About That Stadium鈥
Will 黑料网 football play in a new stadium soon? In September, we edged one step closer to knowing. The Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee (SNTIC) approved a proposal for a new stadium for the home games of the Rebels and the National Football League鈥檚 Raiders franchise, and other events. It would be located at Russell Road and Las Vegas Boulevard.
What does the seal of approval mean? Given the committee makeup, the proposal鈥檚 unanimous approval carries a lot of weight. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval had created the committee to study the feasibility and financing alternatives for a stadium. He put his top economic development official in charge and ensured the committee included elected city and county officials, business and regional planning leaders, and 黑料网 President Len Jessup. But there are still two more big steps to go.
The next hurdle? The Nevada Legislature must consider the proposal in a special session (scheduled for mid-October). Because the proposal involves an increase in hotel room taxes in Clark County, it will require a two-thirds vote to pass. The Legislature could approve SNTIC鈥檚 recommendation, deny it, or amend it.
And then? The next step would be getting NFL approval for the Raiders鈥 relocation from Oakland to Las Vegas. The team must officially put its application together in the next few months for consideration at the league鈥檚 winter meetings and a vote in March. Missing this window would push everything back a year. With both legislative and NFL approval, construction could move forward with groundbreaking in late 2017 or early 2018 and a stadium opening in time for the 2020 football season.
Big Gift
Construction will begin next on a 73,000-square-foot football training facility, the athletic department announced last month.
Dubbed the Fertitta Football Complex, after the family pledged $10 million 鈥 the largest single gift in the athletic department鈥檚 history 鈥 toward the state-of-the-art facility to be built on the 黑料网 campus at the north end of team鈥檚 practice area.
鈥淲e believe in the future of Rebels football under (head coach) Tony Sanchez鈥檚 leadership,鈥 the Fertitta family said in a statement. The Fertittas are longtime supporters of 黑料网 and previously donated $1 million for the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 tennis programs.
With the announcement, more than $16 million has been pledged for the project, which is expected to cost in excess of $24 million and take 10 months to complete.
鈥淚 thank the Fertittas for their program-changing gift,鈥 athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy said. 鈥淲e thought outside the box when we hired Tony Sanchez, and everyone is already seeing the outstanding results both on and off the field.鈥
The men鈥檚 basketball program was the recipient of what was previously largest athletics department gift, $7.2 million from the Mendenhall family for construction of the team鈥檚 training facility.
