Written By Richard N. Vellotta at Las Vegas Review-Journal
Partners in a planned 65,000-seat, $1.3 billion domed stadium in Las Vegas let their consultants do the talking in a presentation that had the potential of being contentious, but wasn’t.
Consultants working with Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Majestic Realty told the 11-member Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee on Thursday about the benefits a domed stadium could bring to Southern Nevada. The presentation had a heavy emphasis on the potential of attracting a National Football League team.
Craig Cavileer, executive vice president of Majestic Realty, and other speakers spent more than three hours discussing and taking questions on the details of the plan and the economic impact of stadium projects in other cities.
Cavileer’s team estimates the venue would attract 26 new special events — football games, concerts or shows — resulting in $785.6 million in direct and indirect spending and an estimated $49.4 million in new tax revenue. The current stadium proposal seeks $780 million in public financing while private investors would put up $420 million, though Las Vegas Sands has said those numbers are not final and are likely to change.
Committee members invited stadium proponents as well as backers of a Las Vegas Convention Center expansion and renovation plan to return for more talks on April 28.
NO DEBATE
The meeting had all the makings of a heated debate. Sands and MGM Resorts International on Wednesday had released results of opinion polls aimed at measuring public support for the competing projects, both of which would involve a healthy amount of public dollars. The Sands poll maintained that most potential voters in the November election favor a stadium that could attract an NFL team while MGM, which declined to share its survey questions Wednesday, said its poll indicated that respondents would rather use room tax revenue to upgrade the Las Vegas Convention Center.
To continue reading this article, click here.
