Elon Musk

On Thursday, October 15th, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, which owns the $2.2 billion Allegiant Stadium that’s home to the Las Vegas Raiders, will take up an exciting project: Pay Pal founder Elon Musk’s tunneling and transportation startup The Boring Company’s Las Vegas People Mover To Allegiant Stadium.

Specifically, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority will give thumbs up to the eventual building of a station stop at Raiders Stadium. But the question is, how did we get here?

The project started last May 19th, 2019, when The Boring Company landed a $48.7 million project to shuttle people in an underground Loop system around the Las Vegas Convention Center. But, as happens with this ever changing project in a city that likes to jump on futuristic transportation ideas as early adopters (like the Disney-style Monorail system that is now a bankrupt organization with miles of unused track over and around the Las Vegas Convention Center), casino executives, and now the Raiders, want in on what The Boring Company’s working on.

All of this, while there’s no news on any increase in project funding!

And just what is it? Basically, it takes the Disney People Mover concept and puts it underground – except it does not use small cart style cars propelled by linear-induction motors. Rather, it uses what are best described as electronic guide wheel cars. If you see the proposed route, and consider that, for events like CES, the Las Vegas Strip can be and has been paralyzed by cars and taxis and ride-share vehicles taking people everywhere throughout the town, then you automatically see the potential for what Elon Musk’s building.

And that’s why I believe the routes off the Las Vegas Convention Center and to and Allegiant Stadium will dramatically increase real estate activity in the parcels of land that are along the underground tracks. Right now, there’s no way to literally capture the increased real estate land value that is already happening because of the twin developments of Allegiant Stadium and the Las Vegas People Mover. But a tax increment financing zone would allow such revenue to be captured.

The way tax increment financing (TIF) works is that the Nevada Legislature would have to approve an adjustment in Senate Bill One, allowing the designation of a TIF zone around Allegiant Stadium. The reason for this, is that the direction of the collection of property tax has to be shifted to a special organization tasked with using the TIF revenue by legislation – here, that would be The Las Vegas Stadium Authority on behalf of Clark County. The Las Vegas Stadium Authority has to approve the proposal before it can move on to the Nevada Legislature.

Once the Nevada Legislature approves the addition (or re-addition) of the TIF zone since something like what I am referring to was in the original Senate Bill One of 2017, the matter of ratifying the TIF zone then goes to Clark County (if I recall how municipal governance is done in Nevada).

Of course, prior to all of that, Clark County has to draw up the TIF zone around Allegiant Stadium. The property tax collected from that zone can be used, in part, to help finance the Las Vegas People Mover Allegiant Stadium Station.

Hopefully, Clark County does some kind of action to help pay for the station, as well as the other off-site infrastructure improvements needed so that patrons can easily get to the Raiders new NFL stadium.

Stay tuned.