Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson says building a domed stadium to host the Oakland Raiders would be more beneficial to the local economy than expanding the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Las Vegas Sands, which owns the Sands Expo Center, has partnered with Majestic Realty to try to get a stadium built for the Oakland Raiders to declare its new home in three years.
Adelson is proposing to build a 65,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof, and Mark Davis, the owner of the Raiders, recently announced he has filed the necessary paperwork to trademark the Las Vegas Raiders name.
The Las Vegas Convention Center currently is undergoing a decade-long, $2.3 billion upgrade, that includes razing the former Riviera casino and building an outdoor exhibition area on the site.
Adelson previously proposed partnering with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to build a joint project that could house an NFL team, while also serving the important convention industry in Las Vegas.
The stadium would cost an estimated $1.4 billion to build, but that does not include property acquisition costs. Adelson wants the public to contribute $750 million of that total via increased room taxes. With the Riviera site soon to be open and already paid for, Adelson now suggests the stadium, which also would be home to the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels football team, should go up in place of the convention center expansion, which conveniently would help fill up his Sands Expo Center.
