Raiders Tell Las Vegas Stadium Board They Want To Tap Public Fund For $75 Million To Help Build $158 Million Entrance Plaza At Allegiant Stadium
Story by Alan Snel Photos by Hugh Byrne
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The Las Vegas Raiders rolled out their big hitters like team president Sandra Douglass Morgan and consultant Jeremy Aguero before the Las Vegas Stadium Board Thursday to make their case that the NFL team valued at $11 billion deserves to get $75 million in public money to build a $158 million entrance plaza.
Morgan and Aguero praised the six-year-old stadium for bringing in visitors and money, though it was unclear why public dollars have to be used to improve a stadium experience that generates money for the privately-owned Raiders and the event promoters who rent the stadium that opened a mere six years ago. It’s also unclear why the Raiders simply did not build a plaza for their stadium when it opened the venue after the public contributed $750 million for the stadium construction.
Southern Nevada is raising more than $1 billion in hotel room tax revenues to pay off the debt on the $750 million stadium contribution. The Raiders built the domed, 62,000-seat NFL stadium that hosted 38 ticketed events in the last 12-month period listed in data on the Las Vegas Stadium Board meeting agenda.
Douglass Morgan told the stadium board the fund the Raiders want to tap for the $75 million toward the $158 million plaza was legally designed under the state stadium law to pay for stadium improvements.
That’s accurate.
But under that state bill, that fund can also be used for two other purposes.
LVCVA staff working with the stadium board said the fund can be also used for Clark County projects like the $5 million in overhead signs the county wants to install on local streets near the stadium.
And the fund can be used to pay down the public’s stadium debt. The public is paying more than $1 billion in debt on the $750 million contributed to the Raiders’ $1.4 billion stadium construction budget.
Douglass Morgan and Raiders staff left the meeting in the middle of the stadium board session. Douglass Morgan refused to comment to LVSportsBiz.com outside the meeting about the Raiders’ request because she said our previous story on the topic was not accurate.
LVSportsBiz.com wanted to ask the team president why a plaza — typically a part of a stadium or arena project — was not built in the original Raiders stadium project in 2020.
As for Las Vegas’ most well-known consultant, Aguero’s fingerprints are all over Allegiant Stadium.
He helped write the 2016 state stadium funding law that earmarked the $750 million in public money to help the Raiders build the stadium. Aguero’s legislation included the “waterfall” fund the Raiders want to use for the $75 million to pay for the new plaza entrance.
After state lawmakers approved the Raiders stadium funding bill, Aguero then became the support staff for the Las Vegas Stadium Board. Then he was hired by the Raiders as an analysis executive. He then left the Raiders and went on to work for the A’s on their stadium project in Las Vegas.
Aguero posted numbers on the meeting room screen showing the stadium’s financial impacts. It should be noted that Raiders owner Mark Davis’ team value has soared to $11 billion thanks to a stadium financed with $750 million in public money.
Aguero also told the stadium board the world’s biggest sports events come to Allegiant Stadium. The World Cup, the planet’s biggest sports event, did not come to Allegiant Stadium this summer. Super Bowl 63 is coming to Las Vegas in 2029.
After the meeting, Stadium Board chairman Steve Hill made the case for the Raiders getting $75 million to help build their new plaza. In many ways, Hill functions like a Raiders surrogate, arguing the stadium makes a lot of money for the Las Vegas market. It’s clear the Las Vegas Stadium Board will approve the $75 million for the Raiders to build their stadium plaza, which is scheduled to be built in late 2028 or early 2029. Keep in mind the Super Bowl is Feb. 2029. Stadium board members typically rubberstamp their votes for Raiders and A’s items.
The A’s stadium under construction on the Strip will have a plaza that is proposed to be built by the Athletics’ development partner at the former Tropicana hotel site at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. Interestingly enough, the current A’s president, Marc Badain, was the president of the Raiders when the NFL team built their stadium on the west side of Interstate 15.
LVSportsBiz.com asked Badain why a plaza was not built when the Raiders constructed their stadium and Badain did not why except to say there was talk of a pedestrian bridge parallel to Hacienda Avenue to allow fans on the east side of I-15 to reach the west side and the Raiders stadium. But that pedestrian bridge was never built.
The A’s stadium is moving along, with the second of five steel truss arches installed this week. The A’s showed photos of that.
The A’s $2 billion stadium is set to open for the 2028 MLB season.
PSA
LVSportsBiz.com is turning 10 in 2027
