Dive Brief:
- The Raiders are one step closer to being able to build a $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat NFL stadium in Las Vegas after its purchase of a $77.5 million, 62-acre site, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
- The parcel, near the Mandalay Bay resort, has easy access to Interstate 15, as well as a view of the Las Vegas Strip. After a scheduled extension of the Las Vegas monorail, fans will be able to use pedestrian bridges to travel between the stadium and Mandalay Bay.
- County officials said an impact study and a county development agreement with the team are already in the works. The Raiders must also get through a Federal Aviation Administration review, as well as come up with a parking plan.
Dive Insight:
The FAA review of the new Los Angeles Rams stadium in Inglewood, CA, took a year and resulted in the Rams paying $29 million for a new radar system that could work with the venue's height.
The Las Vegas Stadium Authority will own the new Raiders stadium, and the team will lease it back for $1 a year. LVSA ownership is in exchange for the $750 million in hotel-tax financing that Clark County plans to contribute.
These lease negotiations reportedly left out billionaire backer Sheldon Adelson, who was a driving force behind the Raider move from Oakland, so he withdrew the $650 million he pledged toward stadium construction. To fill in the funding gap, team owner Mark Davis arranged for a $650 million loan from Bank of America.
The Nevada Department of Transportation started the planning process for infrastructure improvements around the new stadium site back in February. An October report suggested that it would take nearly $900 million total to make all the necessary upgrades.
Perhaps the biggest hurdle the team has needed to overcome on its path to Las Vegas was NFL owner approval for the move. Given the gambling focus of Las Vegas, the organization has always been hesitant to locate a franchise there, but agreed to the move in late March. This came after the NFL rejected last-ditch plans from the city of Oakland to build a new $1.3 billion stadium in order to keep the Raiders there.
