Las Vegas Sands: $1B dome concept will happen 'with or without' NFL team
The possibility of the Oakland Raiders moving to Las Vegas isn't the tipping point in a $1-billion dome being built on a 42-acre land in the desert, officials say.
Related: Report: Raiders officials to visit Las Vegas to assess possible relocation site
Casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corp., which is leading investors in the idea of building an all-purpose dome adjacent to the current UNLV stadium, said the concept won't be decided on whether an NFL franchise decides to play in it because it's expected to be filled anyway.
"We are moving forward with the stadium concept with or without an NFL team," Las Vegas Sands senior vice president Andy Abboud told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "We see a lot more opportunities - conference championships, bowl games, NFL exhibition football, boxing, soccer, neutral site games, and music festivals. There is an entire segment out there."
Although Raiders officials are visiting the site Friday morning, Abboud added that a major pull is the local college team, UNLV, who wants to move out of the archaic Sam Boyd Stadium. The stadium was built in 1971 and seats 40,000.
The proposal for the new structure is expected to seat at least 65,000, while driving tourism to Southern Nevada.
"There are any number of ways that land could be used," UNLV president Len Jessup said. "It has good potential as a stadium site. But we've said all along that we'd look at any opportunity.
"If we can get a stadium built at little or no cost to the university, we're interested in it."