When A $750 Million Public Subsidy Is Not Enough: Raiders Seek $75 Million In Public Money For $158 Million North Allegiant Stadium Project
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — It must be nice to be a business that is valued at $11 billion but still has the cojones to show up at a public board meeting and ask for $75 million in public money toward building a $158 million improvement project at its existing publicly-subsidized building.
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Stadium Subsidies and the Las Vegas Raiders.
Southern Nevada already contributed a then-record $750 million stadium subsidy to help the Las Vegas Raiders build their domed NFL venue, but now the Raiders are returning to the Las Vegas Stadium Board Thursday asking for another $75 million.
This is how Las Vegas rolls. Las Vegas ranks low nationally in education, health care, road safety, mass transit and other public services, but apparently there’s public money lying around for an NFL team to potentially have.
The Raiders want the $75 million to help build something called the “North Plaza Project” that would allow fans crossing the Hacienda Avenue bridge to use a new platform to reach the Allegiant Stadium parking lot on the north side of the stadium site. The Raiders want the $75 million for a project they say will cost $158 million.
What’s insulting to the Southern Nevada public is that the Raiders are seeking approval for $75 million in free government dollars, yet has disclosed almost no information to the public about the project’s details.
The Raiders have identified extra hotel room tax money collected as the source of their $75 million.
This excess hotel room tax money is called by a fancy name — “Waterfall Residual Fund.” Clark County collects hotel room tax money every month to help pay off the more than $1 billion in debt that was created when Southern Nevada gave $750 million toward the Raiders construction budget to build the 62,000-seat stadium.
That’s how Las Vegas works. Big league cities use public money for public projects. Bush league cities use public money for private projects.
It’s newsworthy to note that the excess hotel room tax money is a stadium board contingency in the event Las Vegas suffers down months of tourism and hotel business. Remember the 2020 COVID shutdown of the Strip? The stadium board had to dip into those reserves to pay a $19 million shortfall for the debt service that covered the public’s contribution of $750 million toward building the Raiders stadium.
Just so you know, that hotel room tax money is running lower in fiscal 2026 than it was in fiscal 2025. Note that only three of the past 12 months have showed more monthly hotel room tax money than the previous year.
Southern Nevada’s mammoth stadium construction subsidy, which was a record stadium subsidy when Nevada state lawmakers approved the Raiders stadium funding law in 2016, has built a money geyser of a stadium that has helped trigger the Raiders’ value to soar to a stunning $11 billion.
Raiders owner Mark Davis, the son of former Raiders owner Al Davis, is now a billionaire several times over thanks to Southern Nevada’s stadium subsidy.
Apparently, the public’s $750 million stadium subsidy is not enough.
Davis and his Raiders want another $75 million to help build the north stadium project and this is where they think the money can come from, according to stadium board meeting agenda materials: “The Waterfall Residual Fund is estimated to have an available balance of $75 million on June
30, 2027.”
LVSportsBiz.com contacted the Raiders and Las Vegas Stadium Board for comment about the Raiders’ $75 million public money request. If we hear back, we will add their comments. It should be noted that the Stadium Board is administered by Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) staff and LVCVA chief Steve Hill is also the stadium board chairman.
Hill is a very big booster of the Raiders stadium.
The Raiders’ public subsidy request comes at a time when Las Vegas public schools have earned a national reputation for being under-funded and the area suffers from a health care worker and doctor shortage, which has been documented by local TV news.
The school district also needs public dollars to improve dangerous school zones and road areas where a stunning 427 students were hit by drivers with four students killed during the last school year.
Las Vegas and Nevada also suffer mightily in national rankings, with local new headlines like, “Nevada one of the worst states to live in, study says.” Even the local Las Vegas newspaper had a story headline read, “Nevada is one of the worst places in the country to raise a family, study says.”
Yet, Las Vegas has $75 million lying around that the Raiders would like to have.
Here’s an idea: Nevada state lawmakers need to pass legislation that would require team owners to pay a percentage of their increased team value that is tied directly to the public subsidy that helped build the money-making stadium in the first place.
The stadium board meets Thursday at 3 PM at the Las Vegas Convention Center meeting room on the east side of the LVCC complex. The meeting is NOT livestreamed and there are public comment periods at the start and at the end of the meeting.
The stadium board is also set to meet Sept. 2 for a special meeting to potentially vote on the Raiders’ project request.
PSA
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