Raiders Stadium Parking Proposal Means Shuttles Will Be Busy Serving Four Satellite Sites

By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com

 

The Raiders have identified four sites as satellite parking locations for their $1.8 billion stadium project, and all of them — including The Orleans lot — will use shuttles to ferry fans to the venue.

 

The Raiders are required by Clark County to provide slightly more than 16,000 parking spaces to serve the 65,000-seat stadium on 62.6 acres, but the NFL team identified only about 2,300 spaces on the stadium site that’s on the west side of Interstate 15, bounded by Russell Road and Polaris and Hacienda avenues.

 

The Raiders stadium parking plan is dated Aug. 16 and is item 49 on the county commission meeting for Sept. 5. The Raiders hired Kimley-Horn and Associates in Las Vegas to prepare the stadium parking report.

 

Here’s a summary of the four satellite parking sites, with The Orleans providing the biggest chunk of parking.

LVSportsBiz.com reported Aug. 15 that the Bali Hai golf course, which is within walking distance of the stadium, would not be part of the Raiders stadium parking plan.

 

Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak called the Raiders parking plan “a good start” and noted that Raiders President Marc Badain and his staff did their due diligence in trying to find parking locations around the stadium.

 

Sisolak, the Democratic nominee for governor, said the Raiders looked closely at the Bali Hai golf course site off Las Vegas Boulevard just south of the Russell Road corner. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management conveyed that land to Clark County, which leased it to gambler Billy Walters for the golf course. But the feds have sued the county, alleging the county is not receiving fair market value for the land from Walters. The feds conveyed the land to the county with the understanding the county would lease the site for fair market value.

 

Sisolak said representatives for Walters and Clark County have not been able to settle anything, so the Bali Hai golf site is off the table for now.

 

The Raiders also looked at the UNLV campus two miles to the east for parking.

 

But Sisolak noted in the past that he did not like that idea of using the UNLV campus for stadium parking because of traffic on Sundays from McCarran International Airport, which is a neighbor of UNLV off Tropicana Avenue.

 

Let’s take a look at each satellite parking location.

 

The Orleans. The shuttle will take both fans and stadium workers on a ride of six to eight minutes. The stadium parking will be on the northern half of The Orleans’ property. 3,700 to 4,625 spaces.

 

Arville Street and Tropicana Avenue property at the former Southwest Gas facility site, northeast corner. The location is 9.4 acres and a shuttle ride to the stadium is expected to be five to seven minutes and follow the same route at the Orleans shuttle.  1,025-1,175 spaces.

 

Las Vegas Boulevard and Arby Avenue, southwest corner. It’s about 20 acres and the shuttle will use Warm Springs Road and Dean Martin Drive, taking six to eight minutes. 2,000-2,500 spaces.

 

Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road, southwest corner. It’s nearly 29.1 acres and will have space for 2,900-3,625 cars. the shuttle will be 10-13 minutes following Las Vegas Boulevard, Warm Springs Road and Dean Martin Drive.

 

The study said the Raiders stadium on-site parking is “within the normal range of parking provided on site.” To prove its point, the Raiders included this chart in the report.

 

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

 

The Raiders say they will control 11,800 on-site and off-site parking spaces and believe those numbers will meet the demands for a game. And team has a chart for that point, too.

 

 

But there are unanswered questions that are related to the parking issues. For example, tailgating is part of the football pregame experience but there was no mention of tailgating space at the satellite parking lots.

 

Sisolak said the Raiders will have to work out tailgating possibilities with the land owners of each of the four proposed satellite locations.

 

And will these lots be effective for events other than football games when other sports events, concerts and UFC fight shows are staged?

 

The public gets to weigh in Sept. 5 when the county commission addresses the stadium parking topic.

 

*

 

Follow LVSportsBiz.com on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Contact LVSportsBiz.com founer/writer Alan Snel at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com