Allegiant Stadium Construction Crews Meet Completion Date

Raiders Owner Mark Davis praised workers for getting the job done, but Fans might not get to enjoy it in 2020.

Construction of Allegiant Stadium is virtually complete, but questions remain whether any fans of the Las Vegas Raiders get to watch them play in the 65,000-seat new home of the Silver and Black in 2020.

Work crews met the long-ago targeted date of July 31 to finish the job in 993 days from the day ground was broken on what was a 62-acre plot of dirt

“The substantial completion is absolutely a milestone in this project,” Raiders owner Mark Davis told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “It’s unbelievable how fast this thing has come together. We still have to finish the job. There’s a punch list of things that need to get done and will get done.

“ … I can’t compliment the workers enough. They took so much pride in building this stadium, and throughout the virus, throughout everything, they continued working and we wouldn’t be here without them. They are absolutely the MVPs of this whole thing.”

The Mortenson/McCarthy joint construction venture last week received a Certificate of Occupancy on $1.97-billion Allegiant Stadium from Clark County, allowing full occupancy of all areas of the stadium.

The completion of what Davis called the Silver and Black’s “field of dreams” during groundbreaking ceremonies on Nov. 13, 2017, came only 40 months after the NFL approved the Raiders’ move from Oakland to Las Vegas.

The stadium employed thousands of construction workers, several of whom contracted the Coronavirus during the building process, and 6,000 permanent jobs are expected to be created.

The Raiders and their various partners are in the process of hiring 4,500 part-time employees and now they will have a place to go to work as soon as they sign on.

“I am pleased to see the stadium reach the substantial completion date, a major milestone in any construction project,” said Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, who played a key role in the stadium process. “This stadium has already proved to be a great thing for this community, including the creation of many jobs.”

The first scheduled event at the stadium, a sold-out Garth Brooks concert, has been moved from Aug. 22 to Feb. 29, and for now, the first event is set to be the Raiders vs. the New Orleans Saints in a Monday Night Football game on Sept. 21.

The University of Nevada-Las Vegas Rebels are scheduled to play their first game at Allegiant Stadium against Wyoming on Oct. 10, although school officials are trying to arrange a game against TCU for Aug. 29.

“As a program with lofty goals, we are ecstatic about the completion of Allegiant,” UNLV football coach Marcus Arroyo said. “This is a state-of-the-art, world-class facility, and we look forward with excitement to giving our players, our fans and entire UNLV family the opportunity to enjoy a first-class college football experience.

“There simply is no equal to our new stadium—and we are working hard now so that we build a lasting legacy of success worthy of our new home.”

The UNLV campus is about three miles from the stadium.

Currently, Nevada does not allow sporting events to be held with fans in the stands and the state has yet to say if spectators will be allowed to attend a game at Allegiant Stadium this season for Raiders and UNLV games.

The NFL has asked teams to block off the first six-to-eight rows in stadiums if fans are allowed in, which equals about 8,000 fans at Allegiant Stadium, but Davis has said that if everyone cannot attend, no one will—including him.

Davis has made regular Tuesday night walks around the stadium at about midnight and was there again last week.

“I was in the building on the 50-yard line again, just looking around,” Davis said. “There’s a lot of diamonds in the rough there. It’s absolutely magnificent.”

However, Allegiant Stadium might be unappreciated by fans in the Raiders’ first season in Las Vegas.

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