Raiders are seeing the Las Vegas affect pay off

The desert is a desirable landing spot for players

In NFL terms, what happens in Vegas, doesn’t stay there.

While the Raiders have been in the city for just two years, it is already becoming a desirable playing location. Among the drawing cards are the state-of-the-art Allegiant Stadium, the Raiders’ great new facility in nearby Henderson, the year-round warm weather, the lure of the resort city and the fact that there’s no state taxes in Nevada.

When New Raiders’ star wide receiver Davante Adams was introduced on March 22, less than week, after his trade to Las Vegas from the Green Bay Packers, a quote from him struck me.

“Everything around here is like the iPhone 15, it’s just futuristic,” Adams said in pass conference in the team’s media center. “:he facility looked like a spaceship. It’s just crazy. So, seeing that and then I got the chance to see the Raiderettes locker room and seeing how that looked blew my mind too. So, everything is just top tier. It’s a whole other level when you walk into this building.”

The words of Adams — who grew up a Raiders’ fan in the Bay Area and who likely would be just as thrilled if the team were still based in Oakland — speak to the big picture appeal of the team being based in Las Vegas. Players are noticing how cool this is.

And having major NFL events like the Pro Bowl, the NFL draft and the Super Bowl will all be free advertising for the franchise to players around the league: Las Vegas is a major NFL powerhouse location.

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When the Raiders first secured their plan to move from Oakland to Las Vegas, of course, many fans were devastated. I tried to soothe them, by telling them that, in the end, this would be a good thing. The Raiders’ former stadium and facility were not drawing cards. I remember when veteran player was shocked when he first came to the franchise. He equated the team’s shower area at their Alameda facility to those of a junior high school. That’s a far cry from Adam’s “futuristic” description.

Raiders owner Mark Davis was always at or near the bottom when it came to ownership revenue. Now, he is already soaring toward the top and the cash cow that is the NFL in Las Vega is only going to get stronger.

This is a good thing for the franchise and will help sustain extended on-field success and it didn’t take long for a superstar player like Adams to notice. And, let me tell you, word travels fast in the NFL player community.

It’s only going to get better.