The Las Vegas Stadium Authority agreed Wednesday to give the Raiders $75 million in public funds to help pay for a $158 million upgrade to the north entry of Allegiant Stadium.
The approval, which came in a unanimous vote, will grant the money out of a fund set up by Senate Bill 1, the 2016 law that provided $750 million in public funds toward construction of the $2 billion Allegiant Stadium. No member of the public spoke against using the money before the meeting began.
The Raiders are responsible for paying the remaining $83 million on the project.
The stadium addition is planned to run along Hacienda Avenue between Dean Martin Drive and Polaris Avenue and include a public plaza, an event space and an area for ride-hailing operations. It would be built over parking lots B and C at the stadium.
Las Vegas Stadium Authority Chairman Steve Hill said that, with the NFL set to have five new stadiums come online, keeping Allegiant Stadium state-of-the-art is important going forward.
The project includes a staircase connecting the stadium and Hacienda, allowing more direct pedestrian access to the stadium’s north entrance than the current route from Hacienda to Allegiant Stadium Way. It will aid fans who use ride-hailing operations, which are currently located on a privately owned lot north of Hacienda, as well as the 20,000 fans who usually arrive from the Strip via the Hacienda bridge over Interstate 15.
The project will eventually feature a Boring Co. Vegas Loop station. A future potential addition would include a partly outdoor event space on the corner of Hacienda and Polaris Avenue designed to resemble Allegiant Stadium.
The public funds for the project come from the 0.88 percent room tax SB 1 added on Las Vegas hotel rooms to repay bonds taken out by Clark County for the public’s contribution on the project.
Excess revenue generated by the room tax is placed in a waterfall residual account after stadium debt obligations are met, stadium authority operating expenses are paid and UNLV is paid for not hitting revenue marks at Allegiant Stadium during home football games.
The waterfall fund can only be used to make improvements to Allegiant Stadium, pay for infrastructure improvements around the stadium and to pay off stadium debt early.
The waterfall fund is separate from a debt reserve account set aside in case the room tax revenue is not enough to make the twice-annual bond payments. The reserve account is considered full at $90.2 million, or enough to cover two full years of bond payments if no room tax revenue was being generated. The reserve fund is more than fully funded and sits at $101 million, according to the stadium authority. The reserve fund had to be tapped twice during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
