The University of Nevada – Las Vegas is calling on the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority and some of the city’s biggest casinos to help fund a new domed football stadium the university is trying to build inside its campus, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The project, which is being headed by the school’s dean of hotel administration college Dean Snyder, is being touted as a 60,000-seat venue that the schools is already labeling as a “mega-event center”.
According to Snyder, the university’s call for assistance to the LVCVA and the city’s casinos is being done in large part because the two would stand to become the “biggest economic beneficiaries” of the stadium. Citing an economy impact study done by University of Michigan sports economist Mark Rosentaub, the new stadium could generate as much as $400 million in economic spending from events that will be hosted by the stadium.
Snyder’s background as a former bank and casino executive certainly gives him a pretty good grasp on how to deal with the LVCVA and the casinos, although no amount has been requested from each donor. In the same economic study, Rosentaub estimated the cost to build the stadium at around $800 to $900 million, a staggering number that’s almost in the same ball park as Cowboys Stadium, the $1.2-billion modern-day Roman Coliseum in Arlington, Texas built by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
It’s hard to fathom having that many zero’s attached to the overall cost of the stadium, but Snyder is confident that the project will push through, alluding to the potential economic benefits it’s going to give to an area largely reliant on tourism to help in its gradual economic recovery. Seeking comment, the LVRJ managed to get a hold of the LVCVA, which then released a statement, underscoring the importance of the university to the local community before stopping short of making a commitment to help in the funding. “UNLV plays an important role in our community, and the LVCVA understands the potential of the proposed stadium project,” the statement said. “Tourism is the lifeblood of Southern Nevada’s economy, which is why the LVCVA’s priority is promoting Las Vegas to attract visitors.”
As for the $800 million to $900 million estimates made by Rosentaub, Snyder declined giving a concrete number on how much the whole project is going to cost, pointing out that certain key data need to be obtained in order to have a better understanding on how to proceed with the proposed stadium. For now, the university’s regents are expected to sit down and discuss the key details of the project, including the costs that will be incurred by the university and the stadium’s private developer, Majestic Realty.
The final project costs and the proposed monetary allocations will be submitted to the university regents on February 28, at which time the university will also begin to lobby to state lawmakers for a tax increment financing district that would cover the campus. As part of this plan, any taxes collected from this district will be used to fund the proposed stadium.
There’s a lot riding in this proposed stadium, something that all parties involved are ready and willing to admit. But for a campus that already boasts the Thomas and Mack Center, considered as one of the finest collegiate arenas in the US, having hosted some pretty important sporting and concert events, including the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, the 1992 super fight between Julio Cesar Chavez and Hector “Macho” Camacho, and yes, even a Pearl Jam concert back in 1998, it’s hard to bet against these guys from being able to successfully pull something like this off.
