Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Official: Trump’s tariffs on imported steel won’t change price of Las Vegas stadium

Emphasis Is On Safety At Stadium Project

Steve Marcus

Workers start the day at the Las Vegas Raiders stadium construction site Friday, May 11, 2018.

Emphasis Is On Safety At Stadium Project

Workers perform bend and stretch exercises before the start of the workday at the Las Vegas Raiders stadium construction site Friday, May 11, 2018. Friday marked the final day of Launch slideshow »

Tariffs on imported steel put into place by President Donald Trump aren’t expected to change the Las Vegas stadium project’s overall cost, officials said today during a Las Vegas Stadium Authority meeting.

A large amount of steel is being used to build the $1.84 billion, 65,000-seat domed stadium where the Raiders and UNLV will play football. And Trump recently announced a 25 percent tariff on imported steel.

Don Webb, chief operating officer of the Las Vegas Stadium Co., said claims from contractors about steel prices and the process to resolve those will be “somewhat contentious.” They won’t, however, slow down the project, which is projected to be completed in the summer of 2020.

“We don’t expect the resolutions of those claims to jeopardize the schedule or the project budget,” Webb said. “We don’t think they will be of the magnitude where they jeopardize the budget, and we certainly don’t think they’ll be of the magnitude where they’ll erode the contingency to the point that will cause a bunch of overrun.”

Much of the steel being used for the structure has already been delivered to the site, Webb said.

The Raiders would be responsible for any overrun because a public contribution of $750 million — generated by a 0.88 percent lodging tax on hotel rooms in Clark County — is locked in.

Webb said $316 million — 17 percent of the project budget — has been spent so far. When the project reaches the halfway point of completion, officials estimate $4 million of work will be done each day.

“That really hits home when you get on the site,” Raiders President Marc Badain said. “When you’re gone for a week and come back, what’s been accomplished in five, six days is really incredible.”

There are more than 13,000 individual tasks listed on the stadium’s master plan being executed by about 650 workers. That will balloon to more than 20,000 tasks and 1,200 workers during the peak of construction, Webb said.