Clark County buys back Sam Boyd Stadium site from UNLV for $5M
Clark County commissioners on Monday unanimously approved spending $5 million to acquire the 69-acre Sam Boyd Stadium site from UNLV.
The land deal was on the consent agenda, and there was no conversation on the matter before it was approved.
As part of a joint use agreement with the Raiders and the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, UNLV was barred from using Sam Boyd Stadium for any purpose in exchange for being able to play in Allegiant Stadium starting in 2020.
The $5 million price was set after UNLV and Clark County commissioned separate third-party appraisals for the land. In 2023, UNLV received an appraisal that valued the land at $10.4 million. The county received an appraisal in 2023 that valued the land at $0.
The two sides met in the middle to help offset $20 million in upgrades that UNLV made to the stadium over the years, and for the $500,000 the school spent per year to maintain the abandoned stadium since 2020.
Clark County owned Sam Boyd when it opened in 1971, with UNLV football playing in it as a “stadium user” until 1985, when the county transferred ownership of the site to the university for no fee. The Bureau of Land Management owned the land before the county and controls most of the land surrounding the site.
The BLM has a public use clause on the land, which limits what could be developed there. Because of that, transferring the land back to Clark County was the best route to go, UNLV president Kieth Whitfield said last month to the Nevada Board of Regents, which approved the land deal.
UNLV will put the $5 million into a “quasi endowment,” where the school would have flexibility for where it is used, Whitfield said last month.
Some areas that the funding will go toward are women’s sports, infrastructure, student financial aid and support programs.
It is unclear what Clark County has planned for the stadium site, but documents from a regents meeting last year indicated that nearby Silver Bowl Park could be expanded, or the land could be used for community infrastructure needs.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
