The Las Vegas Stadium Authority has approved a conditional lease agreement for the Oakland Raiders, ahead of the NFL American football team’s relocation to a new stadium in the Nevada city.
The team is due to move in to a dome stadium in Las Vegas in 2020, which is set to be built on a 62-acre plot of land near to the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
According to ESPN, the Raiders could break land on the 65,000-capacity venue as early as this summer, with the project expected to cost approximately $1.9bn (€1.7bn/£1.5bn).
Although plans for the stadium are on track, the franchise had been warned that if it were not able to obtain a lease agreement in time for a meeting of NFL owners next week, the team’s move to Las Vegas could be delayed.
However, the Stadium Authority voted unanimously to approve the conditional agreement, paving the way for NFL owners to vote on ratifying the move.
Raiders president Marc Badain told ESPN: “It means we go to the league meetings in Chicago with a lease and hopefully get it approved and stay on pace for a 2020 opening.”
According to Nevada newspaper the Las Vegas Sun, the lease offers the team and its events company “more confidentiality for their financial information during required audits”.
The newspaper said that the deal also gives the team the “discretion to relocate certain utilities on the stadium site as needed and agreed to by the authority and the holder of the utility”.
In addition, in reference to the world famous gambling scene in Las Vegas, the conditional deal listed “specific card games” that cannot be conducted at the new facility.
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