One Step Closer: Oakland Raiders File for ‘Las Vegas Raiders’ Trademark

In another sign that NFL football may be coming to Sin City, the Oakland Raiders now pursue trademark protection for the “Las Vegas Raiders,” reports say.

Signs have been pointing to an NFL expansion team for some time. As far back as May, Raiders owner Mark Davis insisted that he hoped to make “the Silver State, into the silver and black state.”

Talk has even included discussions of building a new stadium that could result in the largest taxpayer subsidy ever proposed for an NFL stadium.

But now taking that next step for expanding into Vegas, the team, currently still ensconced in Oakland, has filed with the federal government for trademark status for the “Las Vegas Raiders.”

“Timing of the filing of these trademark applications is important to note. Recently, U.S. Senator Harry Reid expressed his support for the creation of a Las Vegas domed stadium that would host the Raiders. The plan to create such a stadium is currently under review by the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee,” Forbes magazine’s Darren Heitner wrote.

Heitner, though, does warn that the application is “certainly not a guarantee” that the team is headed to Vegas.

To that point, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell insisted in May that talk of a Las Vegas Raiders is “very premature.”

But Raiders owner Davis has also made it clear that he is looking to Nevada. “I’ve given my commitment to Las Vegas and if they can come through with what they’re talking about doing, then we’ll go to Las Vegas,” the team owner said in May.

“It’s a new market,” Davis added then. “It’s got the potential to be a very exciting market. It’s one of the places where, the Raider fans in northern California … it’s a neutral site. It’s going to unite the Raider nation more than divide it. I’ve given my commitment to Las Vegas and if they can come through with what they’re talking about doing, then we’ll go to Las Vegas.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.