Dive Brief:

• After 31 months of construction, the Mortenson-McCarthy joint venture building Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas received a Certificate of Occupancy, delivering the project on time, according to a release from the JV.
• Construction on the $1.97 billion, 1.8 million-square-foot stadium wrapped July 30, and the certificate was awarded the following day. Construction on the stadium was not slowed or shut down by the coronavirus pandemic.
• Allegiant Stadium’s operations team will now take control of the facility, which will be home to the Las Vegas Raiders in their first season of play in the city, as well as the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ (UNLV) football team.

Dive Insight:

The certificate and transfer of the control of the stadium came three days before the Raiders organization emailed season ticket holders to inform them that the team’s home games during the 2020 season would be played with no fans present. That will translate to 65,000 empty seats across eight different games for the inaugural season of Las Vegas’ first NFL team. 

The stadium has a retractable turf field, walls that open to a view of the Las Vegas strip, a translucent roof and a wide range of premium spaces on multiple levels, a key element of modern stadium construction.

The JV led a team of more than 200 engineering firms, subconsultants, trade contractors and vendors, with a project design team including HNTB and engineers Arup, Smith Seckman Reid, Inc., and Kimley Horn.

Being able to continue construction during the spring, when many other projects were halted due to government-mandated shutdowns, helped to move the ball down the field, but came with its penalties. In late June, more than 30 workers on the site tested positive for the coronavirus, and in mid-July, the JV was fined $13,494 by the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration based on evidence of workers failing to follow social distancing guidelines, a claim the JV has denied.

Allegiant Stadium is the second most expensive NFL stadium, behind only the still-under-construction SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The future home of the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams is nearing completion, but also needs to be finished by the beginning of the NFL regular season, which is scheduled for Sept. 10. 

SoFi stadium also dealt with coronavirus outbreaks, with the number of cases reaching 49 in late July and as many as 16 positive tests in one week, according to the Los Angeles Times, even as some other workers, who hadn’t been tested, displayed symptoms. In addition, seven workers employed by the Turner AECOM Hunt JV overseeing a nearby building also tested positive. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has launched an investigation into the conditions onsite.