Feature

NFL’s Raiders set to break ground on its Las Vegas stadium

NFL American football franchise the Oakland Raiders has established a ground-breaking date for its proposed stadium in Las Vegas.

The franchise is currently based in California, but will relocate to the gambling haven, with initial, and ambitious, plans to begin playing in Vegas by 2020.

The team has tentatively planned an event to launch the start of construction on the upcoming stadium on November 13, but it will be officially announced at a later date.

Having already purchased land in the city for the purpose of building its new home, the team was also required to gain permission from Clark County to use this land for a 65,000-capacity stadium, which it was granted last month.

The entire project is expected to cost around $1.9bn (€1.6bn/£1.5bn) and the franchise will work with Mortenson Construction, the company that also built the U.S. Bank NFL stadium in Minnesota, on the new development.

“We’re looking forward to start handing out our hard hats and getting people out to work,” said Board member Tommy White, business manager and secretary-treasurer of Labourers Union Local 872, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“I just don’t have a time yet because I think they’re doing some scheduling and making sure they get certain invitees to come. But, yes, everybody’s looking forward to the 13th.”

Raiders’ new stadium project is one of 50+ new stadium projects in attendance at the annual TheStadiumBusiness Design & Development Summit taking place in Barcelona next month (28-29 November).