Raider Nation will not like a recent filing with a federal trademark office.
The Oakland Raiders filed trademark applications on Aug. 20 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the mark “Las Vegas Raiders.”
A submitted trademark application is certainly not a guarantee that an NFL team is moving to a new location, according to sports and entertainment lawyer Darren Heitner in a Thursday Forbes post. In fact, the San Diego Chargers applied for the mark “LA Chargers,” but have yet to leave San Diego, Heitner pointed out. That said, these types of filings do serve to demonstrate that there is a true effort to at least strongly consider relocation, he wrote.
A Raiders spokesman did not immediately return an email Thursday seeking comment.
In late May, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that any talk of a move was premature. But Raiders owner Mark Davis has said he is willing to spend $500 million to move to Vegas. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf has repeatedly said she wants the Raiders to stay in Oakland but city won’t pick up the tab for a new stadium.
Some football fans lobbed their anger at Davis, urging him to "keep the Raiders" in Oakland "where they belong." Others, like Nette Marie, wrote on Facebook: "I don't care where they go, I'll always be a Raiders fan."
Earlier this week, the Review Journal reported that U.S. Sen. Harry Reid was in favor of a proposed domed football stadium that would bring the Raiders to Las Vegas, but he deferred to local and state officials when asked about the project’s financing of the 65,000-seat stadium.
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At a Thursday meeting at the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, proponents of the new stadium in Vegas said they've narrowed their list down to two potential sites and won't accept any less than $750 million in public funding toward the project.
Representatives from Majestic Realty and the Las Vegas Sands casino company updated an oversight committee Thursday on their effort to reach a deal to lure the Raiders from Oakland.
Developers estimate that a 65,000-seat domed stadium near Interstate 15 and the Las Vegas Strip will cost $1.9 billion, and they want to use hotel tax revenue to help pay for it.
They want Nevada lawmakers to approve the deal in a special session in September so they can present their proposal to NFL owners in January. Three-quarters of the owners must approve any team relocation.
Meanwhile, owners of the Oakland Athletics were touring the Howard Terminal site on Thursday, possibly to move a new baseball stadium there.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
