Artist’s rendering showing the front of Las Vegas Stadium with the retractable windows and planned Al Davis memorial torch; Photo credit: Wikipedia
Las Vegas is one step closer to making their new state-of-the-art Stadium a reality, according to Construction Dive. The Clark County Board of County Commissioners voted to approve the sale of $750 million in general obligation bonds to help pay for construction of the nearly $2 billion stadium. The National Football League team, the Raiders, who are currently based in Oakland, CA, are looking to start their 30-year lease with the 2020 season at the new 65,000-seat stadium that will be built across the freeway from the Las Vegas Strip.
Mark Davis, owner of the Raiders, retained the same architecture firm, MANICA Architecture, that had designed the previously proposed Carson Stadium near Los Angeles. Davis retained much the look from the Carson stadium because he “fell in love with the overall design of it”. The stadium will be a 10 level domed stadium with a clear ETFE roof, silver and black exterior and large retractable curtain-like side windows facing the Las Vegas Strip. The design includes a large torch in one end that will house a flame in honor of Al Davis, the late long-time owner of the Raiders. The Mortenson|McCarthy joint venture team will build the stadium, which will also host UNLV Football and a variety of other sporting and non-sporting events. Mortenson Construction has been named the #1 sports builder in the United States by Engineering News Record (ENR) and McCarthy Building Companies has grown to be one of the largest and most accomplished hospitality and entertainment builders in America over their 43 year history.
Before the concrete has even been poured, bets are already being placed for Super Bowl 2023 to be Vegas bound!