Exclusive: Casino mogul Adelson says no certainty over Las Vegas
stadium for NFL's Raiders
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[October 27, 2016]
By Ari Rabinovitch
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Casino mogul
Sheldon Adelson said he is prepared to walk away from a deal to
build a stadium that would help relocate the National Football
League's Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas if terms offered by the team
do not improve.
"I negotiated to bring in the Oakland Raiders, an NFL football team
from Oakland, because they don't have a stadium there, that I would
build a stadium and rent it out to the Oakland Raiders," Adelson
said on Wednesday during a travel technology conference in Tel Aviv.
Adelson, who succeeded this month in getting legislation passed to
enable the construction of the stadium, said his problems now
involve negotiations with the Raiders.
"They want so much," he said. "So I told my people, 'Tell them I
could live with the deal, I could live without the deal. Here's the
way it's gonna go down. If they don't want it, bye-bye,'" he said.
Adelson's comments signal potential for discord between the
billionaire and the team at a time when momentum to build the
stadium has been growing.
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Nevada's governor, Brian Sandoval, signed a bill last week that
would increase hotel taxes to help raise $750 million for a new $1.9
billion, 65,000-seat domed stadium. The legislation drew criticism
from taxpayer groups and some labor unions, for providing public
money for the stadium.
Adelson did not comment on any of the financial details, and a
representative for the tycoon declined to elaborate on the remarks
on Wednesday. Adelson, who is chief executive of gambling giant Las
Vegas Sands Corp, has pledged up to $650 million toward building the
stadium, with the remainder coming from the Raiders and the National
Football League.
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Las Vegas casino owner Sheldon Adelson attends the U.S. presidential
debate between Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump and
Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at Hofstra
University in Hempstead, New York, U.S., September 26, 2016.
REUTERS/Mike Segar
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The Raiders relocation is not certain even if Adelson and the team
agree terms. Any move would require approval from three-quarters of
NFL franchise owners.
Influential owners including Dallas Cowboys proprietor Jerry Jones
have already signaled their support. A decision by the owners is
expected early next year.
A spokesman for the Raiders did not return requests for comment. A
representative for Governor Sandoval also did not reply to requests
for comment.
(Additional reporting by Rory Carroll in SAN FRANCISCO; Editing by
Kenneth Maxwell)
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