By touring Sam Boyd Stadium, did the Raiders take another step toward relocating here?

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Friday, April 1, 2016 | 5:30 p.m.

Say a domed football stadium is built near the Strip on 42 acres of land owned by UNLV. And say the Oakland Raiders follow through on their desires to become the Las Vegas Raiders, persuading 23 other NFL owners to allow them to relocate here.

Where would the Raiders, who are in a year-to-year lease in the run-down O.co Coliseum, play in the interim while their $1.3 billion stadium is built in Southern Nevada? Las Vegas doesn’t have options, right?

Well, maybe Las Vegas does.

Raiders owner Mark Davis was in town today to tour the 35,550-seat Sam Boyd Stadium, fueling speculation his team may, in fact, move here. Sam Boyd is the off-campus home to UNLV football and the Las Vegas Bowl, both of which would jump at the chance to be tenants in the new facility.

The Las Vegas Sands Corp., which would privately fund part of the stadium, posted a photo on Twitter of Davis at Sam Boyd with a contingent of UNLV officials. The group included President Len Jessup, Athletic Director Tina Kunzer-Murphy and football coach Tony Sanchez.

Sam Boyd Stadium has hosted professional football before. The Las Vegas Posse of the Canadian Football League played there in the mid-1990s when the league expanded briefly into the U.S. It didn’t last, though, because it is too hot in Las Vegas in the summer, meaning those September NFL games would likely have to be scheduled for late starts.

If construction of a new stadium were to begin in late 2017, the 65,000-seat facility on Tropicana Avenue near Koval Lane wouldn’t be ready until the second half of 2020.

Of course, that’s not the biggest hiccup — public money via a tourism tax would be expected to cover part of the construction. Officials have been tight-lipped, even last week during a Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee meeting, about how much public money would be required.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21