Two steps in the evolution of the Las Vegas Raiders: Owner Mark Davis trademarked the name, and the team has finally released renderings of the proposed new Las Vegas stadium.
While Davis and crew still have plenty of options — with the Oakland Athletics looking at a downtown waterfront site for a new ballpark, the Coliseum acreage could be open for a stadium and development, and there’s still the chance Los Angeles could be an option, albeit less likely every day — by all appearances he’s being up front when he says a move to Las Vegas is number-one on his wish list. Today we have two tangible developments that further the notion that Davis is dead-set on a move.
First, the Raiders filed a trademark application on Aug. 20 to cover the use of Las Vegas Raiders in a wide variety of situations. Darren Heitner at Forbes has the scoop:
On August 20, 2016, the Raiders filed trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the mark “Las Vegas Raiders.” All of the filings, which span a variety of goods and service classifications, were filed with an intent to use the mark in commerce in the future.
A submitted trademark application is certainly not a guarantee that an NFL team is moving to a new location. In fact, the San Diego Chargers applied for the mark “LA Chargers,” but have yet to leave San Diego. That said, these types of filings do serve to demonstrate that there is a true effort to at least strongly consider relocation.
The Raiders filed for “Las Vegas Raiders” protection in multiple distinct classes. They cover education and entertainment services, clothing, mobile applications, football helmets, trading cards, jewelry and play figures.
Now, as Heitner notes, this doesn’t commit the Raiders to anything, and doesn’t mean a whole lot on its own: businesses file defensive trademarks all the time. This is a standard piece of business development.
The second move: the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, in anticipation of a meeting today to review the stadium proposal, released renderings of the stadium. It is a cutting-edge design, to be sure, but it needs to be in a town where cutting-edge design is actually noticed and appreciated, as evidenced by the overwhelmingly positive reaction to T-Mobile Arena.
At this point, the Raiders’ stadium is expected to cost between $1.7 and $2.1 billion, with developers seeking a public contribution of $750 million.
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