PHOENIX -- A day after winning the vote to relocate to Las Vegas, the Oakland Raiders announced to fans that they can put down a $100 deposit on season tickets for the to-be-constructed $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat dome stadium in Southern Nevada.
The stadium is not expected to open until 2020.
The Raiders are sold out of season tickets for 2017 and have a waiting list for the second straight season. The Raiders have options to remain at the Coliseum in Oakland each of the next two seasons.
The ticket deposit information for Las Vegas was posted by the Raiders with a video and renderings of the stadium, which will have a "retractable" grass field and will be built on a 62-acre plot on Russell Road, west of Interstate 15 and the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino on the south end of Las Vegas.
Raiders owner Mark Davis, aware of anger in the Bay Area over the pending move, said after the 31-1 vote was announced that the team would offer season-ticket refunds to fans who want out. Per ESPN NFL Insider Ed Werder, "fewer than a dozen" season-ticket holders had taken the Raiders up on their offer as of late Monday.
It has been only a day but some anger has subsided into acceptance in the Bay Area, as tweeted by Raiders fan "Bandido."
My thoughts #LasVegasRaiders #Raiders #RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/JqIAuDW8R1
— Bandido (@Oklandraida84) March 28, 2017
Raiders coach Jack Del Rio, who grew up a Raiders fan in the Oakland suburb of Hayward and said he had "mixed feelings" about relocation, was asked about potentially losing the Raiders' unique home-field advantage in the form of protesting fans staying home with the team being a lame duck in the Black Hole.
"We have some real die-hards [as fans]," he said. "We draw globally. I'm sure there will be some people that are angry and won't or can't get over it. That's understandable. But there's a large contingency, a large group, that are true Raiders fans and it really doesn't matter to them where we're playing. They're fired up."
But in regard to Southern Nevada, Del Rio said, "Looking to the future, it's exciting. The community there is super-fired up about it."
