Raiders to pay $378 million relocation fee

The NFL announced the official relocation fee for the three teams that have recently moved cities, and the Oakland Raiders are on the hook for $378 million.

The Oakland Raiders will have to pay a total relocation fee of $378 million, which they can pay out over a 10-year span. They also do not have to start making the payments until they officially move to Las Vegas, which is estimated to be after the next three seasons. However, per CSN Bay Area, Raiders President Marc Badain says it might not be until the 2021 season.

"Raiders President Marc Badain on Thursday said the lease agreement is on the agenda of the NFL league owners’ meetings scheduled to begin later this month. If one is not presented, there is a “distinct possibility” that team’s move to Sin City could be pushed until the 2021 season, Badain said."

If the Raiders had opted to pay for the fee all upfront, like Rams owner Stan Kroenke likely will, they would have received a $28 million total discount — so $350 million.

The Rams and the Chargers, who are relocating from St. Louis and San Diego to Los Angeles/Inglewood, the relocation fee for each of them is a staggering $645 million — $267 million more than the Raiders are having to pay. A big break for Mark Davis.

As far as how the NFL came up with the amounts for the relocation fees, a report from ESPN’s Darren Rovell noted that the NFL based the fees off of each team’s projected increase in value. So even though the Raiders checked in at no. 34 on the world’s most valuable sports teams, the increase in franchise value by moving to Vegas instead of L.A. like the other two teams is projected to be significantly less. And it doesn’t take an economics expert to figure out why that’s the case.

The 29 other teams in the NFL that are not moving will each receive $55.2 million over a span of 11 years. Not a bad haul for each team, considering all they had to do was cast a yes or a no vote.