The soon-to-be Las Vegas Raiders are wasting no time making plans for their 2020 state-of-the-art stadium.
The stadium lease was approved by the NFL owners on May 23 and Raiders owner Mark Davis wasted no time talking about the possibilities of bringing a Super Bowl to the Las Vegas.
“Hopefully sooner than later,” Davis said.
“I’m sure we will meet as a committee and discuss what happened (with Inglewood) and how to handle (awarding Super Bowls to teams building stadiums) in the future,” Davis said. “But, absolutely, we are going to try and bring one to Las Vegas. Hopefully, more than one.”
Davis is referring to the one-year delay in building an Inglewood, California stadium that'll house both the Rams and Chargers. Originally slated to open in 2019, weather halted construction on the project and pushed the estimated date back a year.
The stadium will now open the same year as the Raiders Las Vegas stadium and be awarded the 2022 Super Bowl.
The Raiders can turn their sights to the 2023 and 2024 Super Bowls, which have yet to be awarded to a host city. Davis feels confident that the city and county officials' handling of the relocation will impress his fellow owners.
“A lot of hard work by some really good people,” he said. “It has been impressive that it has moved fast. It’s amazing. The state of Nevada really took hold of this situation and went for it.”
“I think my (fellow owners) are really happy for us,” Davis said, “but they still want to beat us on Sunday. That’s how this league is.”
Raiders' President Marc Badain echoes Davis' praises and also sees a Super Bowl in Vegas' immediate future.
“We got (the stadium) done in a year, so why not a Super Bow in six years?” said Badain. “We’re one of 32 teams that could try – there you go, getting me to talk odds.”
Those odds are in Las Vegas favor considering every stadium except for one, University of Phoenix Stadium, selected to host from 2014-2022 has either been new or given an extensive remodel.
- 2014 - Met Life Stadium - East Rutherford, New Jersey
- 2016 - Levi Stadium - Santa Clara, California
- 2017 - NRG Stadium - Houston, Texas
- 2018 - U.S. Bank Stadium - Minneapolis, Minnesota
- 2019 - Mercedes-Benz Stadium - Atlanta, Georgia
- 2020 - Hard Rock Stadium - Miami, Florida
- 2021 - Raymond James Stadium - Tampa, Florida
- 2022 - Los Angeles Stadium - Inglewood, California
With no other renovations currently planned for NFL stadiums, the Las Vegas Raiders are in line to grab either the 2023 or 2024 Super Bowl.
If only there were a way to fast-forward six to seven years.
