LAS VEGAS (AP) – A plan to build an NFL stadium in Las Vegas and lure the Raiders from Oakland crossed a major hurdle Thursday when a Nevada oversight committee voted unanimously to recommend $750 million in public funding for the project.
The Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee recommended raising the hotel tax in the Las Vegas area to help pay for a 65,000-seat domed venue that was promoted and would be partially financed by billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. Proponents still need to win over the governor, the Legislature and three-quarters of NFL owners to make the project a reality, but it’s a significant milestone for a city that’s never had a professional football team and has been hammering out the particulars of the Raiders deal for months.
“We get an NFL team, and that is a significant step forward for Las Vegas and the community,” committee chairman Steve Hill said about the project’s potential. “Those teams bring the community together. We’re going to have people wearing Raiders jerseys and high-fiving each other … That’s not something you can put a number on.”
The Adelson family plans to put $650 million toward the stadium, which would also be home to UNLV Football, while the Raiders plan to kick in $500 million. Officials with the Las Vegas Sands, Adelson’s company, said they don’t want to return any profits to the public because they’d be making little or no money on the stadium. They’re also committing to fund construction cost overruns and infrastructure improvements at the yet-undetermined site.
Sands representative Andy Abboud said the Adelsons were in China to open a $2.9 billion Parisian Macao casino and probably asleep when the vote came, but he texted them the news and said they’ll be excited.