NFL made the right decision in allowing the move. Relocation fees equal money and Vegas is untested waters. TV markets don't mean as much as they used to, after all.

Davis did his business right by accepting nearly $1 billion in free money to move his team. It'll come from a hotel tax, which means that your bachelor party helped rob Oakland of its football team. (Way to go, selfish.)

Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf did her city right by refusing to cave to the NFL's bully tactics. There was never a viable deal on the table because of the city's refusal to put any public dollars into the system. It was a principled stand (we'll ignore her pathetic, last-ditch efforts and regard her as a hero), one that'll become the norm after years of frivolous tax-dollar spending on stadiums for billionaires. Don't be surprised if Vegas is the last city to pump in so much money.

But as any team that's taken a 28-3 lead only to see it frittered away knows, it's not about winning the first few plays. This is about the long haul. That's where we'll be talking about Davis' folly.

How is the NFL going to work in Vegas? Will people show up? Will Raiders fans in Oakland follow the team to Vegas? (Not likely.) Will the relatively small, transient city of Las Vegas take to the team? Everybody has a different opinion because no one has any idea. It's all on the table.

I'm skeptical Vegas will adopt the team like Oakland had. I'm more skeptical the team will be able to draw. Sundays are work days in Vegas. Do they expect tourists to fill the $1.9 billion stadium? The city has spent billions over the last few decades to become a self-sustaining destination, the kind of place where any group of people can come to town and only see two places: McCarran Airport and The Strip. Unless you're trying to squeeze in a round of golf, who needs to go anywhere else, especially a football game that'll be the same as you could see in 29 other cities. Blowing savings funds by splitting 10s is what stays in Vegas, not $9.50 nachos and upper-deck seats.

NFL games aren't like Cirque de Soleil -- they don't attract the gawking masses, only the gawking masses in team colors. I mean, would anyone ever put an NFL stadium next to Disney World? So why Vegas?

Adding a new ride at the amusement park seems superfluous. Can you imagine any tourist -- from families on trips to bachelorette parties to conference goers to bros who made the drive from L.A. for a one-night stay -- wanting to catch the fountains at the Bellagio, hit the tables the Venetian, see Britney Spears' show, pay for bottle service at XS and then go sit in a football stadium watching a team they don't care about? The whole thing doesn't jibe. Who's paying paying hundreds of dollars to go to a football games when the best play to watch football in Las Vegas will still be at the Westgate or any of the other dozens of sports books in town?

Money grabs are easy. Mark Davis just showed that. It's about sustaining the franchise, knowing that if you break the hearts of the people in Oakland there will be as many people thrilled in Vegas. The SuperSonics are again a fine example. Seattle hurt, but Oklahoma City immediately became an NBA town. Will the Raiders be able to say the same thing about Vegas? Is $1 billion worth more than 50 years of history and your football soul?

The entire affair shows, once again, that fans don't matter. And in six months, it'll probably show that fans have short memories. Since the Raiders stadium won't be ready until 2020 and the team's lease with Oakland lasts for two more years, there's the expectation that the Raiders will have to play two more years in the city before a nomadic existence in 2019 precedes their residency in Vegas. Two years. Two years to show your disgust, Raiders fans. Don't go to the eight home games this year or next. Stay away. Mark Davis just robbed you of your team, the least you can do is keep some money out of his pocket.

He should understand. It's not personal. It's strictly business.