LAS VEGAS (AP) — The public entity overseeing a $1.9 billion plan for the Raiders’ future home in Las Vegas addressed a long list of preliminary issues Thursday that the NFL team and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas are still negotiating regarding the use of the planned stadium by the school football team.
The issues include rent, scheduling, UNLV signage and field markings. A draft of the agreement was not presented at the meeting of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority board.
“I think there is a pretty solid shared understanding of what that agreement will look like,” board chairman Steve Hill said after the meeting. “There are some technical issues that we just need to figure out, such as, you know, what’s the field configuration going to be? Is it going to be natural turf or AstroTurf for UNLV?”
Hill said the board expects UNLV to not pay rent under the agreement and instead reimburse the Raiders for the cost of operating the stadium when it uses the facility.
The Raiders plan to relocate to a yet-to-be-built 65,000-seat stadium near the Las Vegas Strip in 2020. The team intends to present to the board the stadium’s proposed design by its August meeting, with a goal of breaking ground before the end of the year.
The law that authorized a tax increase paid by guests at hotels and other lodging facilities in the Las Vegas area that would provide $750 million to the project dictates that the UNLV football team must have access to the stadium.
Nevada lawmakers and others criticized a draft of a document released earlier this year that called for the Raiders to sign off on any field markings and use of the stadium for any college football games.
The Raiders and the NFL are expected to contribute $500 million to the project. In addition, the team has said it has secured a $650 million loan from the Bank of America to cover the rest of the project’s cost. Details of the team’s financing structure, which NFL owners approved at their meetings last month, have not been made public.
Hill said the team’s financial situation will remain confidential, but the total cost of the project, as well as the general sources and uses of funds will be released.
