Las Vegas Raiders vote means half of AFC West will play in new locations

The official move of the Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas means half of the AFC West has changed homes in the matter of a few years.

The NFL owners have officially voted and the Oakland Raiders will now officially be moving to Las Vegas. Adam Schefter of ESPN has the official vote with only one franchise dissenting on the move that will take the Raiders out of California for the very first time in its storied history.

The Raiders aren’t the only AFC West team to move in recent months. The NFL also approved the Chargers move from San Diego to Los Angeles as the league recently placed two teams in L.A. after the city had zero for the last few decades. That means that the Chiefs and Broncos will now visit their rivals in brand new surroundings, especially playing the Raiders in a new domed stadium in Sin City.

It will be very interesting to see fan turnout in Vegas, where a transient crowd focused on gambling and entertainment will take to a local NFL team. Will being around casinos and gambling establishments get some players in trouble? Will locals flock to the stadium? Will the NFL suffer for leaving one of the top markets in the U.S. for the desert?

For the Chiefs, the moves should make the travel schedule a bit lighter, as getting in and out of Las Vegas takes less time than doing the same from the Bay Area. As for what it means for Chiefs players to be on the Las Vegas strip comes down to the sort of tone the locker room is setting for player expectations.