Raiders Could Have Built Pedestrian Bridge To Help Fans Reach Stadium, But Will Now Build $158 Million Plaza On Venue’s North Side With $75M In Public Dollars
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The Raiders say they need to build a $158 million plaza entranceway to their Allegiant Stadium because of the volume of fans arriving over the Hacienda Avenue bridge from the Strip, but the Raiders could have helped the issue a few years ago if they built a recommended pedestrian bridge from the east side of Interstate 15 to the stadium on the west side.
An engineering report recommended a pedestrian bridge spanning I-15 before Allegiant Stadium opened in 2020 and there was even Clark County discussion about the bridge for fans to use.
But the Raiders believed closing the Hacienda Bridge, which also spans I-15, was workable for fans to reach their stadium and ended up not spending the estimated $40 million — $60 million on an ancillary pedestrian bridge.
LVSportsBiz.com reported about the planned pedestrian bridge in its 2017 stadium stories and other local media even put the pedestrian bridge in headlines. Here’s an excerpt from a 2017 LVSportsBiz.com story:
The Sun also reported about the pedestrian bridge:
Former Clark County Commission Chairman and Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, who chaired the county’s governing board in 2017 when stadium construction started, recalled Wednesday that “there was some discussion (about the pedestrian bridge) but it never moved forward.”
“It was left on the cutting room floor,” Sisolak told LVSportsBiz.com.
Sisolak also remembered that the Raiders discussed the idea of trying to buy Bali Hai Golf Club on Las Vegas Boulevard on the south side of Russell Road and then using that site to have fans use a pedestrian tunnel under Russell to reach the stadium on the north side of Russell.
Instead, the Raiders strategically waited until a public stadium fund that collected extra hotel room tax money hit a threshold and then easily got the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board to recently approve $75 million from that fund to help them pay for a new plaza on the stadium’s north side just off Hacienda Avenue. The $158 million plaza is expected to be done in time for the 2029 Super Bowl. The plaza and welcome area will include space for ride share vehicles and offer an “entrance” to the stadium. The plaza can be used for event tents and sponsor activations at the stadium.
The Raiders could have built a plaza as part of their domed stadium that opened six years ago. The team says it’s using public funds designed for stadium improvements under the 2016 state stadium funding law. But what the Raiders did not tell the public is that that same fund can also be used to pay down the public’s $1 billion bond debt on the $750 million the public contributed to help build the Raiders stadium that has been a major factor in the team being valued at more than $10 billion.
With the approved $75 million for the new stadium plaza, the Raiders are now drawing the benefit of $825 million in public dollars to help build their stadium.
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