Phoenix, AZ…NFL team owners voted to approve the Raiders‘ proposal to relocate to Las Vegas during the Annual League Meeting in Phoenix on Monday, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported. The final tally to approve the move was 31-1, Rapoport added.  The Raiders won’t immediately move to Las Vegas since construction of their planned $1.7 billion domed stadium isn’t expected to be completed until 2020. They will play this season at the Oakland Coliseum and have a contract option to play there again in 2018. After that, they likely will have to find a temporary venue to play in until their new stadium just off the Las Vegas strip is built.

Once they move, it will mark the franchise’s third relocation since its inception in 1960.

The decision by NFL ownership is the culmination of years of efforts by the Raiders to find a viable stadium solution — continuously in Oakland, then in Los Angeles before eventually agreeing to participate in a partially publicly financed stadium project in Las Vegas.

On Friday, Oakland and Alameda County officials made an 11th-hour effort to persuade NFL owners that they indeed had a feasible stadium plan for the Raiders. In a letter to the league, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf outlined a proposal for a $1.3 billion stadium plan in Oakland that would include public financing.

Responding to Schaaf, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a letter that the plan “does not present a proposal that is clear and specific, actionable in a reasonable time frame, and free of major contingencies.” He added: “All of these efforts, ours and yours, have not yet identified a viable solution” toward keeping the Raiders in Oakland.

It marks the third NFL team relocation in less than 14 months. The Rams moved from St. Louis back to Los Angeles last year and the Chargers announced their decision to move from San Diego to L.A. in January.

After no viable stadium solutions could be negotiated in Oakland, Las Vegas emerged as the Raiders‘ strongest potential destination after Nevada lawmakers approved $750 million in public funding for a new stadium. The Raiders and the NFL will provide $500 million toward stadium construction and Bank of America will contribute additional funding.

The Raiders‘ efforts to find a new stadium began in earnest in February 2015 when they announced a joint project with the Chargers to construct a stadium in the L.A. suburb of Carson. NFL owners, however, voted in favor of the Rams‘ Inglewood stadium project in January 2016 and gave the Raiders the potential option of relocating to L.A. if the Chargers decided not to move north.

Two weeks later, Raiders owner Mark Davis met with Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson to discuss the potential of the Raiders playing in a proposed Las Vegas stadium. By April 2016, Davis publicly stated his desire to move to the city if it was serious about helping fund a stadium for the Raiders.

In October, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval finalized public funding for the stadium and the Raiders managed to get Bank of America to help finance the project after Adelson and Goldman Sachs pulled out as investors in January.

The Raiders are coming off their first playoff appearance since 2002 after posting a 12-4 record en route to finishing second in the AFC West. The franchise has won three Super Bowl titles and a AFL title during its 57-year history.

Around The NFL will have more on the NFL approving the Raiders‘ relocation to Las Vegas soon.

Source = NFL