Las Vegas is finalist to host 2019 or 2020 NFL draft

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Raiders are scheduled to land in Las Vegas in 2020. So might the NFL draft.

Las Vegas is one of five finalists the NFL is considering to host either the 2019 or 2020 draft, a source said Thursday. The city seems likely to garner more serious contention for the latter year, given the Raiders still will be in Oakland in 2019.

Whether Las Vegas will be selected won’t be finalized until the league owner meetings in May.

Two regions will be chosen, one for each year. Denver, Nashville, Kansas City and Cleveland/Canton, Ohio, are the other finalists for 2019 or 2020. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is based in Canton.

The NFL will hold its Spring League Meeting from May 21-23 in Atlanta. In the coming months, Las Vegas also could be awarded a bid to host the Super Bowl for the 2022 season. Raiders owner Mark Davis is part of the league’s nine-person Super Bowl and Major Events Advisory Committee that helps guide the selection process.

Peter O’Reilly, the league’s senior vice president of events, said last month the 2022 season represented the start of a “realistic window” for Las Vegas to host its first Super Bowl. Like the draft, that decision for the 2022 campaign is expected in May, he said.

Before the Atlanta event, league owners will meet March 25-28 in Orlando, Florida.

The annual NFL draft is a three-day, seven-round event often held in late April. The first round typically falls on a Thursday evening, televised live on ESPN and NFL Network.

The second and third rounds occur the next day, with the final four rounds transpiring that Saturday. Various community-based events involving the top draft prospects are held within the host city in the days leading up to the first round.

New York City hosted the draft from 1965 to 2014. The league then began rotating its location, holding it in Chicago in 2015 and 2016 and Philadelphia last year.

The 2018 NFL draft was granted to the Dallas Cowboys, so it will be based at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, from April 26-28.

The Raiders have the No. 9 or 10 overall pick in 2018. A coin toss between the club and the San Francisco 49ers will determine the selection order. Both teams finished with the same 6-10 record and .512 strength of schedule for the 2017 season.

The tiebreaker will be administered early at the NFL scouting combine, Feb. 27 to March 5 in Indianapolis.

Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.