Nearly $50 million in room tax projected to be collected in 2018 for Raiders stadium in Las Vegas

By Adam Candee

Friday, April 14, 2017 | 12:11 p.m.

Room-tax revenues toward the new Raiders stadium in Las Vegas are projected to near $15 million in the first four months of collection before moving toward $50 million in fiscal year 2018.

Those figures come from a proposed budget included in the agenda posted Thursday for next week’s meeting of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board. While negotiations on the team’s lease to use the $1.9 billion stadium likely will be the focus of the meeting, these estimates offer a look into how the $750 million public financing component will take shape.

Collection figures will come out on a two-month delay, but the budget includes projections based on historical visitation data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The budget estimates $14.8 million in revenue during fiscal year 2017, which ends June 30. The projection for 2018 includes a slight bump for growth to get to $49.9 million.

Passed in a special session of the Nevada Legislature last October, Senate Bill 1 authorized a 0.88 percent increase in room tax on the Strip and surrounding areas and a separate 0.5 percent increase within the remainder of the stadium district, an area within a 25-mile radius of the Clark County Government Center near downtown. For a room on the Strip, the average additional expense brought on by the tax is $1.50 per night.

The Raiders cannot access any of the public funding until they post the first $100 million of their anticipated $500 million stake in the project.

The agenda also includes the creation of a capital project fund that ultimately will hold the tax money once it is transferred from Clark County to the stadium authority. That will serve as an operating fund for the construction of the stadium.

An updated version of the lease will appear for discussion by the board. Stadium authority chairman Steve Hill said earlier this week that the lease is roughly 75 percent completed and remaining issues could be worked out by the time the board meets in May.

The board also will receive an update on the Raiders’ collection of $100 deposits toward personal seat licenses (PSL) at the stadium. Anyone wanting to purchase season tickets to watch the Raiders first will be required to buy a license for that seat, ranging in cost from a few hundred dollars to well into five figures for premium locations. PSLs are expected to generate at least $200 million of the Raiders contribution toward stadium construction.

Staff will discuss the expected creation of a page on the authority website to collect interest from those wanting to become vendors for the construction and operation of the stadium. Board members, staff and local politicians started receiving a heavy volume of such calls soon after National Football League owners approved the Raiders move in 2020 to Las Vegas last month.