The Las Vegas City Council on July 20 passed a motion to keep Cashman Field among final candidates for a potential NFL stadium site.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said too much focus is kept on the Las Vegas Strip, which is the busiest road in Nevada.
Cashman Field is located near the recently widened and improved section of I-15 north of the infamous “Spaghetti Bowl” interchange with U.S. 95, has 25,000 parking spaces located nearby, and doesn’t present a potential problem for McCarran International Airport operations.
However, another location was thrown into the pool last week, and it got immediate support. The Bali Hai golf course, just south of Mandalay Bay, could be a favorite to win. Located adjacent to McCarran, the site is not as impactful on airport traffic as some other sites might be. Access from I-15 could also be direct.
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval a week earlier extended to September 30 the time the ad-hoc Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee has to investigate possible stadium site and make a recommendation on possible projects that might receive state support.
Las Vegas Sands and Majestic Realty want the state to approve some $750 million in public funding to build a 65,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof for $1.4 billion. The money would come from an about $1-per day increase in room taxes.
Las Vegas Sands and Majestic Realty would chip in another $150 million, while NFL Oakland Raiders team owner Mark Davis has pledged about $500 million in support.
Davis says he needs to know before the end of the year if a stadium is to be built in Las Vegas, so he can prepare for an authorizing vote from the NFL, which requires the support of at least 24 franchise owners.
Among other sites under consideration are the former Riviera Casino, which is being razed to make way for an expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center, a 42-acre parcel owned by UNLV but located across from McCarran Airport, and a 100-acre parcel on West Tropicana that currently is home to the Wild Wild West Casino and other businesses.
Primary factors under consideration are potential impact on airport operations, which works against the UNLV site, and likely traffic problems, which plague all but the Cashman Field site.
Potential traffic problems with a 65,000-seat stadium were illustrated clearly on July 22, when T-Mobile Arena hosted USA Basketball vs. Argentina in an exhibition game.
Some 16,861 people attended, many of whom had to pick up their tickets at T-Mobile just prior to 6 p.m. tip-off.
That caused a large surge of traffic heading toward T-Mobile, while also mingling with the typically busy Friday evening rush-hour traffic, which often is the busiest traffic period of the week.
Between locals leaving work, weekend visitors arriving from California, and traffic for the basketball game, cars were backed up and many people spent up to 90 minutes trying to get to their seats.
T-Mobile officials said they will take steps to alleviate potential problems in the future, including working with third-party ticket vendors to more efficiently process ticket pick-ups.
MGM Resorts International also will begin erecting an about 5,000-space parking structure at the Excalibur casino this year, which will help to divert traffic from Tropicana Avenue and the Las Vegas Strip.
