The Oakland Raiders are moving to Las Vegas. It’s inevitable. However, it may very well be an extremely awkward four years of them staying in the Bay area while fans are upset they are moving.
Originally, it appeared that the Raiders were on track to move to Nevada by 2020, but now, the relocation may be delayed until 2021.
Raiders President Marc Badain stated that if his team and the Las Vegas Stadium Authority board cannot come to an agreement by May 22, they would probably have to push back the move another year.
“In order to approve a lease, you need full membership, and the league has four meetings a year: one in March, one in May, one in October and one in December,” said Badain after a meeting at the stadium authority board. “So, if you miss the May deadline, you push to October, we would lose a year, and everybody wants to get this project going, everybody wants to get these guys to work. So we didn’t want to miss that deadline.”
League owners approved the Raiders’ wishes for a relocation in March. Stadium Authority board chairman Steve Hill is confident that something will get done by the deadline.
“There’s been no ‘get this done or else’ type of approach on this request (from the NFL), certainly done in a very appropriate manner. But I understand, particularly from the Raiders’ perspective and really from ours as well, the desire to move this forward,” he said.
The Raiders are coming off their first postseason appearance since the 2002-03 campaign, when they went to the Super Bowl and lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Oakland lost in the Wild Card Round to the Houston Texans last season with quarterback Derek Carr sidelined due to a broken leg.
