Las Vegas Golden Knights Welcome Raiders – Kind Of
The CEO of the Las Vegas Golden Knights, the expansion NHL team, didn’t exactly deliver the warmest welcome greeting to the Oakland Raiders.
When the Oakland Raiders officially make the move to Las Vegas, they’ll be the second major American sports franchise in the city, following the Golden Knights of the NFL.
The Chairman and CEO of the Golden Knights, Bill Foley, issued a statement welcoming the team to Las Vegas. And then in later interviews, was not as welcoming.
Here is the statement, per the team’s official website:
"“On behalf of the entire Vegas Golden Knights family, I would like to welcome and congratulate Mark Davis and the Oakland Raiders on their relocation to the great city of Las Vegas,” said Vegas Golden Knights Chairman and CEO Bill Foley."
The statement continued:
"“It truly is an exciting time to be from Las Vegas. There is only a select group of cities in North America that are home to both an NHL and an NFL franchise and Vegas is now one of them. This alone should be a great source of pride for our community and our fans. Las Vegas has always been one of the most popular destination cities in the world and it is now emerging as a premier location for major league professional sports.”"
That’s a nice welcoming statement, right? Well, that’s about where the pleasantries stopped.
On a local radio show, Foley explained how he wasn’t fond of the idea of having competition in the city.
"“If I had complete control of the situation, I would not have opted to have the Raiders come here,” Foley told Brian Blessing on the Vegas Hockey Hotline radio show. “But I didn’t, so I welcome them.”"
Foley privately financed T-Mobile Arena, and therefore, did not need the financial assistance that Mark Davis is receiving. Which is something he spoke on during that same interview:
"“I felt like there were a lot better ways to spend $750 million than bringing the Raiders to Las Vegas,” Foley said on Vegas Hockey Hotline. “We could spend it on police, firefighters and teachers and have them all be the best in the country. But I guess we’re going to spend it on the Raiders.”"
While that sounds nice, Foley is forgetting that Clark County is taxing tourists to fund the stadium. So the $750 million is coming from an increase on hotel taxes, and not an increase on public taxes for the residents.
On LV radio: Golden Knights owner Bill Foley ripping #Raiders. Said if he had his way they wouldn't come Blasts $750 million in public money
— Mick Akers (@mickakers) March 27, 2017
The full interview transcript can be seen here.
Next: It's Official: Raiders to Vegas
So, not exactly a warm “hello neighbors” greeting while showing up on your doorstep with jello.