The Las Vegas Stadium Authority has released a draft of a preliminary timeline that anticipates construction of a 65,000-seat domed stadium for the National Football League Raiders to begin in January 2018 and be completed by June 2020.
The draft projects construction to take 30 months after bonds are issued to fund it, with site work commencing on 62 acres at Interstate 15 and Russell Road. The Raiders bought the land on May 1 for $77.5 million.
A 30-month construction time frame is ambitious compared with that of other recent stadium projects. Of the last four domed NFL stadiums built, none have been completed within 30 months. Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, the new home of the Falcons, is about to hit its 36th month of construction and is due to open in August. Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium, the new home of the Minnesota Vikings, took 32 months to complete.
In the meantime, a lot has to happen in the next nine months.
A High-Impact Project review by Clark County is expected to be completed by August, encompassing studies by several county departments regarding transportation, ingress and egress, parking, drainage, utilities, airport impact and the availability of emergency services.
A project review by the Nevada Department of Transportation is also supposed to be done by August.
September will see the Stadium Authority certify that all findings have been met to satisfy the requirements of state legislation authorizing the sale of $750 million in public bonds to help fund the $1.9 billion facility. Final project documents will be approved by the Stadium Authority board in October. Transfer of the land to the Stadium Authority is expected to be completed in November, along with the first $100 million in construction funding, payable by the Raiders.
