Golden Knights Owner Bill Foley Questions Las Vegas Spending $750M on Raiders

Las Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley publicly questioned the use of $750 million in funds to help build the Oakland Raiders' stadium after the team formally announced its move to Sin City.

The Las Vegas Sun's Jesse Granger provided some background and shared Foley's comments from an interview with Brian Blessing on the Vegas Hockey Hotline radio program:

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Unlike Davis and the Raiders, who will get $750 million in hotel room tax money to help fund a stadium, Foley brought the Golden Knights to Las Vegas without any public funding. T-Mobile Arena was privately funded, and Foley paid the NHL's $500 million expansion fee himself.

"I felt like there were a lot better ways to spend $750 million than bringing the Raiders to Las Vegas," Foley said on Vegas Hockey Hotline. "We could spend it on police, firefighters and teachers and have them all be the best in the country. But I guess we're going to spend it on the Raiders."

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Last October, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed a bill increasing the hotel room tax in Clark County to help raise $750 million in order to get the Raiders to relocate to Las Vegas.

The Associated Press (via the New York Times) noted it will be the largest amount of public money spent on an NFL stadium, but public funding accounted for a higher percentage in the construction of venues for the Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns, all of which are close in size to Las Vegas.

With a $1.9 billion price tag, the Nevada taxpayers will chip in for a little over 39 percent of the total cost for the Raiders stadium.

While the Raiders will have the popularity of the NFL and a brand new stadium to help build a fanbase in Las Vegas, the Golden Knights have the advantage of calling the city home first.

The 2017-18 season will be their inaugural campaign, whereas Raiders owner Mark Davis confirmed the team will stay in Oakland for at least 2017 and 2018, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. The Raiders' stadium won't be completed until August 2020.