Officials at UNLV are making strides to ramp up the university’s involvement in a proposed Las Vegas stadium for the relocating Oakland Raiders.
It has been understood all along that UNLV could factor into the project in some way, likely by moving its football program to the stadium. The Raiders–along with partners Las Vegas Sands Corp and Majestic Realty–are believed to prefer a location along the Strip. For UNLV, the primary concern has been ensuring that the stadium is closer to campus than Sam Boyd Stadium (shown above), and the university has also discussed using one of its properties in the development.
What the Campus Improvement Authority Board (CIAB) expressed on Wednesday was a desire to work more closely with the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, the group that has been tasked with studying the project. Currently the tourism infrastructure committee is considering five primary sites for the project, one of which is owned by UNLV. However, the university says that regardless of the site, it wants to remain involved in the stadium. More from Fox 5 Vegas:
“We are very excited about this whole process,” said UNLV President Len Jessup. “It would be great for you and Las Vegas to be able to play in a state-of-the-art stadium. It would mean a lot for our team.”
As it stands, developers have narrowed their search to four locations: Balli Hai Golf Club, a location on Russell Road, property owned by the Fertittas located on West Tropicana Avenue, and a property owned by UNLV.
UNLV officials said that even if they don’t make it to the top two, they would like to make arrangements to utilize the professional stadium.
The list of sites is to be narrowed to two by the tourism infrastructure committee’s meeting on August 25.
Image used under Creative Commons license via flickr.com.
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