Raiders stadium in Las Vegas continues to be on time, on budget

The $2 billion Allegiant Stadium continues to be on time and on budget, even though completion of the cable net to support the translucent polymer roof won’t be completed until mid-December.

The reason: Other projects within the 65,000-seat stadium were completed well ahead of their scheduled completion dates.

Stadium company chief operating officer Don Webb on Monday told the Las Vegas Stadium Authority board that the 80-by-215-foot lanai doors are set, trees and other landscaping has begun, 25 rooms inside the building have been completed and work was to begin Monday on constructing the massive field tray that will contain the playing surface the Raiders will use. The project is about 70 percent complete.

The work pace is expected to pick up in the weeks ahead as more trade craftsmen are brought into the project to do the finishing work in the stadium interior. More than 1,000 workers currently work at the site.

Webb said 43,000 tasks have been placed on the completion checklist, and many of them were completed well ahead of schedule.

“This is one of the best organized, cleanest and most impressive construction sites I’ve ever seen,” said authority board member Jan Jones Blackhurst, who took a tour of the site earlier this month.

Webb credited the joint venture contracting team of Mortenson Construction and McCarthy Builders with maintaining the site, noting that a clutter-free work area prevents accidents and safety is the project’s paramount concern.

Webb noted that the groundbreaking for the project occurred two years ago last week and he presented a drone video showing construction progress over that time frame.

“What you saw before you represents about $1.3 billion worth of work put in place,” he said.

Webb said the stadium remains on track for substantial completion on July 31. “The work continues on a six-day-a-week schedule, and we’ve had several key milestones met along the way.”

Among the milestones have been near completion of the outer glass surface of the stadium as well as the installation of precast concrete seating treads on the ground level of the stadium as the cable net was lifted to the top of the ceiling.

The 4-foot-deep field tray is topped with a grass surface and loaded with sand, gravel, irrigation, heating and drainage components and will be rolled into the stadium on 13 rails through a 14-by-240-foot opening at the south end of the stadium. With the tray powered by 76 electric motors and moving roughly 11 feet per minute, the task will take about 90 minutes to complete before every Raiders home game.

The financing of the stadium is on track as well.

Revenue generated by a 0.88 percentage point increase to Clark County’s tax on hotel rooms continues to support $750 million in bonds that is the public contribution toward building Allegiant Stadium.

Reports delivered to the authority board indicate the stadium continues to be on time and on budget with substantial completion on July 31, the first scheduled event will occur at the venue on Aug. 16 and the project closeout on Oct. 31, meaning the Raiders’ 2020 season will be played there.

Another highlight is the team’s success in selling personal seat licenses. Raiders President Marc Badain told the board that PSL sales should wrap up within weeks and that there are less than 1,000 available, mostly in “odd lots,” single seats or odd-numbered combinations of seats together.

PSL proceeds account for $399.3 million, or 33.5 percent of the total project and the proceeds are running at 137.7 percent ahead of original sales projections.

In other business Monday, the board approved the reappointment of Vice Chairman Ike Lawrence Epstein, whose term of office was to end in December. Epstein serves as senior executive vice president and chief operating officer at Zuffa, LLC, which operates UFC.

The Raiders endorsed Epstein’s reappointment along with other board members whose terms are nearing completion, including Tommy White and Blackhurst.

Board members also approved lease and sublease agreements for 19 acres of McCarran International Airport land for parking.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.