Raiders Give Free Stadium Luxury Suite To Las Vegas Stadium Authority

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

One of my favorite stadium stories I wrote in Tampa was how the members of the Tampa public stadium agency that ran the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ stadium had better attendance going to Bucs games in the agency’s stadium suite than actually showing up for the agency’s official scheduled public meetings.

 

NFL teams offer a bounty of freebies to folks they perceive as their friends. So, the members of the public agency called the Tampa Sports Authority not only enjoyed attending free Bucs games at their Raymond James Stadium suite on the taxpayer dime but they also dined on free shrimp, roast beef and drinks.

 

That image of local big-wigs enjoying an NFL stadium luxury suite for free came to mind Thursday morning when the Las Vegas stadium authority board said it was receiving a free suite from the Raiders as part of its stadium lease agreement. Southern Nevada is giving $750 million to the Raiders for the $1.8 billion domed stadium on 62 acres along Russell Road and Polaris Avenue .

 

The Raiders are giving the Las Vegas stadium authority a free suite. It’s common for local stadium public agencies to get a free suite from the NFL team.

 

The fact is many public agencies overseeing NFL stadium receive a free suite from the team for local marketing purposes.

 

Steve Hill, the stadium authority board chairman, said the free suite from the Raiders would be used as a “community suite” and the Raiders would not pay for food and drinks in that suite.

 

Hill, now the chief operating officer of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) after serving as Gov. Brian Sandoval’s economic development chief, was aware of the potential negative image of local big-wigs gaining free access to a NFL stadium luxury suite.

 

So, Hill stressed the free Raiders stadium authority suite will be used as a community suite. For example, he said the suite could be used by local government officials to host companies that they’re trying to woo to the metro Las Vegas area for economic development purposes.

Annual costs for NFL stadium luxury suites run in the six figures. The Raiders will have 108-118 suites in the 65,000-seat stadium. Annual costs for NFL stadium stadium suites can typically run in six figures to seven figures.

 

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Using fancy suites for economic development purposes is a common line you hear all the time from people in government, tourism and economic development.

 

That is, it’s perfectly fine to use sports suites and tickets to meet business people who are considering investing in the local market. In fact, Hill’s own LVCVA spends a lot of money on items such as a suite at the PGA’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Summerlin. (And you will probably see an LVCVA suite at the Raiders stadium, too.)

 

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There’s not much drama left for the stadium authority board these days. There were about 50 people at a stadium board meeting at the Clark County government center meeting room and lawyers summarized several dozen agreements the public agency will make with the Raiders.

 

The stadium project (including construction, land, design, infrastructure) will cost $1.8 billion, with the “guaranteed maximum price” just a shade below $1.4 billion. Here’s yesterday’s LVSportsBiz.com story on the topic.

 

 

Here’s Raiders President Marc Badain talking for five minutes after the meeting with the media.

 

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