Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson would like someone in Las Vegas to build a world-class sports stadium near the University of Nevada-Las Vegas campus.
The city is in need of a new sports stadium to replace the aging Sam Boyd Stadium, which is located several miles east of the Las Vegas Strip. And a new stadium built on mostly vacant land on the north side of Tropicana Boulevard would be ideally situated to host UNLV football games and special events right near the Strip.
MGM Resorts International and AEG Entertainment on April 6 opened the $365 million T-Mobile Arena, which the partners built using private funds.
The arena is a potential site of a future NHL professional hockey franchise, and aims to host at least 200 events, annually. And, now that it is built, the NHL Los Angeles Kings announced they will play two games at the new facility.
Such as response has others in Las Vegas saying a full-scale sports stadium, likewise, would generate strong interest, and possibly even become an ideal site for future Super Bowl events – if the NFL ever can get over its anathema of legal gambling and sports betting.
Two decades ago, a similar idea spawned the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which now hosts an annual NASCAR race, plus many other high-profile racing events. Some 20 years later, the speedway is an unmitigated success, and yet another example of events driving more of the local economy during the 21st Century.
If a new stadium were built, it likely would not happen before the Oakland Raiders make yet another move, which some have suggested might be to Las Vegas.
Such a move would require the approval of 24 NFL franchise owners, and Raiders owner Mark Davis isn’t even sure he can move the team out of Oakland, much less to Las Vegas.
Much of Davis’ desire to move is the antiquated stadium in which the Oakland A’s play their Major League Baseball games. If Las Vegas were to build a new stadium, it might be enough to get Davis serious about moving the team to Las Vegas – if enough team owners support the idea.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas lacks a suitable stadium venue, and without one, never will land an NFL team.
