NFL owners approve Raiders' move to Las Vegas

For years, Las Vegas was considered a toxic environment for professional sports. But the landscape is about to get crowded, first with an NHL team and now the Silver and Black.

You've heard the saying, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." Well, big time pro sports will be happening and staying in Vegas.

The National Hockey League will debut the Vegas Golden Knights later this year. And it looks like they will be joined by the Silver and Black.

National Football League owners approved the Oakland Raiders' move to Las Vegas at the league meetings on Monday, according to the Associated Press.

For years Las Vegas' biggest sports attraction was the UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball team, but now the sports landscape is getting crowded.

Rick Velotta, the gaming and tourism reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, told Take Two ahead of the vote that approval was all but certain.

Still, it doesn't look like they'll be taking the field in Vegas for a little while longer. Their first season likely won't be until 2020. "They still have a lease for the Oakland Coliseum for another couple of years," Velotta said. "What happens in 2019 is now kind of a little up in the air."

When they do show up in Vegas, the Raiders are expected to play in a brand new stadium. According to Velotta, it's somewhere that's being built with a prime location in mind.

"The Raiders have an option to purchase some property on a parcel just across from Interstate 15 by Mandalay bay," Velotta said. "It'll be on the left side of the highway as you're coming in from California.

"There are still a couple of sites under consideration, but that's the one I think that the Raiders are looking for. Primarily because it has such a fantastic view of the Las Vegas strip from that place and they want it to be an iconic feature of the strip."

Between the Raiders' move and the Golden Knights joining the city, Las Vegas is enjoying something of a pro sports renaissance after years of being viewed as a toxic environment for teams.

"I think that a lot of the reason was because of the gambling aspect that Las Vegas represented," Velotta said. "For a long time, Las Vegas was the center of the gaming universe. That's no longer the case. There are casinos in most states in the United States right now. Gaming has kind of gone main stream."

To hear the full conversation, click the blue player above.

This story has been updated.