Why Did The Oakland Raiders Move To Sin City?
December 15, 2019 against the Jacksonville Jaguars was the last home game Oakland Raiders fan would ever experience in Oakland, California before the big move to Sin City.
Oakland fans were not to pleased with this move that was about to happen. You would think fans would cheer and applaud the team as it being their last game ever played in the Coliseum, but the exact opposite happened. Fans were booing and trash was thrown at the players from the stands. Oakland fans were obviously not too pleased about the move.
What exactly made the NFL and Mark Davis agree to move to Las Vegas? Well, the team needed an appropriate place to host their home games at. The current stadium in Oakland was not adequate. Back in 2016, they wanted to relocate back to Los Angeles where they played from 1982–1994. The NFL shut down that option, but also gave Oakland time to figure out their stadium issues. But again, the NFL shut down Oaklands proposal. This time it gave Las Vegas time to snag the franchise.
Las Vegas said they will promise $750 million in public funds, while Oakland on the other hand did not want to use their taxpayers money to remake the stadium and make it adequate as the NFL wanted. “The proposal to relocate to Las Vegas involves a clearly-defined and well-financed proposal for a first-class stadium in a diverse and growing community that is well-recognized as an entertainment destination” the statement said. “It offers the Raiders a genuine opportunity to resolve longstanding stadium issues and is expected to provide the club with solid future prospects.
The membership approved the Raiders going to Las Vegas and in no time the Raiders would start calling Las Vegas their new “home.”
Many Las Vegas residents have their own opinions about the Raiders coming to Vegas. Some are happy about the move while others aren’t. Some residents don’t want their tax dollars going towards the stadium and wasting the money on it, because that money could’ve gone to other things Vegas actually needed, like a better education program. As Nevada currently sits at 45th in the country.
Las Vegas resident born and raised in Las Vegas Joey Schibetta, in kind of in the middle about the Raiders coming to Las Vegas. He calls himself a big sports fan, his words were “I am impartial about it, obviously being a huge sports fan I liked the idea of being able to see the Giants play when they come here and it would also be great for the economy, but I also think that Vegas prioritizes stuff like that over fixing our schools and education.”
Most people agree with Schibetta, and believe Vegas should’ve thought about their residents and future residents eduction first, before spending the millions of dollars that it cost to build the Allegiant Stadium. But some are very excited to finally have an NFL team and get to watch their team play even if they are a Raiders fan or not.
