He’s Back: Former Raiders President Marc Badain Enlisted By Tim Leiweke’s Oak View Group To Work On Ambitious $3 Billion Entertainment/Arena Project South Of Strip In Las Vegas
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
He’s back in the public eye.
For five years in Las Vegas, Marc Badain was the Las Vegas Raiders’ public face on one of the most important buildings ever constructed in Las Vegas history — the NFL team’s Allegiant Stadium, the domed sports venue proving to be a major revenue-generating entertainment magnet for locals and tourists alike.
After former Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed the Raiders stadium bill into law in 2016, Badain attended literally hundreds of local meetings, sponsorship announcements, organization luncheons and stadium board meetings where local media would surround him to see what the former Raiders team president had to say on the stadium issue of the day.
And then on July 19, not even nine months ago, Badain was gone from the Raiders. The team emailed media that day to say Badain had resigned. It was a stunner and even Raiders employees were shocked. Badain had spent his 30-year career working for a single employer — the Raiders — and he was literally only weeks away from seeing fans inside the palatial domed venue for the first time after fans were not allowed in Allegiant Stadium in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Badain’s abrupt, rumor-free departure came out of nowhere. People who liked Badain for his down-to-earth personality and non-phony ways were clueless about why Badain left.
It took three months for Raiders owner Mark Davis to discuss publicly in late October why Badain and other business staffers left. Davis said it was “accounting irregularities.”
But on Wednesday, Badain resurfaced publicly in Las Vegas in a big way.
Hired as a consultant by prominent arena builder Tim Leiweke’s Oak View Group, Badain was back talking to the media about a sports venue — this time, a proposed 20,000-seat arena that is the centerpiece of a $3 billion proposed entertainment district at Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road south of the Strip. Leiweke plans to build the $1 billion arena and wants an NBA team to be a tenant. The project also includes a hotel, casino, amphitheater and retail.
Who better to hire as a consultant than the man who shepherded a $2 billion football stadium project from start to finish than Badain, who made countless contacts in a market known for its growth of venues, sports and entertainment?
And an Oak View Group media release included Badain, who was interviewed by LVSportsBiz.com and other Las Vegas media like Channel 3 yesterday. Badain sounded upbeat and spirited during his LVSportsBiz.com interview.
Oak View put Badain out there on the release with this quote: “In the time I have spent in Las Vegas, I have been overwhelmed by both the entrepreneurial spirit and the willingness of its residents and leaders to embrace the innovation and vision that guides its future. This project represents the next step in that exciting evolution. It is an honor to be a part of it and to help deliver on the vision provided by Oak View Group.”
Badain, who has stayed in Las Vegas after leaving the Raiders, said there is a need for live performance venues like this proposed arena in the Las Vegas market and noted, “Vegas is on a growth trajectory.”
The site’s location at Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road seems a bit far for Strip hotel guests to get there by walking. But Badain said the entertainment district will be a destination and put it this way about transportation to the proposed entertainment project, “People will figure out a way to get there.”
Badain has figured out a way to move on from the Raiders, so expect to see the former Raiders president out in public talking about this ambitious arena project that has an aim of drawing an NBA team as its occupant.
PSA
