Proposed Las Vegas Raiders stadium still lacks financing
The Oakland Raiders and the board overseeing the proposed NFL stadium in Las Vegas have high hopes for the project despite losing an instrumental supporter, but their plan is still missing hundreds of millions of dollars in financing.
Team leaders and the stadium authority board met publicly Thursday for the first time since casino magnate Sheldon Adelson withdrew a US$650-million pledge for the project. Both sides plan to continue to work on a lease agreement, but the team didn’t give a definitive answer for the major financial gap.
“The organization remains fully committed to this project,” Raiders president Marc Badain told the stadium authority board members.
Badain told the board the team is in discussions with “multiple financial institutions,” but declined to elaborate beyond that when asked by The Associated Press. The cost of the 65,000-seat domed stadium is pegged at $1.9 billion.
The meeting in Las Vegas came at a crucial time for the Raiders’ proposed relocation: less than two weeks after Adelson pulled out of the project and six weeks before an NFL owners’ meeting where they are expected to vote on whether to approve the move.
Badain and stadium authority board members expressed confidence in their ability to make significant progress in a proposed lease and use agreement ahead of the owners gathering. A draft of the agreement the Raiders presented to the stadium authority board last month includes a proposed $1 annual rent for the team.
“We’ll work to make it better,” board chairman Steve Hill said. “We may make six weeks’ worth of progress in the next three or four weeks.”
The Raiders paid $3.5 million in rent to play at Oakland Alameda County Coliseum in 2016, up from $925,000 for the 2015 season. The team has options to remain at the stadium for the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
Adelson and his family had pledged $650 million and the Raiders promised $500 million, with the stadium authority putting up $750 million in Las Vegas tax revenues.