UNLV negotiating to share Raiders new stadium

May 31, 2017; Paradise, NV, USA: General overall view of billboard that reads "The Raiders Are Coming" at the construction site of Las Vegas Stadium. The domed stadium will be the home of the Las Vegas Raiders and the UNLV Rebels football team. It is located on about 62 acres west of Mandalay Bay at Russell Road and Hacienda Avenue and between Polaris Avenue and Dean Martin Drive, just west of Interstate 15. Construction of the $1.9 billion stadium is planned to begin in 2017 and be completed for the 2020 NFL season. NFL owners voted 31-1 to allow Raiders owner Mark Davis to relocate the franchise from Oakland to Las Vegas. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

The NFL is coming to Las Vegas with the Raiders move, and the local major university wants in on the new stadium.

The Oakland Raiders will become the Las Vegas Raiders in a couple years, and with it the NFL will casually embrace gambling while trying to keep it at arm’s length. The University of Nevada-Las Vegas is far more known for men’s basketball than football, though the “Running” Rebels have gone from three to four wins in Tony Sanchez’s two seasons as head coach.

The Las Vegas Stadium Authority board is in the process of reviewing some preliminary issues related to UNLV sharing the Raiders’ new 65,000-seat stadium near the Vegas Strip. Those concerns include rent, scheduling, UNLV signage and field markings. A draft of an agreement was not presented at the most recent meeting of the board, but chairman Steve Hill doesn’t seem too concerned about understanding the core issues involved.

"“I think there is a pretty solid shared understanding of what that agreement will look like,” board chairman Steve Hill said after the meeting. “There are some technical issues that we just need to figure out, such as, you know, what’s the field configuration going to be? Is it going to be natural turf or AstroTurf for UNLV?”"

In the law allocating $750 million in tax dollars for the Raiders’ new stadium, there is a stipulation that UNLV can use the facility. Hill added the school is not expected to pay rent, but they would reimburse the Raiders for the costs of operating the stadium when they use it.

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The Raiders’ stadium is scheduled to open in 2020, with the aforementioned 65,000-seat capacity. UNLV’s current football home, Sam Boyd Stadium, has a capacity of 38,600. Unless they start fielding a good team, the Rebels won’t even come close to filling an NFL stadium. But if getting more use out of a major investment is the plan, nothing will stand in the way of UNLV’s football team essentially being a tenant for the Raiders.

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