First he buys the city’s only newspaper, the Las Vegas Review Journal, now Sheldon Adelson is lining up with UNLV to build a domed stadium that could be home not only too the college’s football team, but also a potential NFL franchise. Reports linked the Oakland Raiders to a possible tenancy at the stadium. The Raiders were recently rejected by the NFL for a possible move to Los Angeles, and seem to be unlikely to convince Oakland officials to build them a new stadium.
Adelson met with Raiders’ owner Mark Davis last week to discuss a possible move.
But it appears the Las Vegas Sands and UNLV will continue to examine building the $1-billion stadium even if the Raiders do not come to the city. LVS spokesman Ron Reese says the company is fully vested, envisioning a public-private partnership. He says the stadium could be used for UNLV football, concerts, the National Finals Rodeo, the NCAA Final Four, football bowl games and much more.
That could be a bit dicey, however, as it recalls previous efforts to be arenas with any public money even if its just a higher room tax on Las Vegas Strip hotels. Caesars Entertainment once proposed an arena behind its Bally and Paris casinos that would have been partially funded by such a scheme. MGM Resorts objected and waged a fierce battle that kept the measure from ever being considered. MGM is now building its own arena in partnership with entertainment giant AEG, using no public funds. The company would expected to put up similar fierce opposition to any LVS-UNLV plan for the stadium.
UNLV recently bought 42 acres on Harmon Ave. just east of the Las Vegas Strip that it has designated as a site for an on-campus stadium.
