Vincent Bonsignore reports that Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee elected to reduce the public contribution for a new Raiders’ stadium in Las Vegas to $550 million from $750,000 on Thursday.
This means that developers would be asked to contribute another $200 million for a new stadium. Bonsignore points out that this essentially shifts $200 million from public funds to private investments.
Raiders president Mark Baidain told the SNTIC that they are “disappointed by what they’ve heard today,” per Bonsignore.
“The signal of the $750 million to $550 million will be looked at as a negative by the NFL,” Baidain said, per Bonsignore.
Raiders owner Mark Davis announced a few months ago that he was prepared to pledge $500 million towards a Las Vegas stadium project as long as finances for a stadium comes through.
This news doesn’t have a big impact to the Raiders, as their contribution would remain at $500 million, per Bonsignore. According to Bonsignore, the lease for the stadium would be 30 years with annual rent of $2.5 million.
However, it sounds like this could be the first big concern in regards to a potential stadium deal in Vegas.
Andy Abboud of Las Vegas Sands Corporation told the SNTIC that he’s still confident this deal can get done, per Bonsignore.
NFL owners appear to be open to the Raiders ending up in Vegas, but there’s no question that public contributions to the project will be expected, and while $550 million is a lot of money, we’ll have to see if this ends up being a sticking point.
It’s worth mentioning that the Raiders have the option to join the Rams in Los Angeles if the Chargers back out of their current agreement and get a new stadium built in San Diego.
We’ll have more updates regarding the Raiders’ future as the news becomes available.
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