Raiders News: Allegiant Stadium Needs Backup Funds
Al Davis torch, Allegiant Stadium, Raiders
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Las Vegas Raiders are set to welcome a full capacity at Allegiant Stadium for the 2021 NFL season.

The restrictions spoiled the debut of the Raiders’ new home due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Stadium officials have since gone full steam ahead with no limitations on fans for the upcoming season.

The team made headlines with their construction of the $1.9 billion “Death Star” just off the strip. Unfortunately, it appears the NFL’s newest host city is still in the process of paying it off.

There were major financial implications for the NFL after playing a full season through a pandemic. As a result, Nevada’s Clark County will take out $11.7 million from their reserve funds, via Brendan Coffey of Yahoo Sports:

“This action does not constitute a default and was expected in light of the decline in tourism to Las Vegas,” Clark County director of communications Erik Pappa wrote in an email. “Fortunately, the financing for the Stadium Authority bonds included the funding of a debt service reserve fund to weather economic declines like the one Las Vegas is currently experiencing due to the pandemic.”

The withdrawal was made from the $645 million in bonds that helped finance Allegiant Stadium back in 2018. It will help the county make a $16.1 million payment that is due on June 1.

This is not the first time that they had to draw from the reserves in order to make a payment. They also took out $11.55 million from a debt account to help make a scheduled bond payment from back in December due to a decrease in tax revenue.

Fortunately, the comments from Pappa indicate that such measures were to be expected given the drawback of the pandemic. The county can expect tourism to kick back up again with Sin City slowly returning to its bustling state, especially now that the Raiders have been added as their newest attraction.