Thank Napoleon McCallum for Raiders move from Oakland to Las Vegas

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The real credit for bringing the NFL Raiders to Las Vegas should go to Napoleon McCallum.

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Whittemore told the story last week on Nevada Newsmakers. Others close to the story back him up.

Here’s how it worked: McCallum is employed by the Las Vegas Sands Corp., owned by the Sheldon Adelson family, where McCallum does a lot of community outreach.

He is also friends, naturally, with the Raiders owner, Mark Davis, since he’s part of the Raider family of former players.

Go back to 2015. As Whittemore’s story goes, McCallum first had a conversation with Davis. At the time, Davis was frustrated and disheartened with the team’s financial situation in Oakland.

A few days after talking to Davis, McCallum was back at work for the Sands, talking to TJ Foley and Andy Abboud of the Sands government affairs team.

That’s when McCallum has his light-bulb moment, said Whittemore.

“He (McCallum) has worked there (Sands) for years and is a close (Adelson) family friend and he says, ‘You know, I was just talking to Mark Davis and they are not really happy with Oakland, so what do you think about bringing the Raiders to Las Vegas?’

After a pause, Foley said, “Actually, that is not a bad idea, Napoleon.”

It lit the fuse.

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THE RAIDERS’ PLAYERS and front-office personnel will realize a windfall profit when the team moves to Las Vegas, according to Sports Illustrated.

In Oakland, the Raiders players and personnel are subject to the largest state income tax in the U.S. For the players who make more than $1 million annually, that tax is 13 percent. Those who make less than $1 million annually are subject to a state income tax between 12 and 10 percent.

Nevada has no state income tax. So the Raiders take-home pay will show a sharp increase.

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