Project consultant tells stadium board he will present several scenarios

Finally, game on for the UNLV stadium board.

After three months of listening to background presentations, the 11-member stadium panel Thursday came face-to-face with its newly hired project consultant who said he will offer a spectrum of on-campus stadium size, cost and funding scenarios.

Those scenarios will range from modest open-air football stadiums costing less than $100 million to top-of-the-line retractable roof venues that can potentially go for $1 billion or more. And everything else in between will be offered menu-style to the panel, which is made up of University of Nevada Board of Regents, casino industry representatives and public officials.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas officials are partnering with the Las Vegas casino-hotel industry in hopes they can reach a consensus on an on-campus stadium that meets the needs of both UNLV and the resorts.

Bill Rhoda, principal of CSL International and hired at a cost of $325,000, has assembled an eight-person staff to study the Las Vegas market’s demographics, survey stakeholders from company leaders to UNLV football season ticketholders, and analyze the market, building costs, potential stadium revenue streams and project funding options.

Rhoda even laid out the timeline:

■ Feb. 27: Review market, previous stadium economic studies and email surveys.

■ March 27: Update needs assessment, review market surveys and study facility program assumptions.

■ April 24: Estimated building costs.

■ May 22: Review pro-forma assumptions.

■ June 26: Review funding model, recommendation on feasibility, develop legislative recommendations.

■ July 24: Deliver draft report.

■ Sept. 25: Final report delivered.

Rhoda said his company is experienced at conducting three- to six-month stadium feasibility studies.

His company will look at every stadium type — open air, dome, retractable roof and shading systems. It will suggest seating capacities, including a breakdown of seating inventories such as club seats, loge boxes, luxury suites and other hospitality areas. It will study stadium configurations for sports, concerts and trade shows.

CSL has worked on 75 percent of all major stadium projects in the United States, but Rhoda said Las Vegas is a unique market to build a stadium because of its 40 million annual visitors.

Board member Michael Wixom, a regent and a private lawyer whose clients are banks, said it will come down to funding.

“The key part of it is funding,” Wixom said after the meeting. “If we can’t pay for it, it doesn’t work.”

The stadium board will choose its best option, then package it in a report that is required to be delivered to the state Legislature by Oct. 1.

Alan Snel can be reached at asnel@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273. Follow @BicycleManSnel on Twitter.