The only certainty in the proposed Las Vegas stadium is that 0 million in public funding will be needed, and no site has been chosen.
Las Vegas Sands President Ron Goldstein in August told the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee that if $750 million in public funding is not available, the proposed $1.4 billion, 65,000-seat stadium and possible relocation of the NFL Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas will not happen.
Two possible stadium sites have emerged as favorites, but without money to buy them, the proposal likely won’t happen.
A new project estimate places the total cost at $1.9 billion, including $1.3 billion for stadium construction and another $100 million for a practice facility.
To pay for that, Goldstein says $750 million in public funding is needed, and might come from an about $1 per day increase in room taxes.
Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis has pledged another $500 million, Las Vegas Sands has pledged another $150 million, and another $600 million in private funding has been promised.
But, without the $750 million public contribution, the money won’t be enough, and the Raiders need to know by the end of the year whether or not a stadium will be built.
The Raiders are staying at their current location in Oakland this football season and the next two. An Oakland-based group, including former Raider Ronnie Lott, are trying to keep the team in Oakland and are working on getting funding for a proposed stadium project there.
That leaves a small window for Nevada to get project funding in place and secure a deal to bring the Raiders to Las Vegas.
The Raiders already took an initial step of filing a trademark application for the Las Vegas Raiders mark, which might be nothing more than a preliminary move to protect against trademark squatters who might attempt to copyright the mark to leverage cash if the Raiders do move to Las Vegas.
Ultimately, the NFL has the final say on whether or not the Raiders can relocate to Las Vegas. That would require approval from 24 of the league’s 32.
