The soon-to-be Las Vegas Raiders are planning to announce some of their draft picks from the Welcome to Las Vegas sign.
Raiders president Marc Badain said the team will announce their picks on the final day of the NFL Draft, April 29, from the sign on Las Vegas Boulevard.
The team is holding an event earlier in the draft in Oakland.
Badain said it is all part of the balancing act the team is working to support their current and future home.
"Right now we are the Oakland Raiders and we are going to remain in that community while establishing an identity here as well," Badain said.
The team told the Las Vegas Stadium Authority they are encouraged by the 40,000 deposits they’ve received from fans in the Personal Seat License campaign launched the day after NFL owners approved the move.
The Raiders said 23,000 of those deposits came on the first day.
"The deposits are coming in from everywhere. They are coming in from California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah all the surrounding states. Then they are coming from all over the country and all over the world," Badain said.
All this came as the Raiders continued working with the Stadium Authority on the lease agreement that has to be completed before construction starts on the $1.9 billion stadium project.
"We still have 5 or 10 issues to work out, but I think it is in pretty good shape,” Stadium Authority chairman Steve Hill said.
With the Raiders planning to play the 2020 season in Las Vegas and an estimated 32-month construction window, both sides know they have to get the lease and other agreements in place quickly if they don’t want to delay the team’s move.
"If we get past October, that is probably problematic, because they are going to have to break ground, they are going to have to get moving. They are not going to do that until these agreements get done," Hill said.
The attorney handling the Stadium Authority’s part of the lease negotiations say many of the issues center largely on language.
They are also beginning discussions about how the Raiders and UNLV football would share the stadium.
That agreement, as well as several others, have to be completed before the lease can be signed.
One thing that doesn’t appear likely to change is the $0 rent being paid by the Raiders.
Hill said that is because the Raiders are committing up to $1.15 billion to the construction and covering cost overruns.
He says the return on the local investment will come in the tax money the stadium generates.
"Our projection is the stadium will create about 6,000 permanent jobs in the community and it will generate tax revenue that is approximately the same amount as the room tax," Hill said.
The crowd at the meeting was filled with many people from the construction industry, hoping to get a contract to help build the stadium.
Many saying the large project can help build small construction businesses.
"With something like this coming up, and how the authority is working with each association, it is going to be a huge opportunity for us,” said Tony Gillerson with the National Association of Minority Contractors.
The Stadium Authority is working to build a list of vendors interested in working on the stadium’s construction.
A form is expected to be put up on Stadium Authority’s website soon.
