By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
It looks like Clark County won’t have to tap contingency funds to pay off the debt for building Allegiant Stadium.
Monthly room tax revenues for October 2021 hit nearly $5 million, helping Southern Nevada get back on track toward raising the money for the $750 million public contribution to construct the Raiders’ 62,000-seat domed stadium.
The hotel room tax revenues for the stadium were way down in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic — so much so that the county tapped contingency funds to the tune of $11.7 million to make a $16.1 million stadium payment June 1, 2021.
But numbers in documents displayed at a Wednesday stadium board meeting show the hotel room tax money being collected to pay off the public debt on building the NFL stadium are comparable to pre-pandemic 2019 numbers. The $2 billion stadium project included a $1.4 billion construction budget to build the venue.
And the overall budget from March 2017 to October 2021 of $195.5 million is just $5.4 million more than the actual hotel room dollars collected during that period. While below budget, the hotel room money took a major hit because of fewer tourists during the pandemic.
Attendance also topped more than a half-million people during the first three quarters of 2021. Keep in mind that there were not many people allowed for events before July 2021.