Billionaire who owns Sahara Las Vegas Casino seeks $100 million from Reno for new stadium

(The Center Square) - Billionaire Alex Meruelo is looking to use nearly $100 million in Reno city redevelopment funding for a new multi-use stadium at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The public funds would come from a property tax cut, called Tax Increment Financing, which would take off a significant portion of Meruelo’s $1 billion Grand Sierra Resort expansion project for the casino-hotel. Opponents have argued the stadium project should not be eligible.

“If approved, the GSR arena will be the first arena financed in Nevada through the use of TIF,” said Joshua Hicks, an attorney at McDonald Carano law offices on behalf of competing casinos like Caesars Entertainment.

“The use of TIF for a property specific benefit also appears to be an unprecedented use of TIF," Hicks wrote in his email to the Reno City Council.

Meruelo, who owns the Grand Sierra Resort, made a show of how the off-campus stadium would be free to the University of Nevada at Reno.

“One thing that I made sure that I said over and over again – this arena will not cost the university one dollar,” Meruelo said at the expansion project’s September 2023 announcement, as reported by the Nevada Independent.

Meruelo was the previous owner of the Arizona Coyotes NHL team, but failed to build a stadium for them and left the franchise in 2024. He also owns the Sahara Las Vegas casino and hotel.

The 10,000-seat stadium will cost an estimated $400 million of the total $1 billion project, which includes an expansion to the hotel, an eight-story parking lot and a fan zone, among other amenities around the Grand Sierra Resort in central Reno.

“As many of these parcels are well kept and only serve the resort and guests, there is little need for redevelopment in this area and thus little need for redevelopment funding support,” reported the City of Reno’s Redevelopment Agency in their 2024 status report.

Publicly funded stadiums are common. The $1.9 billion Las Vegas Raiders Allegiant Stadium received $750 million from the state in 2016. This comes despite research that has shown stadiums may not be a good investment for taxpayers, even with the job opportunities they bring.

The McDonald Carano letter did not make an argument against the publicly-funded stadium, but argued the use of TIF funds was possibly illegal.

“As the consideration for TIF at the Project moves forward, at what point will there be a determination of whether the Project falls within a blighted area?” wrote Hicks.

The Grand Sierra project comes as Nevada and the city of Reno face serious financial issues that have put several other projects on hold. Reno alone has projected a $24 million deficit for 2025.

For the time being, the city council appears to want to take the gamble on the Meruelo’s Grand Sierra casino and hotel expansion project to revitalize the city. The redevelopment status of the area is set to expire in 2035, but a bill was introduced in March 2025 that would extend the redevelopment period for 20 more years.

Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve has asked the University of Nevada, Reno and Grand Sierra Resort to make a presentation on the project to the city council on Wednesday.