Mark Davis and his Raiders partners will be taking their business to Las Vegas at some point in the future, probably in 2020. But there are some significant problems that Las Vegas and Clark County have to solve that somehow didn’t make it into the projected $750 million worth of public contribution to the stadium: the infrastructure around the stadium.
In addition to costs, Las Vegas and Clark County actually have no idea what to do and how long it will take to get people into and out of the stadium comfortably. The Raiders Las Vegas facility is slightly short on parking with just 2,400 spots available. So there has to be alternative ways of getting to and from the facility. Las Vegas is not a mass transit town. There is not an integrated traffic grid of subways, light rails, and buses in the town. There is the need for perhaps as many as 14,000 additional parking spaces near the stadium. Maybe the monorail could be extended into the stadium area. These are significant problems that were not solved in the Nevada elected officials rush to get Davis to sign a deal bringing the team to Las Vegas.
Davis is in a pretty good shape although he does have the potential to add tremendous debt to his franchise partnership if the money estimates are not right and the Raiders organization is throwing more than a half billion into the stadium. Meanwhile, Davis has sold every ticket at the Oakland Coliseum in 2017. Apparently, those who have invested in Raiders football from those who buy tickets to marketing partners are fine with Davis’s decision to move to Las Vegas alleviating one area of significant discomfort for him and the NFL.
By Evan Weiner For The Politics Of Sports Business
This article was republished with permission from the original publisher, Evan Weiner.