5 ways the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas will impact college football

The NFL owners recently voted 31-1 to allow the Raiders to relocate to Las Vegas. But how will this move affect college football?

After failing to even entertain the last-minute offers put out by the city of Oakland, the NFL owners voted on Monday to allow the Raiders to move to Las Vegas. The move was not wholly unexpected, as the Raiders had been publicly working both sides. Thus a team that was founded in the East Bay will now take its renegade legacy to Sin City.

But while this presents a drastic change in NFL dynamics, it will also be felt throughout the college game. As the $2 billion stadium rises from the desert south of the Las Vegas Strip, the effects of this move will be far-reaching. Click ahead to see five major impacts that the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas is bound to have on the college game.

5. Replacing a fading facility

The money has never been there to substantially upgrade Sam Boyd Stadium, which opened in 1971 and has been expanded several times over the years. But with an NFL team coming into town, suddenly the funds are available for a brand-new stadium to be built in time for the 2020 season. Before we go into the metrics of how this impacts the local college team, though, let’s bid farewell to a venue that has aged as gracefully as possible.

In an era of perpetual new construction, the four-decade lifespan of Sam Boyd Stadium is impressive enough. In a city like Vegas, where everything is in a state of constant reinvention, it is downright blasphemous. The football stadium was still new when Ron Meyer got his head coaching start with the Rebels in 1973, to put it in perspective. Even if it does get one last life as a temporary home for the Raiders, the old Silver Bowl will be able to retire before it hits a half-century of use.

A new facility provides innumerable benefits both at a local and a national level, as we will see moving forward.