Analysis: Stadium near McCarran shouldn’t be derailed by height issues

By J.D. Morris

Wednesday, April 13, 2016 | 7:02 p.m.

Plans for a domed 65,000-seat football stadium near McCarran International Airport likely will not be derailed by conflicts over the facility’s height, according to a consultant’s analysis presented publicly today.

A map shown to the UNLV Campus Improvement Authority indicated that, at least for much of the 42-acre site proposed to house the stadium, the facility’s height would not obstruct airport operations. Similarly, the site does not appear to have an issue with Clark County noise restrictions based on today’s presentation.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Majestic Realty Co. want to build the $1.3 billion stadium as a venue for the UNLV football team, an NFL team such as the Raiders and other large events. The companies are lobbying for the stadium to be located on land recently purchased by UNLV along Tropicana Avenue near Koval Lane.

That site is extremely close to McCarran: It’s 0.3 nautical miles away from the end of one runway, according to the analysis from Capitol Airspace Group. Proximity to the airport proved to be an insurmountable obstacle when UNLV considered building a football stadium on another site.

The map presented today by Capitol Airspace President Ben Doyle showed that, in order to avoid getting in the way of airport operations, a facility on the current site would need to be smaller depending on how far southeast it was built. But a facility could be taller if it were built more toward the western side of the site, apparently offering plenty of room for a stadium.

David Frommer, UNLV’s executive director of planning and construction, also said during the presentation that the site wouldn’t be subject to Clark County noise mitigation restrictions.

But Chris Jones, McCarran’s chief marketing officer, stressed that there will be other issues besides height and noise levels that the stadium would need to address to move forward.

“We cannot do anything that would diminish the capacity of McCarran and its ability to bring people in and out of this valley,” he told the authority. “We cannot kill the golden goose.”

The UNLV Campus Improvement Authority is made up of four members of the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents and various leaders from the public and private sector, including multiple resort company executives. The direction of its work will be affected in large part by how another public-private group, the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, handles the stadium proposal.

While the infrastructure committee is weighing the stadium as it relates to various other projects — particularly on the public-funding side — the Campus Improvement Authority is looking at it from UNLV’s perspective. The university has not officially decided to build a stadium on that land.

Sands and Majestic presented their stadium plans to the infrastructure committee in March, and the panel is expected to vet them further later this month. Accordingly, the authority today decided to forward that group a list of questions on areas such as traffic and how the stadium would be managed.

Depending on what happens at the infrastructure committee level, the campus improvement authority should meet again sometime in May or June.