Stadium context - Las Vegas Raiders

Many of us continue to look for more context for how to think about the upcoming stadium proposal from the Mayor’s Office and the Tennessee Titans. I tracked down some information about the value of the Las Vegas Raiders before and after their new stadium deal in Las Vegas. In the Forbes annual ranking of NFL team values, the Raiders went from #31 in 2015 ($1.4 billion) to #9 in 2022 ($5.1 billion). How did the Raiders’ new stadium play into that?

As a starting point, it’s helpful to know that while NFL teams share more revenue than most major sports leagues, NFL teams do not share “local revenue” with other teams. The local revenue that each team keeps for itself includes revenue from personal seat licenses (PSLs), luxury boxes, and stadium naming rights. Because of this, a new stadium can provide a one-time influx of cash if a team sells PSLs and improved long-term team revenue from having more luxury suites and more naming rights revenue. You can read more about this here, here, and here. The bottom line is that increased locally retained revenue translates into increases in team value and ranking.

I won’t tell the whole story of how and why the Raiders ended up in Las Vegas. You can find good overviews here and here. In short, talk of the Raiders moving to a new stadium in Las Vegas emerged in early 2016. By late 2016 and into early 2017, the city of Las Vegas and the State of Nevada worked together to approve $750 million of public spending in support of a $2 billion indoor stadium. At the time, this was the largest ever approved public spending on a stadium. The stadium — Allegiant Stadium — opened in 2020 (with no fans due to COVID). The Raiders now are starting their third season in Allegiant Stadium, presumably with all of its new revenue online.

Before the move rumors started, in 2015, the Raiders were valued by Forbes at $1.4 billion, which was #31 in the league.

As stadium financing was approved, the team’s ranking improved. By 2017, the value of the Raiders had climbed to $2.38 billion, which was #19 in the league.

As Allegiant Stadium opened in 2020, the Raiders were worth $3.1 billion, up to #12 in the league. Entering their third season in the new stadium and with all of the new local revenue online, in 2022, the Raiders are reported to be worth $5.1 billion, #9 in the league.

You may ask where the Titans fit in the rankings. For 2019 through 2022, the team’s ranking has been stable in the range of #27 to #29. More information about that here and here. Forbes reported in July 2022 that if a new stadium deal “is signed on the dotted line,” the team’s value could increase by $300 million.

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about how to interpret this data.