Allegiant Stadium Vegas Loop station to nix 200 on-site parking spots

Plans call for building a Vegas Loop Station in Lot B of Allegiant Stadium, according to documents submitted to Clark County on Oct. 14. The initial plans depict a station that features at least 20 loading bays in the parking lot, located on the northwest corner of the 62-acre stadium site.

To accommodate the station — planned to be 288 feet by 123 feet and built above ground — 200 surface parking spaces will be lost. Since the plans for the stadiums came out, parking has become a hot topic among fans. But after early growing pains, stadium officials and fans seem to have figured out their preferred method.

Loop makes up for lost spots

The expectation for what having the Vegas Loop operating to and from the stadium will mean for transportation makes losing the parking spots worth a gamble, according to Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

“When you think about taking a parking spot out here, if the Boring Company delivers two cars for every spot it takes out, it’s double the amount of effective parking,” Hill told the Review-Journal. “It’s not hard for that system to take the place of parking. It’ll improve it pretty significantly.”

Connecting popular destinations

With the Athletics planning to start construction next year on their Las Vegas ballpark on the Tropicana site, and to have it ready for the 2028 MLB season, Hill, who works closely with the Boring Company on the planned Vegas Loop, said it would be beneficial to have the Tropicana leg of the Vegas Loop system ready by then.

The Tropicana portion would link Allegiant Stadium, the A’s ballpark and Bally’s Corp. planned resort, and the multiple MGM Resorts International properties on the south Strip to UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center. From there, riders also could make their way toward the Las Vegas Convention Center, among other stations, in the University Center Loop.

“We’ve got to work with the Tropicana, with MGM, because there’s several spots (MGM Resorts properties) along the way, I think that is driving the timeline right now more than the stadium is,” Hill said. “It is one of two or three legs to the system that they’re (Boring Co.) currently working on to get done. So, soon. It won’t be measured in years. It’ll be in the next year-year-and-a-half when they’ll get started on that and be working toward all of those connections.”

Having the Tropicana portion of the loop done ahead of the A’s beginning play in Las Vegas in 2028 would be beneficial to all involved.

“Both because you don’t necessarily want to have anymore construction on that site and then I think that it is important to have that as a transportation option as soon as we can in a number of different locations,” Hill said. “If we can connect UNLV and Allegiant Stadium and have the baseball stadium in between, at that point you’ll have connected Mandalay Bay Convention Center, too. So you’ll have the convention center at Mandalay connected to our (Las Vegas) convention center. Which starts to open up the opportunity for shows to get really big and share that kind of space. That leg is a pretty key leg to this system.”

At full buildout the Vegas Loop is expected to feature 68 total miles of tunnels running from Harry Reid International Airport, through the Strip and adjacent areas, into downtown Las Vegas. Plans now call for 104 stations to be included on the loop system, according to the Boring Co.’s website.

Thousands of parking spots

To Hill’s point, nixing the estimated 200 parking spots from Allegiant Stadium’s site shouldn’t have a substantial effect on event attendees, because even without the Boring Co. yet involved, officials have apparently figured out the parking situation using the limited on-site parking and thousands of spots of off-site parking surrounding the 65,000-fan-capacity facility.

There are 21,560 parking spaces available in the vicinity of Allegiant Stadium for any given event. 2,375 of those are on-site at the stadium (Around 2,175 if the 200 spots are eliminated), with 19,185 space available at surrounding lots and resort parking garages, according to a 2023 study conducted for the stadium by Kimely-Horn, an engineering, planning and design consulting firm, with a Las Vegas office.

An estimated 8,600 spaces are needed to accommodate those who drive to a Raiders game.

The study says that when the 200 parking spaces are removed for the Vegas Loop station, there are 21,360 available spaces. When the 8,600 needed for a typical Raiders game are subtracted, 12,760 surplus parking spaces per game are available. Other events and concerts typically need around 6,900 spaces, according to the study.

The average Raiders game sees 54,697 fans, with concerts averaging 44,955 people, other sporting events, such as one-off soccer matches, average 33,302 attendees and UNLV football games average 15,107 fans.

Of those who attend Raiders games, 66 percent are tourists and 34 percent are residents, according to the report. The Regional Transportation Commission’s Gameday Express bus service has proved popular among locals who take in Raiders games, as 12 percent of Las Vegas game attendees take the $4 round trip.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X. Send questions and comments to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com.