Al rises from his grave, nods and smiles approval - Raiders to Vegas

The Raiders won't be allowed to move anywhere until Davis sells out. He's his father's son and therefore loathed as far as the old guard owners are concerned, and he's not nearly rich enough to belong to the new gang of plutocrats.

 

Would probably be the same if the NHL expands to Vegas, home team would have a great home-ice advantage for the first few seasons. Visiting players would be gassed from staying out all night.

 

This was my initial thought as well. They got crushed in the 2008 recession. That said, If you're counting on 25-percent of ticket sales coming from tourists and 25-percent being comps handed out to high rollers by casinos you only really need your local economy to buy maybe 25,000-30,000 season tickets.

 

Everything I've seen on the topic assumes Mark would sell a big share. He'd have to come up with at least $200 million to put his own skin in the game, and they don't have any cash. Whether that reduces Mark to a non-controlling interest is the big question.

I will say though that he hasn't been awful in his first few years as an owner. Certainly not as awful as Jed York. He seems like a guy who is happy to count his money and let the real businessmen make the decisions.

 

Never said it was......I said it was a pretty good jaunt......

 

What is the round trip ticket cost from San Fran to Vegas? $250 a person?

 

If you really plan ahead and stay till the first flight out Monday, you can make it for $175-200.

It's just so convenient -- you're in Vegas 2 1/2 hours after you leave your house.

 

I would love to see this.

There is just so much potential here. Plus, it has to be the Raiders. No other franchise has the swagger to make this work.

Leave certain sections for visiting fans, like they do in college, and just imagine the Raider players "throwing shade" or whatever the hell they do, to sections at their own stadium. It would be awesome.

 

The only sport that can allow a team to move is baseball since it has an antitrust exemption. Any team in any other sport is free to move at will, the league can't stop them. The Raiders moved twice without the NFL's OK, Al Davis won his court case after his move to LA. If Vegas comes up with the $$ for a stadium the Raiders can go if they are willing to piss off the league.

 

How much of the team does the Davis family still own? I thought it wasn't much more than 50 percent.

 

This brings up a point on comps. I'd be curious if that would even be a part of a casino's arsenal.

If you give a big player an NFL ticket, that's four hours on a weekend where they are NOT inside your casino playing at a table. Tickets to a show in your casino or your high-end restaurant and they're still on the property. You want them on your property at all times because they'll keep playing.

I could see the state of Nevada stepping up with a St Louis effort in 1995 to get the Rams, where they guarantee sellouts and give a favorable lease.

 

I also don't think MLB or NHL would work in Las Vegas. It's a city with a pretty high expectation of entertainment. People go to LV to see things and experience things they can't get back home.