Nevada Congresswoman Dina Titus has asked her Capitol Hill colleagues to spare the planned stadium in Las Vegas for the NFL’s Raiders and a major expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center from an upcoming ban on tax-exempt bonds for stadiums for professional sports teams.
The ban is outlined in the tax reform legislation that is headed for passage in the Republican-controlled Congress.
Writing to the leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Las Vegas Democrat asked a congressional conference committee to include the necessary exemption language when it meets to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the legislation.
The $1.9 billion domed stadium planned for the Oakland Raiders’ 2020 move to Las Vegas includes $750 million in public borrowing backed by an increase in the Clark County hotel room tax. An additional hike in the tax has been approved to support bonds to fund a $1.4 billion expansion and renovation of the Convention Center.
The House’s tax reform bill clearly bans the use of tax-exempt bonds to finance or refinance a building “used as a stadium or arena for professional sports exhibitions, games or training”.
But without them the cost of financing the Raiders’ stadium will go up by about $3 million a year, according to Las Vegas Stadium Authority Chairman Steve Hill.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority also is concerned because Convention Center facilities have been used in the past for professional sports contests and exhibitions.
“Many communities across the country have benefited from the tax-exempt status of bonds for professional stadiums, with 36 major-league stadiums of 45 built since 2000 financed at least in part with these bonds,” Titus’ letter said. “I ask that you provide Las Vegas the opportunity to use this same financial mechanism for our project.”
