New City, New Team, New Economy
By: Tyler Kiser
Two months past the Super Bowl, and a month to the NFL draft, NFL teams are in crunch time for making decisions for future seasons. Many football enthusiasts are ecstatic during this time period, hoping their favorite teams make the “right” decisions in the offseason. One extreme change that has occurred this offseason is the Raiders moving from Oakland to Las Vegas. Some people completely disagree with this move as they believe the Raiders should stay in their hometown, but truly this is the right decision for a dying team. Building a new NFL Stadium in an already popular city will not only revive the team, but it will greatly benefit the surrounding businesses and the community as a whole.
Currently Las Vegas has a solid economic base. Yearly the city brings in roughly 42 million tourists, generating an average yearly revenue of roughly $450 million. The gross profit just from tourists alone keeps the economy of Las Vegas growing, but eventually something new will be needed to spice up the town. With no recent upgrades to the city, less and less people will feel the need to visit, as currently 2% less visitors toured the area in 2017 as they had in 2016 at this time. This data proves there is a decreasing demand of tourism for Las Vegas. However, the new Raider’s Stadium is the solution to this problem. Once the stadium is completed, a projection of completion in 2022, it will grant a large spark to the Las Vegas economy. The football fans of the Raiders will feel the dire urge to see the new innovative stadium no matter the distance they life from it. The thousands of fans traveling to the games and various events in the stadium cause the projection it will generate $33 million yearly in net profit from strictly ticket sales, from only 26 events a year. Along with ticket sales, the stadium is predicted to produce a total economic output of $785.6 million yearly. Gross domestic product of the United States as a whole will feel the effects of this professional team’s move with more demand for local goods from the thousands of extra visitors. The reason behind this is when people come for the games and events in the stadium they aren’t only going to spend money for tickets and strictly nothing else; they will explore the beautiful city and visit the eye-catching attractions of Las Vegas, spilling more money into the neighboring businesses, increasing the total revenue and gross domestic product of the city in its entirety.
Aside from the substantial increase to the outputs and the revenue of the city, there will be many more positive externalities of the stadium. One main externality is the numerous jobs the stadium will create. The stadium won’t be able to run itself and in order for it to be successful, hundreds of employees will be needed to work various jobs in and around the stadium. From the restaurants to the pro-shops many people will be employed to ensure the entire stadium and businesses within run smoothly. This high demand for workers from the labor force will also decrease unemployment in the city and maybe even pull people from around the state to work the brand new stadium.
No matter the view of the disappointed fans that their team is leaving Oakland, this move is necessary to jumpstart the failing Raiders as well as boost the economy of Las Vegas. From the regular season games to the various concerts, fundraisers and other events held in the brand-new stadium, it will greatly boost the total revenue of the city, it will sharply increase the gross domestic product of the city, and it will release many positive externalities to the surrounding community, making for a booming economy in the years to come.
Works Cited
Messerly, Megan. “Digging into Economic Projections Tied to a Raiders Move to Las Vegas.” Las Vegas Sun, Las Vegas Sun, 5 Oct. 2016, lasvegassun.com/news/2016/oct/05/economic-impact-projections-nfl-stadium-las-vegas/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
Millward , Wade. “Economists Weigh Economic Impact of Stadium for Raiders in Las Vegas.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 21 Mar. 2017, www.reviewjournal.com/sports/raidersnfl/economists-weigh-economic-impact-stadium-raiders-las-vegas. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
“2016 Las Vegas YTD Executive Summary.” Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, 2016, www.lvcva.com/stats-and-facts/visitor-statistics/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
Although I do think its cool that Las Vegas will get a team for the first time, and it will benefit their economy, I disagree with relocation. The Raiders for the first time this year since 2001 made the playoffs, and they have a young talented roster that will battle for championships for the next 10 years. I don't think it is fair for the fans in Oakland to go through this change just once the Raiders start getting good. Also the Raiders fans have always had good support, so I don't agree with this relocation.
ReplyDeleteI feel that in the economy it is very difficult to move a team in the NFL but it can be done. As far as the Las Vegas Raiders go, this relocation is very interesting. After just receiving their first professional sports team in the Las Vegas Knights NHL team, Las Vegas received their second professional team in the Las Vegas Raiders. I know that if a team like the Brewers or the Bucks would get relocated, it would really bring down the overall mood of the sports community in the area, so I can only imagine how Oakland is taking this news. Let's just hope that the Bucks or Brewers don't get moved anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteI also disagree with the relocation. While the move will have potential for more profits the raiders will struggle to find more fans. While they weren't the best team, this year they made the play for the first time in fifteen years and have potential to grow in the future. Even though the move could bring more money in, the fan base will not follow as quickly hindering the raiders from growing in the future.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the relocation as well. Even though Las Vegas has a large economy with the gambling and tourism industry, there probably won't be a consistent fan base within the city. Also, taking two years to transition to Las Vegas could have a huge impact on the Raiders's profits. If the Raiders aren't drawing in enough fans in Oakland, I heard that they will relocate to a different city while their stadium is being built in Las Vegas, costing them more money. Overall, the relocation of the raiders will significantly have costs that could hinder the team for years.
ReplyDeleteThis relocation makes no economic sense, it takes away the profits from the raiders as they take time to build a base in Las Vegas, where to be honest is not really a sports city. I understand that perspectives may switch, but the heavy inflow of tourists are contingent on gambling and other sources of entertainment and it is interesting to see how their interests would pan out in the near future.
ReplyDeleteEven though this stadium looks pretty cool and fun to be at I would have to disagree with the relocation of the Raiders. They made the playoffs this past year and are getting better and better as their drafts picks are improving and becoming NFL stars. Not only is the location in important, but I feel like how good the team is what really matters. Green Bay has a population of less than a 500,000 people and the Packers still sellout every game because they are good. So, the Raiders are just starting to improve and gain more and more attention from the fans around them.
ReplyDeleteAfter hearing this news, I was completely opposed to the idea of moving. Draymond Green even said "Moving the Raiders is like moving the Celtics, it's just not right". However, many people don't know that the Raiders have been trying to secure a new stadium for 10+ years due to sewage/flooding damage of their stadium in Oakland. With this new content fresh in my mind, I would say that my viewpoint has changed and I completely agree with the move. As the Raiders are getting better, their draft picks are getting better, and their fan base is getting bigger, I think that it is the right decision to build a new stadium in a city that doesn't already have a professional football team. This is similar to the Bucks building a new stadium. The team is improving but they need a fresh start. This is exactly what the Raiders are doing. From an economic standpoint, I think Las Vegas should be excited for the positive externalities and the increase in revenue the move will bring.
ReplyDeleteI do not know much about the numbers behind this move but there are a few things I have seen from personal experiences. Overall, I do not agree with this move from the Raiders. I believe that the Raiders overall have a very 'hardcore' and loyal fan base. I also know that this Raiders team has a lot of young talent and are improving each and every year. This team will be great for years to come with stars like Derek Carr, Khalil Mack, and Amari Cooper. Instead of moving, I think the Raiders should have built a new stadium in Oakland, so that they stay with their fan base and can create hype around the new build.
ReplyDeleteI agree that in order to stay popular, you have to constantly be implementing new ideas. Vegas has all the right reasons to build this amazing arena, as well as the funds to do so. I'm not huge into the Raiders or anything, but I do know that if the Packers were relocated, it'd hurt Wisconsin BADLY! I can understand how fans would hate this relocation. Although revenue will increase and the team would be financial stable again, is it really worth possibly losing your fan base? I mean, that's what sports are about aren't they?
ReplyDeleteYour point of bringing in the new attraction and saving a dying team is true, but I don't think Las Vegas is the place to bring the team. You said it yourself, Las Vegas is mainly a tourist based city, and has had a decrease in tourism in the last years. I don't think that a tourist based city is a good place to bring a football team. It's great to great to get the Raiders out of Oakland and somewhere new, but I don't think many of the tourists are looking to go to a Raiders football game. Las Vegas is known more for its attractions, and most people visiting Vegas probably don't have a Raiders football game on their itinerary. If someone wants to go to a football game, they would rather see their state's team play. Last year was the first year in the last five years that the Raiders had a winning record. Maybe their revenue wasn't about the location and more about the team.
ReplyDeleteFrom a economic stand point, I think this will increase the revenue for Las Vegas being a new stadium people would want to go their and experience a "new" team, but this profit won't payoff fast because the Raiders are based in Oakland where the loyal fans are and their not going to move to Las Vegas.
ReplyDeleteFrom a business point of view this is a very smart decision. Las Vegas has a large population but everyone knows it for the amount of traffic that it bring in. However I would hate for this to become a trend among other NFL teams. Moving the locations of teams which seems to be motivated mainly by money would not make true fans happy. I understand that the Raiders are a bit different because they are already an unpopular team but the NFL shouldn’t turn into a popularity contest. If the Raiders become good in the near future after this switch I could only imagine the numbers that will be brought in by the stadium and the numbers that will be brought in for the businesses in Las Vegas.
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