Report: Raiders Opt to Relocate to Las Vegas

The fault line throughout California’s football landscape has been busy shifting things around this week.

According to a report this morning on NFL.com (seems legit) from Ian Rapoport, the Oakland Raiders are all set to file relocation papers to move to Las Vegas, Nevada. The news of this should be made official “in the coming days”.

The move would still need to be approved by 24 of the NFL’s 32 owners, if the Raiders file their relocation papers before February 15th the vote for this move would occur in late March during the league’s meetings in Arizona.

Rapoport’s post states that the relocation wouldn’t actually take place until the new stadium in Cook County is completed meaning the Raiders would still play in Oakland for the next 2-3 seasons regardless of the outcome of the vote.

The trademark filed by Oakland for the "Las Vegas Raiders" — The trademark filed by Oakland for the “Las Vegas Raiders”

While there’s still quite a few steps involved before any move becomes official, the team wasn’t going to take any chances, they filed several trademarks for the rights to use the name “Las Vegas Raiders” back in August 2016.

After years of being that one city pro sports leagues danced around, Las Vegas appears to suddenly be a two-sport town. The National Hockey League’s expansion Vegas Golden Knights will begin play at the T-Mobile Arena this fall.

The Raiders played their first season in Oakland during their years in the American Football League in 1961, in 1970 they moved to the NFL before relocating down the coast to Los Angeles in 1982. Thirteen years later the Raiders moved back up to the Bay Area where they’ve played since 1995.

This would be the third NFL relocation to involve California in the past year following the Chargers shift from San Diego to Los Angeles on Thursday, and the Rams move from St Louis to L.A. last January.