Time is getting short to begin construction of a proposed 65,000-seat domed stadium in Las Vegas, and eight sites have emerged as possible locations.
Of them, the most promising are Cashman Field and a 100-acre parcel on West Tropicana Avenue.
Here’s a quick look at potential stadium sites.
The 139-acre Wynn Golf Course siteon Paradise and Desert Inn is a large property, but it’s also to be the future site of a new water park, hotel, and retail restaurants, and entertainment.
Wynn Resorts indicates it has room for a stadium, as well as the planned water park, but it would tie up the only arterial in Las Vegas, and create massive logistical problems for local traffic, starting with no nearby freeway access.
Less than a mile north of the Wynn Resorts site is the former Riviera Hotel and Casino, which the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is razing to make way for an expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The site contains 47 acres, and Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson suggested a stadium would be a good use. LVCVA President and CEO Rossi Ralenkotter is open to the idea if a multi-use stadium were proposed.
Other possible parcels in the immediate area include a 35-acre plot owed by MGM Resorts International and used as an outdoor festival site. It is located west of the SLS Las Vegas casino and mostly goes unused, except for occasional large music festivals.
East of that location and Sahara Avenue is the former Wet ‘n Wild water park site, which is located on the Las Vegas Strip and between the SLS casino and the mothballed Fontainebleau property.
Both sites near the SLS have the advantage of being near the I-15 and Sahara Avenue interchange, but both are small and would be cramped with a 65,000-seat stadium.
UNLV has two potential sites, both of which suffer from traffic issues and nearness to McCarran International Airport.
One is a vacant, 42-acre lot north of McCarran International Airport and west of UNLV on Tropicana Avenue. The other is 65 acres of parcels owned by the university mostly along Swenson and East Tropicana Avenue.
Southwest Airlines, the single largest carrier at McCarran, already cited safety and traffic concerns about regarding a stadium anywhere near the airport. That mostly excludes UNLV as a potential stadium site.
The two most promising are the most recent suggestions.
Cashman Field on North Las Vegas Boulevard soon will be vacant, as the Minor League Las Vegas 51s move to a new facility in Summerlin. That leaves 50 acres that could be developed with plenty of recent freeway construction easing potential traffic concerns.
It’s only real negative is it’s located several miles north of the UNLV campus and the Las Vegas Strip.
That leaves the 100-acre Wild Wild West site owned by the Fertitta family on the north side of West Tropicana and west of the I-15 overpass. Traffic, however, already is congested in the area, and stadium construction and big games would make it much worse.
NFL Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis says he wants to move the team to Las Vegas, but he needs a stadium and approval from 24 NFL team owners to make that happen.
The Raiders will continue playing in Oakland for the next three seasons, and efforts are underway to keep the team in Northern California. Former Raider Ronnie Lott is leading a local efforts to keep the Raiders in Oakland.
If Las Vegas doesn’t have a stadium underway soon, Lott’s efforts might prove effective.
