Mark Cuban Slams NFL Raiders Move to Las Vegas

The California-based American football club called the Oakland Raiders is set to start playing as the Las Vegas Raiders in the 2020 NFL season, with construction of the new $1.9 billion Las Vegas Stadium, complete with 65,000 seats, expected to start next fall.

The much publicized move was approved in a vote by 31 of the 32 NFL owners in March, and while the team has garnered a lot of positive attention since then, this week billionaire Mark Cuban has spoken out against the decision by team owner Mark Davis to move to a smaller market with no established fanbase.

Mark Cuban made his opinion known while appearing on the ESPN television program called “Outside the Lines”, with the NBA Dallas Mavericks owner explaining to the show’s host Bob Ley:

“It’s no disrespect to Las Vegas, it’s a great city and it’s vibrant. But they’re going to a smaller market, it’s transient, and it’s just another example of chasing every last dollar, and that tends to backfire.”

One of the savings Cuban was referring to is the Raiders being granted a $750 million public subsidy in order to help complete construction on the new Las Vegas Stadium to be situated in Paradise town in Clark County.

Cuban and Davis are two distinct personalities from different type backgrounds, with the comments made by the outgoing Cuban sure to irk the more reserved Mark Davis. Further difference exist in the way the two men made their money, with Cuban having amassed his wealth from the dot com tech boom, while Davis inherited his wealth from his father Al Davis, who was the principal owner of the Oakland Raiders from 1972 until 2011. Nevertheless, some of Cuban’s predictions have proved wrong in the past, most noticeably after betting against Donald Trump becoming the 45th US president, after which Trump commented:

“I know Mark Cuban well. He backed me big time but I wasn’t interested in taking all of his calls. He’s not smart enough to run for president!”

Time will tell whether Cuban’s latest prediction will prove correct, especially as the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee has forecaste a 450,000 increase in visitor numbers each year, resulting in a $620 million economic boost, and an extra $22.5 million in local tax revenues.