PHOENIX — Is anyone surprised? Maybe that one lone holdout Raiders fan was surprised. You know, the guy who has been tailgating in the same parking spot at the Oakland Coliseum for 20 years and who wears the face paint and who has Ken Stabler’s statistics memorized and who really believes the NFL cares about him and his passion.

Because the choice has been made. Late Monday morning, inside a resort hotel ballroom, the NFL owners voted 31-1 to approve the Raiders’ request for a move from Oakland to Las Vegas, contingent on Nevada officials meeting certain terms.

All those terms are expected to be met. And most of them involve money. Is anyone surprised at that, either?

And so Raiders owner Mark Davis and his team are bound for Nevada, where the stadium near the Las Vegas Strip is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2020 football season. The Raiders’ lease in Oakland allows them to play at the Coliseum for two more seasons, which is presumably what will occur.

This means, among other things, that Oakland and San Francisco Bay Area fans face a long goodbye to the Silver and Black, depending on how many show up at the stadium to wave goodbye during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Davis said that anybody who has placed a season-ticket deposit in Oakland can request and will be granted a refund. Will thousands do that? Or will they continue to show up? This is going to be one of the stranger chapters in American pro sports. Plus, it is unclear where the team will play during the 2019 season. But by 2020, the Silver and Black will become the Silver and Baccarat.

There are a lot of questions about whether the team can succeed in a market less than one-fourth the size of the greater Bay Area. But the NFL has decreed that it will be fabulous and fantastic. So the Raiders’ slow-motion move to southern Nevada will begin.

Was there ever a chance it would be otherwise? Libby Schaaf, the Oakland mayor, had a letter from her hand-delivered to every NFL owner who entered the ballroom at 8:45 a.m. Monday. The letter was a final, impassioned plea to consider the East Bay’s proposal to assemble a stadium deal, which came together over the last few months.

Yet even the mayor had to know that her last-minute campaign was a wasted exercise in folly. This decision was made weeks ago. Months ago, most likely. If Oakland wanted to keep the Raiders, it needed to put something together four or five years ago, before Las Vegas and Davis began to interact.

In retrospect, a meeting of the Nevada legislature last autumn was the turning point. As soon as those legislators voted for a hotel tax that would provide $750 million in public funds to a Raiders stadium deal, the NFL was going to figure out a path to that cash. There were complications along the way, with various parties in and out of the deal in Las Vegas. But no matter what deal Oakland could throw together, with Schaaf pledging not to spend taxpayer dollars, there was never going to be a way to make up that $750 million and make the deal as good for the Raiders. It is the most public money ever contributed to an American sports venue.

The NFL does what the NFL always does. It follows the money. In addition to the Raiders receiving the hundreds of millions from Nevada, the other NFL owners will all get a slice of the estimated $375 million in relocation fees that Davis will pay to the league over the next 10 years. Added to the $1.4 million or so that the other owners will receive from more expensive relocation fees from the Rams and Chargers for their moves to Los Angeles … well, it all adds up to an extra $50 million or more into each owner’s pocket. (So, yes, your team can afford to sign that expensive free-agent quarterback.)

The Raiders themselves have followed the NFL rule twice before, remember. The franchise left Oakland for Los Angeles in 1982 when the riches of Southern California beckoned. Then, in 1995 when Oakland was the city throwing public money at the team — about $220 million in stadium improvements and direct financial incentives — the franchise was lured back north to the East Bay.

Back then, Oakland was the city considered a little crazy to commit that much dough to a NFL team and many in the city later regretted the deal. Now, it is Oakland that is questioning Las Vegas. Call it a full circle, with the NFL owners spinning the wheel. As they left the ballroom Monday, they were all wearing pretty nice clothes.

— Mark Purdy is a columnist 
for The Mercury News in 
San Jose, California.

What they’re saying

“As I sit here and see a vote that takes the Raiders to Las Vegas, I am overwhelmed with emotion. I don’t know how we should feel. I feel the pain of our fans in Oakland. I also see the joy on the faces of our new fans in Las Vegas. As players, we will show up and give everything we have. We will compete and we will do our best to bring a championship to the entire Raider Nation. While I am from California and would have loved playing in Oakland my whole career, I understand the business side of the NFL. It affects us all.” — Raiders QB Derek Carr

“We congratulate the Raiders and the National Football League on today’s historic decision to place a team in Las Vegas. The second announcement of a major sports franchise to locate a team in Las Vegas in just the last 12 months demonstrates how far gaming has come, from a niche industry to a $240 billion economic engine that supports 1.7 million jobs in 40 states. The gaming industry currently partners with professional teams around the country and we look forward to soon doing the same in Nevada.” — American Gaming Association President/CEO Geoff Freeman

“My emotions are mixed. While I’m sad for family and friends and fans in the Oakland area, I also recognize the tremendous opportunity going forward for our organization. That being said, my mission remains the same. To lead this team here and now. Players and coaches need to understand their defined roles. We all need to bring positive energy everyday as we focus on things that we can control.” — Raiders coach Jack Del Rio

“My position today was that we as owners and as a league owe it to the fans to do everything we can to stay in the communities that have supported us. I want to wish Mark Davis and the Raiders organization the best in Las Vegas.” — Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, the lone dissenter in the 31-1 vote, to the Palm Beach Post

“The Raiders were born in Oakland and Oakland will always be part of our DNA. We know that some fans will be disappointed and even angry, but we hope that they do not direct that frustration to the players, coaches and staff.” — Raiders owner Mark Davis

“You will never ever see me wearing anything that says the Raiders.” — Oakland City Council president Larry Reid, who said he will consult with attorneys to see if they can force the Raiders out of the Coliseum early