Raiders distribute survey on interest in team relocating

The Oakland Raiders have distributed an 83-question survey through the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce to gauge interest in the team’s potential relocation to Las Vegas and the construction of a domed stadium to house the team.

The survey was emailed Monday to more than 10,000 addresses in the chamber’s database.

Cara Clarke, associate vice president of communications for the chamber, said Monday that the chamber distributed the survey, developed by the Raiders, at no cost to the team as a community service. The chamber has not taken a position on the Raiders’ possible relocation or the stadium, but chamber President and CEO Kristin McMillan serves on the 11-member Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, which is expected to make a recommendation to state legislators on the stadium project by the end of July.

Clarke said the chamber enabled a similar distribution of materials to chamber members when Bill Foley was preparing his bid to bring an expansion NHL franchise to Las Vegas.

The Raiders in public meetings have committed to relocating the team to Las Vegas if the stadium is approved. Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Majestic Realty have teamed with the Raiders to propose a 65,000-seat, $1.4 billion domed stadium.

Under the developers’ proposal, $700 million in contruction costs would be covered by public funds from increased room taxes and a new tax increment district including the stadium and a football practice facility. The development’s private partners would cover the balance and any construction cost overruns. In last week’s tourism infrastructure committee meeting, a new proposal reducing the public contribution to $550 million was issued by committee Chairman Steve Hill, but the developers were lukewarm to the plan.

The Raiders’ survey seeks answers to 83 questions ranging from level of interest in the team coming to Las Vegas to preferences in stadium seating. The survey doesn’t include questions on public vs. private financing of the project.

The Raiders marketing office offered no further information on what it plans to do with collected data or how the survey questions were developed.

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta