Las Vegas – What Zennie62Media first reported back in June of last year is now all over, as the Associated Press has “Delay In New NFL Stadium Roof In Las Vegas Causes Concern”. The latest Las Vegas Stadium Authority report released ahead of the January 16th meeting has confirmed what the “Whistleblower Las Vegas Stadium Workers” told Zennie62Media‘s Zennie Abraham, er, me, on December 2, 2019 here at Oakland News Now. The short version of the news is that the raise of the cable net roof, and the completion of the roof as a whole, is not expected to be done until “Mid May 2020.”

UPDATE: Mortenson-McCarthy Says Las Vegas Stadium Cable Net System For Roof In Place – Next Is Harder

But, given that news came from a November Stadium Project Status Report that was just uploaded to the Las Vegas Stadium Authority website on Monday of this week, and the December Stadium Progress Report was not included in the January 16, 2020 Meeting Agenda, and the next Stadium Authority Meeting is not until March 19th of 2020, the unseen reports for December, January and February and March of 2020 could reveal that the delay is longer than May of 2020.

In other words, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority is giving the appearance of trying to delay the release of controversial information on Allegiant Stadium’s construction.

Las Vegas Stadium Whistleblower Workers Texts To Zennie Abraham Reveal What Has To Be Done To Repair The Cable-Net Lifting Process And Finish The Roof

This new entry by the Las Vegas Stadium Whistleblower Workers text to me encapsulates the problem and explains what has to be done to repair the roof issue which will be discussed in more detail in this post.  Later in this post, the Las Vegas Stadium Whistleblower Workers counter Raiders Chief Operating Officer Don Webb’s claims that it was “overstressing” that caused the cable-net problem.  But for now…:

For your clarification:

In order for Freyssinet (the cable-net subcontractor) to start attaching and begin the lifting process these things needed to be 100% per the original sequence of work for Derr and the decking company in order for Freyssinet to start:

1) complete erection of main structural members and tie in members

2) All bolts needed to be installed and inspected

3) Decking is: metal sheets that cover the main roof structure. This needed to be 100%
( I explained what deck was for you)

4) All the above things I just listed, have allowances for leave out iron, deck sheets and in spots random bolts. That being said, all main members should be complete. This includes everything attached to the interior CR.

When we started to install temp works on top of the deck and CR these things weren’t complete:

1) Derr was still making the critical cantilevered picks.

2) Deck was not even close to being completed. They rushed the deckers to catch-up this caused bolts to be covered and caused a lot of extra work for both companies, more importantly the men.

3) The nodes still needed to be shimmed bolted and torqued, when freyssinet started to pull cables.

All the above was a rush to make up earlier delays. Freyssinet started as needed by MMC (that’s Mortenson – McCarthy, the stadium’s main construction builder contractor). This was not the sequence nor was the ring complete ( nodes, shims, bolts) still needed to be installed and inspected.

Sent from my iPhone

The November Project Status Report’s Timing Brings More Questions

This is the relevant text that appeared in the “Las Vegas Stadium Project Status Report of November 2019”, but was just posted for the Las Vegas Stadium Authority January 16th, 2020 meeting just this Monday, January 14th, 2020. If, at this point, you’re asking, “The report that was written in November, and had the news of the roof delay to “Mid May 2020″, is just being reported on?”, the answer is yes. Here’s the text:

Grand Canyon Development Partners (“GCDP”) provided a series of updatesduring the period based on:(1) attendance at regularly scheduled construction meetings; (2) recurring monthly meetingswith the StadCoRepresentative; (3) routine site visits and (4) areview of project materials and reports submitted by StadCo and the Construction Monitor. GCDP identified no changes to project submission matters requiring the Authority’s approvaland generallyconcludedthat the stadium project will be completed on time and on budget, will include all project elements and will meet the project standards set forth in the Stadium Development Agreement and Senate Bill 1 (2016 Special Session).In its prior report, GCDP noted that the ‘big-lift’ wassuspended pending resolution of challenges created as a result of over stressing the stadium’s structural members. In its current report, GCDP noted that the project team has revised its ‘big-lift’ procedures to address these issues and that these changes have caused adelay in excess of 60 days,pushingthe roof completion to mid-May 2020. StadCo has further advised GCDP that the delay is due to the failure of bolts during the cable-net lift, but that the bolts have been tested and meet the design criteria as specified by the project’s structural engineers.That said, the compression ring will need to be repaired and have its integrity certified before cable-net lifting can resume. A new procedure is now being developed by the engineers and construction team, and the project schedule will be updated accordingly.

Now, here’s what was reported on December 2, 2020 in Oakland News Now in “Whistleblower Las Vegas Stadium Workers Tell Zennie62Media About Bad Bolts And Bad Welds Problem”:

Inside sources, workers on the Allegient Stadium project, contacted me, Zennie Abraham of Zennie62Media, to explain the real story of and confirming rumors about “bad bolts” being used in the construction of the Las Vegas Stadium roof structure.

The truth is far more alarming than the rumors. The basic concern is that the Las Vegas Stadium roof structure bolts may be of substandard manufacture. Not changing the bolts could cause part of the roof to collapse, injuring thousands of people if it happens during an event and if either sound vibration or temperature-induced steel frame contractions occur – and both are normal occurrences in the life of an NFL stadium. (Also read Zennie62Media’s coverage of The Insight Terminal Solutions Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal Project Issue.)

UPDATE: Calling Las Vegas Stadium Workers Whistleblower Complaints “Conspiracy Theories” Is Fake News

UPDATE: Las Vegas Stadium Whistleblower Workers Send Bad Bolt, Compression Ring Photos

And what is the Las Vegas Stadium roof structure comprised of? According to Arup, a roof subcontractor on the Las Vegas Stadium Project “The main components of the stadium comprise the seating bowl and roof structure. The seating bowl contains two concrete levels, a steel framed bowl structure and reinforced concrete cores as the lateral system. The roof structure comprises a diagonally braced steel perimeter vessel structure, cantilever steel trusses, a steel compression ring and a central two way cable truss.” The problem rests with the steel compression ring, according to my sources.

The Las Vegas Stadium roof structure and its steel compression ring is best described as modeled after that used to build the roof of the 52,500-seat Stadio della Roma stadium that is home to the A.S. Roma football team. Thornton Tomasetti, which provided detailed design of the facility, explained here that “The Stadio della Roma’s roof is based on the principle of a bicycle wheel. A compression ring on the outer edge is connected by radial cable trusses to two sets (upper and lower) of tension rings that surround the inner opening. The “bicycle wheel” solution is much lighter and more elegant than a traditional steel-truss system.”

Oakland Raiders Chief Operating Officer Don Webb told the Las Vegas Review Journal that he…

“expects the cables to be attached along the top rim of the roof — a process called “pinning” — by the middle of November. The final pinning of cables along the top of the roof may be the most challenging work to date because the cables, manufactured in Switzerland, must be stretched to reach across the stadium’s top opening and were manufactured to within seven-eighths of an inch of specifications.
Workers with the Mortenson-McCarthy Joint Venture have been preparing for this month’s cable lift since August, placing the network of custom-built stainless steel cables 2½ to 3 inches in diameter with some as long as 800 feet on the floor of the stadium and attaching them with guide wires to a series of nodes ringing the top level of the stadium. The cables are to be raised more than 200 feet above the football field. One cable can weigh up to 24 tons, depending on its length. The crosshatch pattern of cables will form a durable support system for a roof made of fluorine-based plastic known as ETFE — short for ethylene tetrafluoroethylene.

According to my sources, the problem rests in the area of the “nodes ringing the top level of the stadium” – the nodes are attached to the compression ring. It was explained to me that “The node is a multiple point where the roof cables attach to it. Each point has multiple cables on that node. It’s a half a circle elongated, a long U – 12 inches long. At the circle end of the U, go in and there’s a circle inside the U.”

The on site Las Vegas Stadium workers have said that they believe it’s that “U” – that’s where the bad bolts are used and fractures are happening due to bad welds. My source believe that is where the bad welds were happening. There’s not 100 percent confirmation by my sources on the weld issue, but they do say that there are “bad bolts and bad welds, and that’s a bad combination.” (Update from the sources: the compression ring bolts failed – not the node attached to it.) Others said that the bad bolts are a problem, but not sure that the fractured welds at the cable connection are a widespread problem. But if they are, that’s a real bad problem. All critical welds are supposed to be inspected at the shop prior to delivery.”

Reportedly from my insider sources, an employee of the company that was hired as a subcontractor to the builder Mortenson McCarthy, and called Freyssinet, refused to test the bolts that were installed and make up the “compression ring” connections that makes up the outer rim of the stadium at its highest point. “So, there is employed as ironworkers a group that works for Derr & Isbell, the main on site erector of the structural steel. Because Derr & Isbell, at a certain point when they started the cables, started downsizing the workforce,” according to one of my worker sources.

Another source said this: “Some of those workers jumped to Freyssinet and that’s when they brought to our attention that bolts had been breaking. And bolts had been breaking at other spots on the stadium project.” Freyssinet was not required to re-test the bolts, so my sources don’t want to blame them, but they assert that due to the fear of pissing off Mortenson McCarthy and delaying the job, Freyssinet representatives reportedly said “We’re not going to worry about it.” That said, another source said that Mortenson McCarthy did know: “Believe me, it got to them.”

And in this update, this email was sent approximately one hour ago, at 6:29 PM CST, on this December 3rd, 2019, day: (The name was withheld upon request to this blogger.)

Contrary To Las Vegas Review Journal Calling The Oakland News Now Las Vegas Stadium Whistleblower Reports “Conspiracy Theories”, The December 2, 2019 Oakland News Now Report Was Confirmed By The Late-Posted November 2019 Stadium Report Mysteriously Just Produced For The January 16th, 2020 Stadium Authority Meeting

The reason for the roof cable-net delay problem rests in the desire of Las Vegas Stadium developers to, for reasons not explained to the public, rush the stadium construction process. This is the rest of the information from the December 2nd Whistleblower Report at Oakland News Now:

And, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, which owns Las Vegas Stadium, identified the firm as “Freyssinet the cable-net roof system contractor”

My sources explained that the bolts that are used to tie the compression ring are substandard and the reason is that Freyssinet (where Freyssinet Canada was the subcontractor responsible for the Las Vegas Stadium roof construction) is responding to pressure by the main contractor Mortenson McCarthy to build Las Vegas Stadium fast, and under a tight time frame. Indeed, an online document by another Las Vegas Stadium subcontractor, Arup, reflects and confirms that claim. In its update, the Arup firm explains…

“A hallmark project for the state of Nevada and the Raiders, Allegiant Stadium will feature 65,000 seats, a movable field, a retractable north façade wall and a translucent cable-truss supported roof. Sharing the project team’s common objective of expediting the construction timeline, Arup conceptualized and implemented flexible design features, such as the adjustable structural connection at the cable-truss to compression ring interface, to align with the construction schedule. The Design-Build team embraced a collaborative review approach with the Clark County Department of Building and Fire Prevention to achieve the project’s phased permit goals in alignment with fast-track construction goals. One of the major innovative elements that Arup incorporated into the project is the intricately designed cable truss roof. A departure from the classical structural engineering solution, the lightweight cable-truss connection to the structural steel provides a significantly increased construction tolerance during the big-lift of the cables requiring high-geometric precision.”

Workers are passing around a message that goes something like this: “I have a feeling all the boomers will be getting laid off. They reported to the Stadium Authority Board that everything in the critical path is on schedule and proceeding as planned. That was in the RJ (Review Journal) Wednesday. Then, yesterday morning, on the Channel 3 News, they ran a story saying the roof was going to be completed in April. If that’s the case, we could be looking at a delay of possibly to the end of January that would put us 12 weeks to the end of April.” Reportedly, Mortenson McCarthy has “gone silent” on talk of proceeding with the work. The firm is said to possible be “going through all compression ring connections and replacing and retorqueing at this point. That is the only way they can be sure that all bolts are torqued correctly.”

The ironworkers don’t know if it was the manufacturer at this point, but bolts were snapping around the stadium prior to the ring bolt problem of now, over the summer. One of my sources said “Guys from Derr & Isbell were bringing it up, and were upset about it.” “Let’s not have another New Orleans Hotel collapse,” said another one of my sources.

Taking Las Vegas Stadium Construction Processes Out Of Sequence To Meet A Deadline Caused Problems

And regarding the plan of taking stadium construction process activities out of sequence in an effort to meet the opening date deadline, another source said this to me: “Everything was supposed to be done 100 percent before cables were pulled. Everything was to be done and signed off on – the main structure, steel, nodes – all 100 percent done before they started putting weight on the cables. (Instead) They were still inspecting nodes and pulling on cables – if one wasn’t ready, they’d go on to the next node.” (And this update from the sources: what should have been done before the cable net lifting and attaching process was 1, complete erection of main structural members and tie-in members, 2, all bolts needed to be installed and inspected, 3, all main structural members should be complete and that includes everything attached to the compression ring.)

In other words, the idea of taking Las Vegas stadium construction process activities out of sequence in an effort to meet the opening date deadline might have sounded like a good idea to the lay person and the Oakland Raiders fan, but it’s a bad idea if one’s trying to build a stadium correctly. In this case, you run the risk of putting weight on stadium roof cables that may not be fully ready to handle it.

If you go back to past videos of the inside of the Oakland Raiders Las Vegas stadium and the cable roof on the floor, you may remember times when it looked like the cable net was being raised in an uneven fashion. Well, I learned from my sources that practice was a no-no, but it was done anyway, and all in an effort to hurry up and finish the Allegiant Stadium project.

Don Webb Responds To This Blog Post Via The Review Journal, But Unknowingly Confirms Whistleblower Workers Claims

In this update, Oakland Raiders Chief Operating Officer Don Webb responded to this blog post via the Las Vegas Review Journal. However, whistleblower workers claim Webb confirmed their concerns that “They were still inspecting nodes and pulling on cables – if one wasn’t ready, they’d go on to the next node” and thus causing more stress on the cables!

This is what Webb and the Review Journal (the “stadium good news” issuer on behalf of the Oakland Raiders) reportedly said:

Grand Canyon Development Partners, a project monitor hired by the authority to oversee work by the contractor on its behalf, briefed the board on the interruption of the cable lift and the rescheduling of work as a result of “overstressing of the structural members.” Grand Canyon concluded that the delay and resequencing of work “should not negatively affect the overall completion schedule.”

Well, as it happens the “overstressing of the structural members” occurred because, as the workers reported “They were still inspecting nodes and pulling on cables – if one wasn’t ready, they’d go on to the next node” and thus causing more stress on the cables.

Don Webb and the Las Vegas Review Journal just admitted there was a problem. The night-time cable-pulling came out of an overall desire to meet a hugely aggressive stadium completion deadline. That has caused the stadium construction managers to take a number of risks that workers and this blogger have questioned.

Thanks To The Whistleblower Workers On Las Vegas Stadium

In closing, I wish to thank those who work on the stadium project for taking the risk to contact me at Zennie62Media, and very much to the surprise of this video-blogger. Please understand that these workers want the stadium to be built well, and fear that something bad could happen if corners continue to be cut. This should not be considered a post against the project – quite the contrary. Las Vegas needs this large scale events center. If anyone else working on the project has additional information, please email me at [email protected]

Additionally, I credit Citizen Journalist Tina Quizon for first bringing this to the collective attention of the public. A large number of people doubted her, and for the wrong set of reasons, but at the end of the day, she was totally correct. Addressing these issue the workers talked to me about saves lives and assures that Allegiant Stadium will be properly built and without mishaps after opening day – whenever that is. The Oakland Raiders and Clark County, Nevada should be concerned with opening Las Vegas Stadium only when it’s truly ready, and not for a July 31, 2020 date that’s the workers feel is unrealistic given the problems that exist to be solved.

The January 16th 2020 Las Vegas Stadium Authority Meeting Agenda Includes Only The ” Project Status Report” for November 2019, But Not For December 2019. Why?

This is the agenda list for the The January 16th 2020 Las Vegas Stadium Authority Meeting:

Stadium Authority Board Meeting Agenda – January 16, 2020

Meeting Minutes:

Background Materials:

5. Stadium Authority Board Meeting Minutes – November 18, 2019
6. Project Status Report – November 2019
6. Stadium Authority Revenue Report – January 2020
6. Stadium Authority Financial Report – January 2020
7. Community Benefits Plan Report – October 2019
7. Community Benefits Plan Report – November 2019
8. StadCo Monthly Report – October 2019
8. StadCo Monthly Report – November 2019
10. Stadium Authority Corrective Action – FY19 Budget

The next Las Vegas Stadium Authority Meeting is March 19th, 2020. That means we’re not going to see the December Project Status Report until three months from now. That’s three months of time where the public will be in the dark regarding the real status of the roof problem. The Las Vegas Stadium Authority playing games with report timing should send shivers down the spines of anyone who is concerned this stadium’s not being built correctly or safely. Take how the Raiders Don Webb tried to deflect the news about the bolt problem and the “stressing” when he told the Raiders reputation management mouth piece The Review Journal this:

Eight of the thousands of metal bolts used to attach the cable net supporting Allegiant Stadium’s translucent roof failed because they were tightened too much, not because they were faulty, the Raiders’ executive overseeing the project said Tuesday.

In an interview following his appearance Tuesday before the Nevada Republicans Club, Don Webb, chief operating officer of the Raiders’ stadium construction subsidiary, addressed news reports about the bolts’ failure, likening the matter to “overtightening and breaking a screw.”

The Whistleblowers responded this way, blasting Don Webb’s claims with technical details, referring to two photos sent to Zennie62Media and posted below:

Top pic: lower ring, over tightening is not going to cause this. “ no way” further more where the break of the bolt occurred,
Screams a much bigger problem. That being said I was told “nuts popped of the the threads” never seen that…the nut completely stripping…

Bottom pic: upper ring, a shim in that kind of compression is not going too displace…! unless some incredible force reverberated through the structural members. When this happens it could cause the fractures the men were talking about.

 

Top pic:

Bottom pic:

(Workers wrote in email) You need to 100% these photos ….

Conclusion: The Las Vegas Allegiant Stadium Roof Problem Is Greater Than Oakland Raiders and the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Are Telling The Public

Overall, the general public has been grossly misled on the status of the cable-net roof problem, and by extension, the construction progress of the Las Vegas Stadium now called Allegiant Stadium. Both the Oakland Raiders and the Las Vegas Stadium Authority have engaged in withholding the release of documents that have news about delays in the repair of the cable-net roof.

For reasons still not clear to this blogger, but obvious in many ways, the Oakland Raiders have tried to push Las Vegas stadium completion to meet dates in 2020 that are unrealistic with respect to time-on-task – what’s needed to be done takes longer than the end dates of July 31st and the undefined term of “substantial completion”. The Raiders trying to twist this truth, even to the point of manipulating the Las Vegas Review Journal, can ‘t overcome the basic physics of the stadium.

Stay tuned as more will be added to this post. And read our coverage of the Insight Terminal Solutions Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal.

Zennie Abraham

Zennie Abraham is Zennie62Media, Inc. CEO and Zenophon Abraham Zennie62 YouTube Channel vlogger, and pioneer African-American creator of Oakland News Now Blog and Zennie62Media’s 100-blog network. He’s covered the NFL, San Diego Comic Con, The Night of 100 Stars Oscars Party, The NFL Draft, and CES Las Vegas annually , and for more than 10 years. Zennie created Oakland’s first true blog, Oakland Focus, and Oakland’s first YouTube Partner Channel Zennie62, and now Oakland’s only news blog aggregator, OaklandNewsOnline.com . Zennie also holds the distinction of forming Oakland’s only bid to host the NFL’s Super Bowl Game, in 2000 for the 2005 game that Jacksonville won the right to host. He’s also the founder of Sports Business Simulations and the creator of The Oakland Baseball Simworld and XFL Simworld. Zennie was born in Chicago on August 4th, 1962. A proud graduate of Bret Harte Jr. High, and Skyline High School, He’s lived in Oakland since April 8th of 1974. He has an undergraduate degree from Texas-Arlington and a Masters Degree from U.C. Berkeley, both in City Planning with a focus on urban economics and public finance. Zennie is an expert in system dynamics modeling.