Raiders owner Mark Davis is focused on moving team to Las Vegas

HOUSTON — Priorities of some major players in this Raiders-to-Las Vegas storyline:

The NFL is still trying to aid Oakland in keeping the team with a new stadium deal. The city’s mayor is tweeting statements about remaining clearheaded and not entering a bidding war or being thrown off her game because “Nevada lawmakers have deemed it appropriate to put $750 million in public money towards a private sports facility.”

(On this point, someone should alert Madame Mayor that the domed stadium in Las Vegas would be publicly owned and operated. Libby Schaaf missed on that one.)

All the while, Mark Davis is talking about the families of players visiting Las Vegas over the next few summers to acclimate themselves to their new home.

In other words, he seems very much an owner whose focus is squarely pointed in one direction.

He speaks like a man intent on when and not if, on beginning the process of relocating the Raiders to Las Vegas in a timely but aggressive manner. On taking the stadium deal that was signed into law this week by Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and running all the way to Russell Road and Interstate 15.

Davis mentioned that location Wednesday, and the 62 acres west of Mandalay Bay is looking more and more like a heavy favorite among potential sites.

He presented the $1.9 billion stadium project to his fellow owners and reportedly informed them he will apply for relocation in January, at which time market studies and other forms of evaluation in terms of how fit Las Vegas is to house an NFL franchise should have been studied more closely by those 31 others who also have a vote.

It would take 24 owners — I’m guessing Davis will check the YES box — to approve relocation for the Raiders, or at least that’s the nice and clean way of doing things. Few have mentioned what can be a muddy terrain should Davis not receive approval from three-fourths of NFL owners, but his name and team and history offer some hints.

Davis’ late father, Al, filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL when trying to move the team from Oakland to Los Angeles, and a federal District Court sided with the owner, allowing the team to relocate in 1982. The Raiders subsequently returned to Oakland in 1995, but you can be sure there is an old-guard group of owners who still resent Al Davis for bringing several lawsuits against the league.

It’s doubtful things would come to that this time, but never underestimate the power of legal precedent.

There is also the case of current-day Los Angeles, where seemingly over a matter of hours in January, owners switched from favoring a stadium project in Carson for the Chargers and Raiders to one in Inglewood for the Rams, leaving Mark Davis and his team No. 3 in the pecking order of those desiring a move to Southern California.

How many more times can his peers deny Davis the ability to reap the same revenue streams many of them enjoy with a state-of-the-art facility, especially one that would include a historic level of public funding, which is as important to the NFL as hoodies are to Bill Belichick.

“This decision will come down to numbers and not emotion,” ESPN analyst John Clayton said. “They’re going to vote on this one way or another and, right now, the odds favor the Raiders going to Las Vegas.”

If so, the earliest a regular-season game could be played is likely 2020, but what would the Raiders do in the meantime? Davis has said he intends to play the next two years in Oakland, where his team has a lease with two one-year options. He has toured Sam Boyd Stadium and said the Raiders will play some preseason games there, but the facility is not up to NFL standards in key areas.

Which doesn’t mean it couldn’t be expanded and renovated should Davis and perhaps the league choose such an option.

Mike Sanford bemoaned the Sam Boyd locker rooms after being fired as UNLV’s coach, so you can imagine what NFL folks would think about such amenities.

“I wouldn’t say no to anything,” Davis said. “(Sam Boyd Stadium) is nice. I don’t know if it could (work) or not. I don’t want to answer that right now. It will be great for preseason games, and we’ll see what happens.

“The commitment is there to (stay in Oakland for two years) if we want to take it. I think it’s best for our players and their families to have that stability. It would give their families a chance to get to (Las Vegas) in the offseason and look around and not be rushed into the move.

“I really don’t think we need a scorched earth policy in terms of (leaving Oakland). The Raiders fans are the best in the world, and I know some are hurting and angry right now. But there are a lot of them that know we tried everything we could to get something done there.”

Mark Davis: A guy, unquestionably, talking when and not if.

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson, who are partners in the Las Vegas stadium project with the Raiders.

Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be a heard on “Seat and Ed” on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.