The Washington Post - By approving Raiders’ plan, the NFL makes its move on Las Vegas

Source: http://ift.tt/168u00U --- Thursday, March 30, 2017
March 27, 2017 By Mark Maske PHOENIX — Owners of the NFL’s teams, convening Monday at a Phoenix resort for the annual league meeting, voted 31-1 to ratify the Raiders’ proposed relocation from Oakland to Las Vegas in a move that once would have been practically unthinkable given the league’s long-standing public opposition to sports gambling. The Raiders will be the second major professional sports franchise to place a team in Las Vegas, the country’s epicenter of sports betting. An NHL expansion franchise, the Vegas Golden Knights, will begin play in the league’s 2017-18 season. With the Raiders set to join them, the sports-betting-related stigma of “Sin City” that once repelled professional leagues appears greatly diminished, if not extinguished. The league has opposed efforts to legalize sports betting in other states throughout its history and is currently fighting the legalization of sports betting in New Jersey. Commissioner Roger Goodell regularly has said the league is against legalization efforts, and the NFL has cited the integrity of the sport as a major reason. Any overarching concerns regarding the placement of a team just blocks away from casinos that regularly take bets on NFL games — with over $132 million reportedly wagered on Super Bowl 50 through Nevada sports books in 2016 — appears to have taken a back seat to concerns around the Raiders’ inability to secure a new stadium in Oakland. Owners initially seemed w ...

from NFL http://ift.tt/2nAAwup