Builder says Raiders stadium on track to be finished by July

LAS VEGAS — The $2 billion stadium being built near the Las Vegas Strip for the NFL’s Oakland Raiders is not expected to have a roof in place until April but should be finished in summer.

Don Webb, the chief operating officer of a Raiders subsidiary that’s building the stadium, said the facility is still expected to be finished July 31.

Webb told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that about 1,000 workers are constructing the stadium six days a week. The laborers have 43,000 tasks and are ahead of their projected completion dates, he said.

Workers this week were preparing two levels of luxury box seating and readying the field-level of the venue, including rails that will help roll a massive tray holding the field into place.

The tray is a 9,500-ton 4-foot-tall container that will hold grass, sand and gravel, along with irrigation and drainage systems. It will be rolled into the stadium for games on 13 rails through a 14-by-240-foot opening at the southern part of the stadium.

Workers have also begun working on an 85-foot “torch” sculpture that will pay tribute to Al Davis, the former Raiders owner, in the stadium’s north end.

The Raiders plans to start playing at the 65,000-seat indoor stadium just off the Las Vegas Strip in 2020.

It’s been named Allegiant Stadium for Allegiant Travel Co., the parent company of low-cost air carrier Allegiant Air.

The Raiders franchise has also spent more than $28 million to acquire several parking lots and commercial buildings near the stadium.

Officials say only 2,725 spaces are expected to be available on-site.