‘Fire in the Hole’: Crews Blast Away at Raiders Stadium Site To Make Room for Venue’s Foundation
By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
While the Raiders’ To-Do List includes working out a parking deal at a neighboring golf course site, finalizing a development agreement with a local stadium board and wrapping up approvals to allow UNLV to use their football stadium, work crews were blasting away on the stadium’s 62-acre site this afternoon.
“Fire in the hole,” a worker said over a radio and a small cloud of dirt ascended above the vacant stadium site on the west side of Interstate 15
Check out LVSportsBiz.com’s video of the below-ground explosion at 3:30 p.m. Several sources told LVSportsBiz.com that Tommy White, union leader at Laborers Local 872, pushed the button for the blast.
Sanders Western States Drilling & Blasting blew up the dirt to make way for the foundation of the $1.8 billion stadium project that is scheduled to open in 2020.
The domed stadium will have 65,000 seats and host Raiders and UNLV football games, bowl games, UFC events and motocross and monster truck events currently be staged at Sam Boyd Stadium. The Raiders have also applied to the NFL to host a Super Bowl.
A worker was at the site to monitor ground and air vibrations from the blast.
Crews were also working on drainage construction on the site, and you can see the direction of where water would flow. A worker on site pointed out the water would flow north and east.
The stadium board will meet Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Clark County commission meeting room.
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