Raiders install a "The Raiders are coming" sign at their 62-acre site at Polaris Avenue and Russell Road on the west side of I-15 across the highway from Mandalay Bay.

Raiders Stadium Site in Las Vegas Turning into Destination Three Years Before Venue Opens

By ALAN SNEL

It’s 62 acres of dirt and dust in an industrial setting along Polaris Avenue off Interstate I-15 but the Raiders stadium site in Las Vegas is already drawing fans who are posing for photos outside the metal fence bordering the site’s perimeter.

A family of four — mom, dad, and two young kids dressed in blue Golden State Warriors T-shirts — was posing for photographs at the site Friday afternoon around 3 p.m. The stadium won’t be open until June 2020 — a full three years away.

Mom was from the Bay area — this the Oakland Raiders connection.

“Can I get a photo of you in front of the site,?” dad asked a LVSportsBiz.com writer.

I politely declined.

There are two Terrible Herbst Chevron convenience stores at the corner of the site’s southwest corner and a worker at one of the stores said she has no idea whether the owner will sell the store site for parking.

Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak, a big Raiders fan who announced one of the Raiders’ draft picks on live TV, said neighboring property owners have hiked the asking prices for their land by three to five times over the going market rate.

The Raiders also recognize the popularity of the site.

It installed a new sign this week saying, “The Raiders are coming.”

A BBQ joint placed a sign on a metal fence in front of a Raiders sign at the proposed stadium site.

And this being Las Vegas, naturally a local business tried to ambush that Raiders sign by installing its own sign on the metal fencing in front of the Raiders sign.

It was a BBQ joint trying to cash in on the Raiders. It’s just a tiny taste of what we’ll see in Las Vegas as all types of businesses are prepping for the arrival of the Black and Silver.

Contact Alan Snel at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com

Alan Snel

Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.