Getty NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
The time has come for the Raiders to start transitioning to Las Vegas and there’s a lot of excitement in the NFL world. The possibilities are endless for the NFL and the Raiders’ state of the art new stadium should bring a lot of eyes to Nevada. The NFL will have its first chance to show off Las Vegas to football fans during the 2020 draft and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell recently showed up to Sin City to talk about the event.
“We are going to try and incorporate all the iconic features of this city,” Goodell said at Preview Las Vegas. “We are going to do what we can to show the tremendous entertainment and hospitality that goes on in this city.”
The draft goes to a different city every year, but Las Vegas provides a unique opportunity for the NFL. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that a number of famous people could be involved with the draft like Elton John or Jennifer Lopez.
“I think what will come out of that is that you all will be done with that and then say, ‘Wow that was special,’ ” Goodell said. “Hopefully [it will] leave a lasting legacy here in the community that people look back and say the draft was a great event here and we would want it back.”
It should be really interesting to see how the NFL can get creative with all the possibilities that Las Vegas provides.
Goodell Hints at Pro Bowl & Super Bowl Coming to Las Vegas
After a few decades of having the NFL Pro Bowl take place in Hawaii, the league moved things over to Florida for the last several years. With so many new stadiums, the NFL is looking to move the game from city to city each year and Goodell touted Las Vegas as an ideal location.
“I think [Las Vegas] will be a great place to have a Pro Bowl,” Goodell said on Friday.
There’s no doubt Las Vegas would be a very interesting city for such an event. The city is built for the kind of large-scale fanfare the Pro Bowl would bring.
“We’ll begin evaluating options for the Pro Bowl beyond 2020 and with new stadiums opening in both Los Angeles and Las Vegas, that could be part of the consideration process,” vice president of NFL communications Brian McCarthy said, per Mick Akers.
Based on what McCarthy said, the Pro Bowl could be in Las Vegas as early as 2021. Goodell also dropped a big hint about a potential Super Bowl coming to Nevada.
“We try to pick cities that understand that impact [the Super Bowl] has on the city,” Goodell said. “This city here knows how to put on big events. There’s no question about that. It has the infrastructure… You do have everything here.”
The earliest date a new city could get the Super Bowl is not until 2025. That said, it looks like Las Vegas might have a good shot.
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Raiders Are Officially the ‘Las Vegas Raiders’
While the new league year has yet to start and the Raiders have yet to add “Las Vegas” to any of their social media, Goodell said that the team is officially the “Las Vegas Raiders.” It seemed like the team was biding their time before the league year and had already removed “Oakland” from all their social media. It remains a possibility that Allegiant Stadium isn’t finished on time for the season and the Raiders will have to play a game in Oakland. It looks like if that happens, they’ll be doing it under a different name.
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