Gov. Sisolak’s State-of-the-State Speech Will Be At — Where Else? — Allegiant Stadium On Wednesday
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
It’s an NFL stadium and Las Vegas’ favorite toy, the place where politicos enjoy using as both stage and backdrop for talks and publicity.
It’s the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium, enlisted by the Las Vegas chamber in January and even U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, who talked tourism at midfield of the stadium gridiron nearly a month ago.
And now, one of Allegiant Stadium’s biggest cheerleaders — none other than Gov. Steve Sisolak — plans to give his state-of-the-state speech at the stadium on Wednesday at 12 noon.
In order to build the stadium, Southern Nevada contributed $750 million in public dollars to the construction that was managed by the Las Vegas Raiders. And in order to come up with the $750 million, Southern Nevada is paying more than $1 billion in debt over a 30-year repayment time period.
The stadium has been busy besides serving as the home field for the NFL Raiders and UNLV football team. There have been concerts, a wrestling entertainment event and college football games like the Las Vegas Bowl and the Pac-12 conference championship game.
The stadium also hosts a wide variety of group and company events. Even Topps baseball cards held an event Nov. 17 in one of the swanky clubs inside the 62,000-seat domed stadium.
The fact that Sisolak is giving his annual speech inside the stadium comes as no surprise. As former Clark County Commission chairman, he was gung-ho for the subsidized stadium, even tossing little footballs to union workers to were the hardhats at the stadium construction site.
The stadium sits on the west side of Interstate 15 within walking distance of Mandalay Bay and the Strip on the east side of the interstate. What made the record public subsidy for an NFL stadium a political reality is that both a Republican governor, Brian Sandoval, and a Democratic one, Sisolak, were very supportive of the public money being spent to help build the venue.
