Oakland Raiders ownership came to Las Vegas Friday to meet with executives from the Las Vegas Sands Corporation about the prospect of developing a new stadium in Las Vegas.
Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis does not have a stadium lease for his team for next season, according to Yahoo News, so it makes sense to have Las Vegas as a prospect.
The stadium will be built on 42 acres of land owned by UNLV near Tropicana Avenue and Koval Lane.
On Friday, The Sands Corporation tweeted a photo of Chairman Sheldon Adelson meeting with Davis. The tweet read, “looking forward to future conversations.”
Nevada’s System of Higher Education Regent James Dean Levitt sat in on one of those meetings.
“It was as clear to me, as it could be, that the interest is sincere — it’s real — and it’s heartfelt,” Levitt said.
With more than two million people in the Metro area, Las Vegas is already an NFL sized city, making it larger than Green Bay and Kansas City. There are currently NFL teams in both of those cities.
Brookings Mountain West Director Robert Lang says with the valley’s two plus million residents and more than 40 million visitors a year, there shouldn’t be a problem filling the stands on Sundays.
“You play Chicago; you play New York — those fans are going to fly out to Las Vegas, Dr. Lang said. “They’re going to fill this stadium; they’re going to fill our hotels; it’s good for the Raiders, and it’s good for us.”
While the excitement is contagious, there are still hurdles that need to be cleared. Most notably, the NFL and a ¾ majority still have to approve Oakland’s move out of the bay area.
