Raiders’ proposed move to Las Vegas will be hot topic during Super Bowl week
With the straightest of championship-poker faces, Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis said Sunday that his planned trip this week to Houston had zero to do with attempting to persuade fellow NFL owners to vote for franchise relocation to Las Vegas.
“Basically, I am going to Houston to see a football game. I wish we were playing in it, to be honest with you,’’ Davis told the Review-Journal about Sunday’s Super Bowl LI featuring the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons. “I have a couple of (functions) I need to go to but, other than that, I don’t know anything about anything.’’
But a Raiders executive told the RJ that, “It’s not like (NFL owners convening in Houston) are going to want to talk about anything else with us. We’ll have a lot of conversations (about the relocation effort). That’s essentially what this trip is about.’’
Davis, managing general partner of the franchise, said he would arrive in Houston either Wednesday or Thursday. He said he was not going to attend NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s state of the league address, where the issue of the potential relocation to Las Vegas likely will be broached. Davis said he did not even know which day the commissioner was scheduled to publicly speak with the media.
It is Wednesday, and it will be televised live by the NFL Network at 11 a.m.
“Nothing has changed. We filed for relocation,” Davis said. “We know we have the (NFL annual) meeting in March (in Phoenix).”
Owners will attend a variety of parties and informal gatherings, including the Commissioner’s Party on Friday night. Unquestionably, the Raiders’ relocation application will be a hot-button issue. Bob McNair, owner of the Houston Texans, will throw a bash for his well-heeled brethren and their guests Thursday night, yet another opportunity for owners to discuss a potential move to Las Vegas.
But the league does not want a repeat of last year, when franchise relocation was the topic du jour during Super Bowl week. The NFL wants this week to be focused on the title game.
In addition to trying to keep a lid on the Las Vegas talk, Goodell and his 32 bosses will prefer to minimize the impact of the recent decision by the Chargers to pull up stakes in San Diego and move to Los Angeles, where they will join the Rams. Prior to the Rams’ move last year, the NFL did not have a team depart a city since the Oilers announced they would leave Houston for Nashville in 1997.
The timing of that Jan. 12 announcement by Chargers chairman Dean Spanos caught the league off guard. NFL brass was not happy about it because it came 10 days before the AFC and NFC championship games.
Clearly, there will be private conversations between Davis and other owners. He needs at least 24 owners out of 32 to vote in favor of his stated desire to move the franchise out of Oakland. The Raiders’ last move, from Los Angeles back to Oakland, came in 1995 after the team spent 13 seasons in Southern California.
A relocation vote on the proposed move to Las Vegas is expected at the owners’ meetings either in March or May.
The notion of the franchise leaving vaunted Raider Nation in Oakland was discussed in-house by players all season, although head coach Jack Del Rio did instruct his players not to focus on the Las Vegas talk, particularly publicly.
A league-high seven Raiders were voted to Sunday’s Pro Bowl all-star game and, while injuries prevented star quarterback David Carr, standout linebacker Khalil Mack and other teammates from participating, at least one Raider said that fans “have every right to be hurt’’ regarding a potential move from the Bay Area.
“When you do that, a couple of feathers will be ruffled,’’ Raiders safety Reggie Nelson said after the AFC’s walk-through practice Saturday in Orlando, Florida. “As players, you just have to roll with it because there is nothing we can do about it.
“At the end of the day, it is a business.”
Jon Mark Saraceno can be reached at jsaraceno@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jonnysaraceno on Twitter.
