If Las Vegas hopes to lure the Raiders from Oakland, it’s going to require the biggest public contribution ever made for the construction of a football stadium.
Via multiple reports, a panel meeting on Thursday pegged the price for taxpayers at $750 million. That leaves roughly $650 million to be paid by private contributions, with any cost overruns the responsibility of the Raiders, the NFL, the Sands casino, and/or other non-governmental entities.
According to Bloomberg.com, that would be a record contribution by the people for a venue to be used by really rich people who otherwise can afford to pay for their oversized playgrounds, with Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy falling to No. 2, at $620 million. An economic adviser to Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval would like to reduce the public contribution to $500 million.
The proposal comes at a time when, nationally, public money has become harder and harder to obtain. In Oakland, the current proposal is, and has been, zero dollars and zero cents.
With Vegas trying to overcome the gambling stigma and become a major-league city, it’s easy to justify coughing up plenty of cash -- especially since the money will come from taxes imposed on out-of-towners who visit the city’s hotels.