Mark Cuban Not A Fan Of Raiders Move To Vegas
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Outspoken NBA owner Mark Cuban has doubts whether the Oakland Raiders move to Las Vegas will work out.
Appearing on ESPN's 'Outside The Lines,' Cuban -- who was in Vegas for Thursday night's 2014 Billboard Music Awards -- was asked what he thought of NFL was biting off with the move to Las Vegas.
"Why? There is just no good reason (to move to Vegas)," Cuban said. "That's no disrespect to Las Vegas. It's a great city. It's vibrant. But they (the Raiders) are going to a smaller market. It's transient. It's another example of chasing every last dollar and that tends to backfire."
Cuban's criticism comes in the same week that the Raiders and the Las Vegas Stadium Authority wrapped up negotiations on a 30-year lease for the new $1.9 billion stadium that will be built by the 2020 NFL season.
On Thursday, the Stadium Authority board will review and vote on the deal so it came be presented to the NFL owners when they meet next week.
The NFL owners must vote to ratify the lease and after next week, they would not be getting together to discuss league business until October. Pushing back the vote would delay an already tight schedule for stadium approvals and construction.
"Most of what we're doing right now is just tying down everything to make sure the i's are dotted, t's are crossed," Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board President Steve Hill told the Las Vegas Sun. "This has been a pretty calm last three or four days, where if you asked me a week ago, it was not."
Approval by the Stadium Authority would be conditional upon completion of other agreements, most notably a shared-use contract with UNLV.
The Raiders finalized their $77.5 million purchase of 62 acres for the stadium near Russell Road and Interstate 15 earlier this month.
