Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says Las Vegas has ‘strong case’ to get Raiders

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is talking Las Vegas Raiders once again, and as he has done a number of times, he’s praising the move that could see the Oakland NFL team relocate to Las Vegas in the coming years.

Jones, who is seen as one of the most influential owners in the National Football League, joined Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan for his weekly appearance Tuesday and offered his thoughts on the potential relocation.

“Vegas has a lot going for it,” Jones said. “I think it’s going to really have a real, if you will, strong case to get an NFL football team.”

Jones spoke highly of the funding that was approved by Nevada lawmakers in October to help finance a 65,000-seat domed stadium for the team— one of the biggest hurdles Raiders owner Mark Davis has had to jump through in his quest to move his team out of Oakland.

“If you look at the history of teams moving, Vegas is pretty definitive, there’s a pretty bright line there right now,” Jones said. “They’ve provided for a team the most funding that has ever been funded from third-parties to give the team an opportunity.

“I know that Oakland certainly was approved to move earlier this year and when you put all of that together, that’s pretty confluence of things coming together. I call that the crosshair theory — when things get in the crosshairs, you better recognize it most of the time.”

Davis, who has pledged to move his team to Nevada pending approval from league owners, officially presented his intentions to move the Raiders to Las Vegas to owners in Houston last month. The next step is getting the owners’ approval.

If approved by 24 of 32 NFL owners, the Raiders would put up $500 million for a stadium to be built in Las Vegas. The rest of the funding for the stadium would come from the proposed $650 million from the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson and the $750 million from an increase in hotel room tax approved by Nevada lawmakers last month.

While no date is yet set, league owners are expected to meet and vote on the move early in 2017. The first official season for the Raiders in Las Vegas would likely by 2020.

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp.

Contact Kira Terry at kterry@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3880. Follow @kiraterry on Twitter.