Following a motion passed by the city council, Las Vegas officials say they will try to convince the Oakland Raiders to build a new stadium on the Cashman site.
The location–which houses both the Cashman Center and the Las Vegas 51s’ Cashman Field–has been discussed in the process, but for some it is not a viable site. For one thing, its downtown location may prevent it from drawing tourists who are staying on the Strip and it is not convenient to UNLV. One of factors being considered in the project is that, as a partner, UNLV should receive a stadium closer to campus than its current Sam Boyd Stadium.
Despite that, the City of Las Vegas has a few things to promote about the Cashman site, one of which being that it already owns 30 acres of land across from the Cashman Center and that the location’s access to the freeway and downtown could make it ripe for development. More from the Las Vegas Sun:
The sticking point, as Mayor Carolyn Goodman pointed out, has been the developers’ hesitance to consider sites beyond the resort corridor.
“We keep saying, ‘Please come downtown. Just look at us,’” said Goodman, who sits on the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, which is vetting stadium plans.
The owner of the Oakland Raiders has pledged he will move the NFL team to Las Vegas if the city builds a 65,000-seat stadium. Twenty-four of the 31 other NFL team owners must approve the Raiders’ proposed relocation plan. The stadium also could be home to the UNLV football team.
City officials said Cashman sits conveniently near Interstate 15 and U.S. 95 and is close to nearly 25,000 public and private parking spaces downtown, making access easier than the other proposed stadium sites.
One of the concerns for the city has to be the prospect of the Cashman site falling by the wayside in upcoming years. Many in Minor League Baseball circles have voiced their displeasure with the condition of Cashman Field, and the 51s are in the midst of the search for a new ballpark. For right now, the team has its sights set on suburban Summerlin, taking it out of downtown Las Vegas. (That story was covered this week on our sister site, Ballpark Digest).
Attracting a larger, more sought after stadium would fill that void, but it is a matter of the Raiders and their partners being sold on the prospect of it working. There are plenty of other locations on the table, and with the committee that is studying the project having been granted a two-month extension by governor Brian Sandoval to deliver its findings, there will be ample time for discussion over the next few months.
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