Vegas mayor: Build stadium downtown
LAS VEGAS – In a week the Raiders inched closer to leaving Oakland, Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman had a reminder for the NFL: Don’t forget downtown.
Although Raiders owner Mark Davis has identified two preferred sites within the resort corridor known as the Strip, Goodman said Wednesday the most costeffective and ready-to-go parcel lies behind her seventh-floor office at City Hall.
“People have to be brain dead not to see this,” she said while pointing to the various sites as the desert stretched out beyond her window.
It’s not too soon to lobby for sites after the Raiders told NFL owners Monday that Bank of America has agreed to a $650 million loan deal that was needed to help finance a $1.9 billion doomed-roof stadium.
But it might be too late for the city as a team spokesman said Wednesday, “The Raiders’ focus is singularly on the Russell Road site.”
Team executives are expected to speak about the latest developments today at the regularly scheduled Las Vegas Stadium Authority board meeting. It would be the first public comments from the Raiders since Bank of America entered the scene as a replacement for investors from the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and banker Goldman Sachs, both of whom backed out in January.
Raiders executives are expected to talk about the new financing plan during the meeting of the 11 board members, who also will be updated on the progress of a lease agreement they must sign with the team.
The Raiders need the lease deal concluded before they go before NFL owners to get approval for relocation. The team needs three-quarters of the owners – 24 votes out of 32 teams – to move forward.
A vote could take place March 26-29 during the owners meetings in Phoenix. It also could be postponed to the May meetings in Chicago.
But with the final piece of financing solved, it appears the Raiders are headed for Nevada, where lawmakers approved a $750 million public contribution to the project through sales of bonds that would be repaid over 30 years by an increased hotel tax that the government began collecting this month.
The Raiders probably would stay in Oakland for the next two seasons before moving in 2019. A new facility is projected to be ready in 2020 so officials are trying to arrange an acceptable deal to play one season at UNLV’s Sam Boyd Stadium.
As soon as NFL owners approve a move, the community can start construction on the 65,000-seat stadium that also would house the UNLV football team. That means the Raiders might need to move quickly on where to build.
Davis has said he likes a site known as the Russell Road parcel that is west of interstate 15 and McCarran International Airport. But Goodman said the locale would include costs that have yet to be discussed.
“They haven’t even talked about who’s paying for the flyovers, who’s going to widen I-15, who’s going to change all the exits and entrances onto I15,” Goodman said. “And there’s nothing around it. It’s an empty field so it doesn’t benefit anybody.”
If hidden costs surface, as the mayor predicts, it could cause a backlash in a place that is solidly anti-tax.
“We have a history of feeling we don’t need to pay for something,” said Michael Green, a Nevada-Las Vegas history professor. “No income tax. No estate tax.”
But Green said residents probably will be asked to contribute public funds for transportation to get to and from the new stadium.
That wouldn’t be a problem downtown, according to Goodman, who has previously pitched the plan to Raiders executives. She recited a litany of reasons her site is the best place for a stadium, practice facility and perhaps a Major League Soccer venue without adding taxes. Firstly, the city already owns the land and could give it to the team while recouping costs through redevelopment.