By james art 
Grand Sierra Resort
The city of Reno will “take the next steps toward possibly approving funds” for the new arena at Grand Sierra Resort, voting Wednesday “to move forward with sending this project to the next step — which will get a third-party review and more information.” according to RENO GAZETTE JOURNAL’s Krajewski & Young. “There is no deal on the table and no approval yet,” but with this vote, the city “approved staff to continue talking with Grand Sierra Resort to explore how this project will affect the city GSR “hopes to begin construction on the arena in the spring of 2025 and have it ready for Nevada basketball in the fall of 2027,” with the entire project completed by 2035. The proposed funding plan, with an increase of taxes in the application required $97 million, which is 9.7 percent of the total project value of $1 billion. This amount “may be further negotiated in the final deal.” When the project was announced in September 2023, UNR president former Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said, “There will be no public dollars invested in the construction of this facility.” However, Meruelo Gaming’s chief strategy officer Andrew Dees reiterated Wednesday that they “never said they wouldn’t ask for public financing” (RENO GAZETTE JOURNAL, 10/24).
FINDING FUNDS: In Phoenix, Brandon Brown noted that Grand Sierra Resort owner Alex Meruelo and his team said when the Reno project was first announced that it “will be 100 percent privately funded.” A statement released by Grand Sierra Resort on Wednesday said Meruelo “is not asking the city for general fund revenue and the city is not being asked to issue bonds for the project.” He also said that the Univ. of Nevada “will not be asked to fund any aspect of the project.” Brown notes that when Meruelo proposed building arenas and entertainment districts in Tempe and Phoenix in 2023 and 2024, he also “claimed they would be 100 percent privately funded.” Although he “never asked for direct funds, he suggested using some creative funding that would ease the financial burden of the project.” Meruelo, the former Coyotes owner, still owns the AHL Tucson Roadrunners and suggested the team “could move from Arizona to Reno — especially with the addition of an ice rink to the development plans” (PHOENIX BUSINESS JOURNAL, 10/24).