The Raiders have "closed on the purchase of 62 acres west of the Mandalay Bay resort" for $77.5M, "clearing a hurdle in the team's bid to relocate to Las Vegas and build a stadium in time" for the '20 season, according to a front-page piece by Richard Velotta of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. CBRE Global Gaming Group VP Michael Parks, who brokered the deal for the Raiders with Exec VP John Knott, said that there are "no post-closing considerations on the deal." Parks said that the team was "influenced by site accessibility from I-15 from the north and south and from Russell Road to the west as well as the view of the Strip outside the north end of the stadium." The listed purchaser of the property is LV Stadium Co., whose managing member is the Raiders. The seller was Nevada Land Group. The managing members of Nevada Land Group include Barclays Bank PLC, N.Y.; Credit Suisse Management, N.Y.; High Floating Rate Opportunities Fund of Highland Capital Management LP, Dallas; and Nexbank SSB, Dallas (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 5/2). In Oakland, Jon Becker writes the $77.5M price tag "turns out to be a bargain" for Raiders Owner Mark Davis, as the original asking price for the land had been $100M (EAST BAY TIMES, 5/2).
ONE STEP CLOSER: In Las Vegas, Adam Candee writes despite the sale closing, the relocation process has "just started." While the land purchase "brings the Las Vegas Raiders a major step closer to once-implausible reality," the findings of a high impact study on the land and a required site approval by the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board "still offer a small amount of pause." Clark County (Nev.) Commission Chair Steve Sisolak said, "The Raiders had their eyes on this (land) since the beginning. (They) realize there are a lot of problems left to resolve, including traffic, ingress-egress, and particularly parking." Next week’s meeting of the Stadium Authority will "focus on those issues as county staff report to the board on progress." The Raiders will "transfer the land to the stadium authority at no cost and the public entity will own it." The team will also "lease the facility for free and operate its events through a separate company contracted by the franchise, keeping any profits." Once the team puts up the initial $100M for construction, it can "access the first dollars" of the $750M public contribution toward the 65,000-seat domed facility. A planned 32-month building schedule starting in December "would allow the stadium to open in time" for the '20 season (LAS VEGAS SUN, 5/2).
