COVID-19 and Sports: Las Vegas Stadium Authority Has $65 Million In Reserve To Handle Expected Hotel Room Tax Revenue Shortfalls For March, April
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
It’s no secret that hotel room tax revenues will be a brutally low number for March and especially April in Las Vegas during these pandemic times when the Strip’s vaunted hotel-casinos are shuttered.
Tracking what is sure to be the pitifully-low room tax revenue numbers will be Jeremy Aguero, the Las Vegas-based lawyer and economist who works as the consultant for the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, the public agency overseeing the Raiders’ $1.97 billion stadium project. Scheduled to be completed July 31, the 65,000-seat domed venue sits on 62.5 acres on the west side of I-15 across from Mandalay Bay hotel-casino.
Typically, the hotel tax money being collected to pay for the public’s $750 million contribution to the Raiders stadium’s construction runs in the monthly $3 million-$5 million range. The hotel room tax money pays a monthly debt of roughly $2.83 million on the bonds sold to finance the public’s share. In this chart, you can see monthly room tax revenues for March and April of 2018 and 2019.
The stadium authority will have enough money to pay the monthly debt service payments because there is approximately $65 million in reserve, Aguero said.
But a year ago, nobody could predict a worldwide coronavirus would force the stadium authority to dip into the contingency fund with another 25 years left on the debt service repayment period.
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