Seth A. Richardson

srichardson@rgj.com

Officials from the Oakland Raiders met with Northern lawmakers on Wednesday to pitch their plan to relocate to Las Vegas, including a new stadium and possibly holding training camp in Reno.

The Raiders have expressed interest in moving from Oakland and have publicly stated a desire to move to Las Vegas, but want a new stadium as part of the package. Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Majestic Realty Co. have been courting the team, and a plan has been released that would call for $750 million in public funding.

Meetings have so far been primarily in Las Vegas, but officials traveled to Reno on Wednesday to brief some Northern lawmakers.

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Andy Abboud, executive vice president of government affairs for Las Vegas Sands Corp., said the meeting involved a briefing on the plan as it stands. Representatives from the Raiders, including team president Mark Badain, also scouted several possible training camp locations if the move occurs, including the University of Nevada, Reno, area high schools and sports complexes.

Abboud said the tour of sites was only a preliminary search for a potential training camp spot, but Reno made sense both in terms of climate and with the potential move to Nevada.

“First, they’re looking for an opportunity to have a training camp that works for them in terms of weather. Reno seems like a logical place for that,” Abboud said. “Secondarily, they understand the importance of maximizing the Raiders coming to Las Vegas statewide. This may be an effective way where there could be a benefit to Northern Nevada.”

As currently proposed, the public funding for the stadium would come from $750 million in hotel tax revenue, bonded out in increments of $50 million yearly. The stadium itself has an estimated cost of between $1.7 billion and $2 billion and would seat 65,000. Developers have stated they want the stadium near the Las Vegas Strip, requiring approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure it does not interfere with air traffic from nearby McCarran International Airport.

Critics have argued the public funding portion is too much, especially since cities can often be on the hook for expenses if the team relocates. St. Louis was left with more than $100 million in stadium debt even though the Rams moved to Los Angeles for the start of the 2016 season.

Steve Hill, executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development, proposed an alternative plan in June including $550 million in public funding, which received a cold response from the investor group.

Abboud said the Raiders were committed to signing a 30-year lease as part of the deal, covering the duration of the public funding period.

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Whatever the final plan ends up being, the Legislature would have to hold a special session on the tax hike portion. Abboud said the group would like to have a deal done in time for the Raiders to present at the NFL owners meeting during the Super Bowl.

"We think the longer we wait to have a special session, the more it puts at risk for the Raiders to get approved at the owners meeting," Abboud said. "So the sooner the better, but it’s up to Gov. Sandoval to say when it is."

Mari St. Martin, spokeswoman for Gov. Brian Sandoval, said it was too early to determine if or when a special session would be called.

“Any speculation about a special session would be premature prior to the final recommendations from the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee. Those recommendations are not expected until the end of September,” she said.

Several Republican lawmakers expressed cautious optimism about the current plan – including the possibility of training camp in the North. Democratic Assembly members Mike Sprinkle and Teresa Benitez-Thompson did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Assemblywoman Amber Joiner was in Chicago and did not attend the meeting.

"It was actually pretty informative and it made me feel a lot better about the deal," said Assemblywoman Jill Dickman, R-Sparks.

Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, said he was on the fence but leaning toward supporting the proposal, but still had questions about the public funding aspect, which he is generally against.

“I was skeptical of this whole thing for a variety of reasons, but the more I hear about it the more I like it,” he said. “The main thing is it’s going to be funded by room taxes, so, essentially, no citizens in Nevada will have to pay for it.”

Assemblyman Jim Wheeler, R-Minden, said once a special session is called, he expects northern lawmakers to generally defer to what those in the South ask for since there will be no fiscal impact on the North in terms of taxes.

Wheeler, Hansen and other lawmakers said their support was far from carte blanche as the structure of any legislation could change between now and the special session.

The Raiders organization did not respond to a request for comment.

10:15 a.m. Thursday update: Benitez-Thompson said she was appreciative Northern lawmakers were being included in the discussions, but she still had a lot of questions about the plan and wanted to ensure taxpayers wouldn't be liable for large expenses.

"This would be precedent setting in a lot of ways and I don’t want that to be lost on people," she said. "What we did for Tesla and for Faraday were abatements. They were taxes that were never assessed and never collected. This is creating a tax revenue stream that will specifically benefit one project."

Benitez-Thopmson said Sprinkle was in Elko on assignment as a fire fighter and did not attend the meeting.

This post has been updated with comments from Gov. Brian Sandoval's office and Assemblywoman Amber Joiner.

Seth A. Richardson covers politics for the Reno Gazette-Journal. Like him on Facebook here or follow him on Twitter at @SethARichardson.