A top Las Vegas Sands Corp. executive said today that the proposed 65,000-seat football stadium his company is pushing for may end up being built on the Strip.
When plans for the stadium that could house an NFL team were first unveiled, discussions centered on a 42-acre site on Tropicana Avenue owned by UNLV. But Rob Goldstein, Sands’ president and chief operating officer, told tourism leaders today that the Tropicana site appears to be “disappearing as an option.”
Concerns about that site, located near Koval Lane, include its proximity to McCarran International Airport and traffic in the area.
Appearing before the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, Goldstein today mentioned two possible locations on the Strip: land near SLS Las Vegas and the site of the shuttered Riviera hotel, which is where the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority plans to expand its convention space. The site of Cashman Field in downtown Las Vegas is another option.
Goldstein made it clear that all possibilities remain on the table, and he said the stadium backers aren’t committed to any particular location right now. He called the Riviera location “a great site” but was also receptive to the other opportunities on the Strip and downtown.
Sands and Majestic Realty Co. have proposed developing the stadium as a home for an NFL franchise, particularly the Raiders, as well as UNLV football games and other events. The 11-member infrastructure committee is charged with vetting major tourism-related projects and could help backers secure public funding for the project.
Sands and Majestic have proposed funding the stadium in part with $750 million from hotel room taxes, which are paid largely by tourists. Their presentation today suggested a room tax increase of about 0.9 percent, or $1.08 per hotel night based on 2015’s average nightly rate.
Excluding land acquisition costs, construction of the stadium itself would cost an estimated $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion, according to today’s presentation. A practice facility would cost another $100 million.
Private investors would be responsible for all construction cost overruns.
The funding model for the stadium project could still change as the infrastructure committee continues its work. Members heard some evaluation of the plans today from Jeremy Aguero of Applied Analysis, but even more of that should take place later on.
Aside from the public portion of the stadium cost, another detail that needs to be ironed out is the proposed tax increment district suggested for the project.
That proposal would allow the stadium to use at least some of the tax revenue it would generate. Aguero’s presentation today suggested that the district would encompass stadium-related sales tax, live entertainment tax and modified business tax. But it’s not entirely clear yet precisely how that would work.
Even if the committee does advance the stadium project, the plans would still face other major obstacles.
First, the committee’s recommendation would be passed along to Gov. Brian Sandoval, who would likely need to call a special session of the state Legislature. Additionally, the Raiders would need approval from at least 24 of 32 NFL team owners in order to make the move from Oakland to Las Vegas.
Raiders owner Mark Davis has made it clear that he’s serious about making that move happen if officials get the funding in place, and some other influential owners have indicated that they are open to it. But the San Francisco Chronicle recently reported that a group of investors, most of them black, want to help build a new stadium for the Raiders in Oakland.
Meanwhile, the infrastructure committee is also considering a funding recommendation for the convention authority’s proposed $1.4 billion expansion and renovation of its Las Vegas Convention Center. The expansion part is planned for the site of the Riviera, which the authority bought last year and is in the process of demolishing.
Rossi Ralenkotter, the authority’s president and CEO, told the committee today that it’s possible both the convention center expansion and the football stadium could be developed at the Riviera site. He said the authority had discussed the possibility with Sands officials.
“We may have to pick up a couple of other pieces of property, but it could exist there,” Ralenkotter said of the stadium. “Part of what we want to do is bring people — that’s what we do, bring people to Vegas. ... If we could coexist together and make both projects work, it’s a win-win.”
Should the stadium be built at the Riviera site, or any of the locations mentioned on the Strip or downtown, it would not be as close to UNLV as the location on Tropicana.
But UNLV President Len Jessup, who sits on the infrastructure committee, said after today’s meeting that the stadium didn’t need to be located there in order to benefit the university. And he said UNLV had plenty of other options for what it could do with that land.
“At the end of the day, if we could just get a world-class stadium somewhere … it improves our position at UNLV,” Jessup said.
Aside from the Riviera, the other possible Strip location for the stadium is the Las Vegas Festival Grounds across from the SLS. Currently controlled by Sands rival MGM Resorts International, that site hosted the ACM Party for a Cause last month and the Rock in Rio music festival in 2015.
MGM Resorts President Bill Hornbuckle is on the infrastructure committee but he wasn’t at today’s meeting due to a commitment out of the country.
“The festival grounds site would be an excellent option, as was noted in today’s meeting,” MGM Resorts spokesman Alan Feldman said in an email. “Obviously, there are many questions to be answered, but today’s meeting was productive.”
However, the search for the right location is happening independently of the infrastructure committee’s vetting of the stadium plan. Accordingly, much of the conversation today revolved around how the stadium would be funded and operated and its potential benefits to the Las Vegas community.
In that vein, Goldstein stressed that the proposed public portion of the stadium cost would be paid mostly by tourists. And in addition to being responsible for construction overruns, private backers have also said they would be on the hook for operational risks.
Still, at one point, committee chairman Steve Hill pointed out that other recent stadium projects did not require as much public money as the Las Vegas stadium backers have requested. Consultant Bill Rhoda responded that some other markets could generate higher revenues — which, Hill clarified, meant from areas such as luxury suites.
Backers also sought to impress how a stadium could positively impact the local economy. Consultants have estimated that Clark County could receive $870 million in total net new annual spending and 8,000 new jobs.
At the beginning of the stadium presentation, Goldstein spoke about some of the ways a stadium could be put to use beyond NFL and UNLV games. He referenced the possibility of professional soccer matches, college football games, motorsports and other events.
“Not to have this stadium is, frankly, an embarrassment. We should do this,” Goldstein said. “We believe it’s time for Las Vegas to step up and do the right thing.”
The committee today also discussed more about funding the proposed expansion and renovation of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Aguero said the convention authority had proposed some changes to the model originally considered by the infrastructure committee. The committee did not vote on those suggestions, but some members indicated that they also wanted to look at the possibility of raising the convention center’s rental rates.
Part of the convention center discussion also involved a new oversight panel included in the draft of a legislative recommendation for the project. The committee discussed how much “teeth” it wanted the oversight panel to have; multiple members said they were inclined to want the panel to be on the stronger side.
The committee should further discuss both the stadium and convention center when it meets again late next month. It needs to send a report to the governor by the end of July.