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Las Vegas Raiders plan showing some cracks over Raiders' alleged demands

The main obstacles the Oakland Raiders had in relocating to Las Vegas seemed to be public funding for the stadium, and NFL approval.

Nevada governor Brian Sandoval signed a bill that will provide $750 million for the stadium. The NFL needed to approve relocation, but the league seems unlikely to pass up a project with $750 million in free money. Everything appeared to be on track.

The Raiders didn’t plan on casino mogul Sheldon Adelson emerging as perhaps the biggest obstacle.

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Adelson, the chairman and CEO of Sands Corporation in Las Vegas, had said he would contribute up to $650 million to the stadium project. But this week he said the Raiders’ demands might cause him to change his mind.

“They want so much,” Adelson told Reuters during a travel technology conference in Tel Aviv. “So I told my people, ‘Tell them I could live with the deal, I could live without the deal. Here’s the way it’s gonna go down. If they don’t want it, bye-bye.'”

It’s unsure what is rubbing Adelson wrong. He didn’t give any specifics to Reuters, and East Bay Times said Adelson’s office didn’t reply to a request for more information. The East Bay Times said Raiders owner Mark Davis had no comment.

But it’s clear something is going on between the power brokers of this project.

“I negotiated to bring in the Oakland Raiders, an NFL football team from Oakland, because they don’t have a stadium there, that I would build a stadium and rent it out to the Oakland Raiders,” Adelson told Reuters.

This could all be high-level negotiating through public channels. It’s fair to assume Adelson wants favorable terms for his $650 million investment. He’s not just giving the Raiders that money for charity. The Raiders presumably want their own favorable conditions. With this much money involved, it was unrealistic to think there wouldn’t be a few sticking points.

But it’s a rare snag in a project that has moved along very quickly. Look at how difficult it has been for the San Diego Chargers to get public funding for a new stadium. The Raiders haven’t had many issues at all since focusing on Las Vegas. The reports of the Raiders wanting to move to Vegas started picking up steam in March, and seven months later Nevada was signing a bill for the most public money ever given for a stadium project.

It has been a rather seamless effort to this point. But if Adelson is truly willing to walk away and take his $650 million with him, the Raiders might need to figure out another plan.

Sands Corporation CEO Sheldon Adelson isn't happy with the Oakland Raiders' demands (AP)
Sands Corporation CEO Sheldon Adelson isn’t happy with the Oakland Raiders’ demands (AP)

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!