How goes the Raiders’ possible move to Las Vegas?

First of all, let’s note the news from Wednesday’s meeting of the NFL finance and stadium committees. The league heard a presentation/update from the Raiders on their proposed move to Las Vegas, and reportedly it went well.

NFL official Eric Grubman said the Raiders have made “impressive” progress on the deal. Even before the meeting, Patriots owner Robert Kraft said, according to the Los Angeles Daily News, “I think it’s a good possibility” that the NFL will be on board with the move when it comes to a vote.

All signs point to a move to the desert, then? Not so fast ...

The Raiders’ Bay Area fans should not give up hope, because owner Mark Davis still needs more financing.

Everything seems in place for a move. Nevada has voted to kick in $750 million, Davis and the NFL will toss in $500 million or so, and that leaves the project about $650 million short.

That missing chunk of money is supposed to come from casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.

But unless the Raiders and Adelson are keeping it a secret, they have not reached an agreement over what Adelson would expect in return for his generous contribution.

I reached out to the Raiders on Tuesday with a list of questions on what’s up with the Adelson-Raiders talks. Are the two sides actively negotiating? Why no updates for the fans on this important matter? The Raiders politely declined to make any comment. This leads me to think there is no agreement.

There have been reports that negotiations are stuck because Adelson is demanding terms that would give him, up front or potentially down the line, an ownership stake in the team, even a controlling interest.

Can you imagine Davis risking being stripped of his control of the Raiders? Al Davis sold a percentage of the team several years ago, and Mark desperately wants to cling to the family’s stake, reportedly 47 percent. Al Davis is rolling over in his grave right now and phoning his lawyers.

“The Raiders are looking at the potential of doing (the deal) without Mr. Adelson if it comes down to that,” Steelers owner Art Rooney II told Sports Business Journal on Wednesday.

Which suggests that wandering somewhere in the Nevada desert is an investor, or group of investors, ready to provide $650 million. In return for the money, this person/these persons will get no significant shares of Raiders stock, while going all-in on a stadium that is not guaranteed to succeed?

What if potential seat-license purchasers, heeding the sad buyer’s remorse of fans at Levi’s Stadium, don’t storm the sales office? What if other income sources don’t measure up to expectations/projections?

Potential investors will consider that the NFL is experiencing non-growing pains, in the form of sagging TV ratings, for the first time ever. What if the money folks decide they can’t count on a continued steep rise in the value of NFL franchises?

And this might be wild Las Vegas talk, but there is a buzz that Adelson is such a powerful and tyrannical presence in Las Vegas that other casino people are afraid to cross him by entering into talks with Davis.

Until someone steps up with that $650 million, the Raiders’ Las Vegas stadium is a mirage.

For now, the Raiders are stuck in Oakland, and could be there for a long time. Eventually, the A’s might strike a deal to build a new ballpark on the Coliseum land, and that could put the Raiders on the street, but that’s another deal that grinds along like a glacier in low gear.

Mark Davis really wants a new stadium, but he might not be willing to risk losing his ownership stake on a roll of the dice in Vegas, when he could stay in the cruddy Coliseum, seated in the owner’s box.

These are tough times if you’re a Raiders fans. Your fate rests on the back-room wheeling-dealing of rich, eccentric guys trying to get richer at your expense. But right now, you are not yet rushing out to buy your road map to Las Vegas. You wait and you hope.

Scott Ostler is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: sostler@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @scottostler