Oakland Raiders fan jokingly started a crowdfunding campaign through GoFundMe to raise money for the team’s new stadium in Las Vegas. Prior to the campaign, two major financial back-ups, casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson and Goldman Sachs have withdrawn their support.
The fan who resides in Las Vegas James Flynn initiated the campaign as reported by Las Vegas Review Journal. He started the campaign on Friday, Feb. 3 after the deal with casino magnate Sheldon Adelson to fund the development of a new stadium in Las Vegas went bust.
Flynn wanted to show support to the Raiders that Las Vegas residents wanted to have an NFL team of their own. He admitted the crowdfunding campaign was supposed to be a satire, but he got surprised when he found out there are many people donated.
He used the nickname Gilbert Roughhouse in the GoFundMe campaign titled Bring the Raiders to Las Vegas. As of Tuesday, Feb. 7, the campaign has raised $555. A very long way to $650 million targets, but the satire works.
In the description of the campaign, Flynn wrote, “ Las Vegas provides a unique opportunity for NFL fans as the entertainment capital of the world!”
Before he launched the campaign, two financial back-ups which expected to provide financing to build the Las Vegas stadium for the Raiders withdrew their support. The casino tycoon Adelson who pledged $650 million to build the 65,000-seat stadium with a dome in Las Vegas pulled out. Subsequently, U.S. multinational bank Goldman Sachs follow suit and pulled away from the $1.9 billion stadium project.
Oakland Raiders are the NFL team which has a long history since its founding in 1959. The team relocated to Los Angeles in 1982 to become Los Angeles Raiders while maintaining its silver and black color scheme with the raider picture. They returned to Oakland in 1995 until now.
On Jan.19, the Raiders submitted official paperwork to relocate to Las Vegas. Last season the Raiders was able to enter the Wild card Playoffs round against Houston Texans and lost 27-14. Watch the highlight of the Oakland Raiders’ journey in the 2016-17 season below:
