UPDATE SEPT. 22: The Las Vegas Stadium Authority is now seeking a consultant on the project.
The stadium authority is looking for the right person to make sure the project is on the right track and provide expert insight on design, scope and other elements of the Raiders stadium in Las Vegas.
ORIGINAL STORY
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- The Raiders have another six months to finalize their lease in their Las Vegas Stadium.
The lease with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority is needed before the team can start construction on the 65,000-seat stadium just off the Las Vegas Strip.
On Thursday, the stadium authority voted to extend the deadline for the deal by six months, saying the lease should be completed in February.
The original timeline called for work on the site near Russell Road and Polaris Avenue to begin in November.
To keep that timeline intact, the stadium authority is finalizing a deal that will allow the Raiders to do some work on the stadium as they finalize the lease.
"We've had some trucks and stuff out there doing some work, but you will probably see some real work get done in November or December," Raiders President Marc Badain said.
Both Raiders and Las Vegas Stadium Authority representatives express optimism that they will still be able to open the stadium in time for the 2020 NFL season.
"We found a way to work around the time constraints we have, which is going to come up in a number of situations," said Las Vegas Stadium Authority Chairman Steve Hill.
The Raiders say they’ve always known an extension in the lease negotiations may be necessary because of the number of organizations involved.
"If you go back to when the legislation passed. That was one of the goals was to make sure nobody had a gun to their head in any of this," Badain said.
The Raiders did offer some good news at Thursday’s meeting.
Badain told the board they were expecting to finalize a deal with Bank of America for the team’s portion of the financing for the $1.9 billion stadium.
