Oakland Raiders fans answer Zennie62s’ stadium video call!
This video-blogger put out a social media call for any Oakland Raiders fan who happened to be in Las Vegas this past weekend to make a video of the Raiders Stadium construction site. A long-time Oakland Raiders fan and Zennie62 on YouTube fan responded my posted request: Bryan Cauwels and his partner were kind enough to drive over and make a Facebook-based livestream on Sunday, July 15th.
The scene was what turned out to be a 113 degree Summer day in Las Vegas, and just after a night monsoon rain blanketed parts of the Las Vegas Valley – some areas, like the intersection of Sahara and Decatur, were so flooded with water they looked like small rivers. What did the Raiders stadium look like? Well, from the looks of Bryan’s video the property was two things: dry and empty of workers. Which is to be expected considering the extreme heat and the fact that it was Sunday.
But what Mr. Cauwels took note of was what he saw as a lack of space for parking. “No parking,” Bryan remarked in the video, “there is no parking at this stadium. I don’t know if they’re going to have rideshares, taxi cabs – I don’t know how any of that stuff will fit in here.” Cauwels then pans over to Polaris Street and remarks that there’s “no room to expand” to accommodate parking, calling the drive a “little two-lane road,” and saying “It’s going to be a nightmare at this stadium. To get here or get out of here, for an event, it’s going to be a total disaster.”
On the livestream, viewers asked when the Raiders were expected to finish the parking plan. According to Forbes, and at the Las Vegas Stadium Authority’s May meeting, the Raiders “outlined” a parking plan that called for 27,000 spaces up to a mile-and-a-quarter from the stadium itself – almost double the 14,000 needed off-site to add to the 2,400 spaces on-site, according to Clark County planning specifications for large facilities like the Raiders Stadium. The minimum 16,250 parking space plan is due be turned in to Clark County and the Las Vegas Stadium Authority by September of this year.
As to if the much-talked about Bali Hai Golf Club will be included in the Raiders and UNLV Stadium Parking plan, that’s not at all a certainty. The Federal government filed a lawsuit against Clark County for not leasing the land for market value. Thus, it’s logical to assume any possible Raiders transaction, if one were to happen, would call for the organization paying market value to Clark County, and that could translate to a cost of just over $200 million, assuming a reported average-per-acre Las Vegas Strip land valuation of $2.9 million is used as a rule of measure. That price, alone, would drive the Raiders Stadium project to $2 billion, not including the NFL Relocation Fee of $370 million, or any other transportation infrastructure costs.
If the Oakland / Las Vegas Raiders can’t solve the parking issue, it is to punt the problem over to Clark County for a resolution – the County would use part of the same stadium hotel tax revenue to solve the parking problem. And given that the stadium hotel tax revenue is less than it should be for the bond debt coverage requirements, it’s just increases the chance the taxpayers will wind up paying for a lot of the Raiders Stadium.
Stay tuned.