"On behalf of the entire Vegas Golden Knights family, I would like to welcome and congratulate Mark Davis and the Oakland Raiders on their relocation to the great city of Las Vegas," Golden Knights owner Bill Foley said in a statement. "It truly is an exciting time to be from Las Vegas. There is only a select group of cities in North America that are home to both an NHL and an NFL franchise and Vegas is now one of them. This alone should be a great source of pride for our community and our fans. Las Vegas has always been one of the most popular destination cities in the world and it is now emerging as a premier location for major league professional sports."
The Golden Knights begin play in the NHL next season. The NFL on Monday voted to approve the Raiders' move from Oakland to Las Vegas. The football stadium is expected to be completed in time for the 2020 NFL season, according to reports.
"We continue to have every confidence the Vegas Golden Knights franchise will be successful regardless of whether (and when) an NFL franchise might enter the market," NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in an email to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "The team is committed to working hard to establish close and lasting relationships with its fans and sponsors and to becoming a valued member of the local community, things it has already begun to do."
Las Vegas will become the third United States city to only have an NHL and an NFL team (Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bills; Nashville Predators, Tennessee Titans).
"We anticipated this would happen and we're not surprised by it," Golden Knights president Kerry Bubolz told the newspaper. "We're embracing it. … You can't think in a vacuum. You have to look at the big picture. The Raiders are going to increase the visibility of this market and create more opportunities to do business."
