Is Don Webb Lying to the Media About the Status of the Raiders Stadium in Las Vegas

The  Allegiant Stadium Roof Raising is Delayed - But That's Not the Issue

The preciseness of the process leaves little room for error." - Las Vegas Review-Journal, Don Webb, COO Mortenson Construction - McCarthy Builders in Las Vegas

Las Vegas, NV - The Las Vegas Raiders Allegiant Stadium is $200 million over budget. 

 August 30th, 2019: Rick Velotta from the Las Vegas Review-Journal interviewed Don Webb  and wrote that the roof raising was to begin in September and completed by the end of October . It was a very nice article, you should check it out. Great job, Rick.

September 1st : No Roof Raising.

September 15th : No Roof Raising

October 1st: No Roof Raising

October 2nd: The Jedi notified Rick that the crew had not begun lifting the roof. Rick said the raising of the roof was delayed because Don Webb "may have been a little over-confident" when scheduling the roof lifting in September.

October 7th: No visible roof raising but we were assured that the roof was raising.

October 8th: Don Webb assured Rick that they already began lifting the roof on October 7th. Rick said that he would "get down to the stadium later in the week to take some photos".  Rick, what happened to the photos?

Don Webb stated in the Las Vegas Review-Journal that raising the roof is extremely complicated, comparing the process to a 17-acre Swiss watch."

There is a construction schedule. There are other contractors that need to do work on the field. Like a domino effect, the other contractors won't be able to do their work if the roof is not completed by the end of October, causing further delays.  Don Webb stated in the Las Vegas Review-Journal that raising the roof is extremely complicated, comparing the process to a 17-acre Swiss watch.

Lifting the Roof will take 6 Weeks, Raising 4 Feet Each Day

The crew will raise the roof 4 feet each day for 6 weeks.  If the crew began raising the roof on October 7th, then on October 12th, the roof would be about 20 to 25 feet in the air. These screen caps were taken from the Mortenson / McCarthy website on October 12th, 2019 :

Screen cap showing cabe roof on the field.

Don Webb, COO at McCarthy-Mortenson Construction, told reporters that the roof raising began on October 7th, 2019.

The "roof raising" process will take 6 weeks. Each day, they will raise the roof 4 feet.

If the "roof raising" began on October 7th, 2019 then the roof would be about 8 -12 feet off the ground.

The roof cables do not appear to be lifting yet.

Regardless of whether Don Webb began lifting the roof on October 7th, 2019 is no longer an issue. There is a construction schedule.  Don Webb told Mick Akers from the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the roof raising would begin in September and end by October:

Aug 6th 2019: An article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal by Mick Akers tells us that the cable net process was to begin in September and scheduled to wrap up by the end of October. As of today, the roof is still on the ground.

If there is a construction schedule, then there are other contractors who will need access to the field starting in November. 

When VitalVegas.com tweeted that the roof was 80-100 days behind schedule, Mick Akers from the Las Vegas Review-Journal accused Vital Vegas of spreading lies:

Mick Akers accused Vital Vegas of spreading fake news regarding the roof raising delays.

This brings up another issue: Why would a verified journalist, responsible to the public for reporting on the status of the taxpayer funded stadium, quickly rush to smear the reputation of a reputable blogger? Vital Vegas won the "Best Blogger of the Year" in 2014.

Journalism, like sales or bartending, requires a set a principles.  Bartenders have a huge a huge responsibly serving their guests honestly and responsibly. Sales people use their charm to help people get what they want.  However, A salesperson who uses their charm to knowingly sell a person a bad product or service, is just as bad as bartender who over-serves because he/she doesn't want to lose their tips. There is an unwritten code of  ethics in certain professions. Journalism is one of them.

View social media as a huge Great Gatsby party where everyone is invited.  Imagine a group of people discussing the stadium.  Scott Roeben is holding center court.  He says, "I heard that the roof is delayed 80-100 days".  Another person adds, "Yea, some aluminum tools were stolen that have a 90 day turn around".  Wow. Pretty engaging conversation.  There are a lot of people listening. Then, Mick Akers over hears the people talking. He rushes over the see what the fuss is about.  

"Oh, not Scott Roeben from Vital Vegas", he thinks to himself. "Whats that wanna-be journalist saying now..."

He listens in for a moment and then immediately blurts out "THAT'S 100 PERCENT FALSE!" and points his finger at Scott. The crowd is silent for a second. Everyone turns to Mick. They realize that it's the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Scott appears stunned.  Now, he's not sure if his information is correct or not.  "But Mick is verified and I quote his articles", he thinks to himself.  A conundrum.

The crowed starts to take sides.  Several of them side behind Mick and start attack Scoyt. They call him all sorts of names. Mick just stands by and watches. He doesn't provide any further information.

Anyways, who knows why Mick attacked VitalVegas' reputation. The fact is that the public needs to know what is happening with a publicly funded stadium. ​

Commentary: God invented newspapers and Satan invented the Internet.  We are working together now

Mick Akers full article stating the upcoming Milestones for Allegiant Stadium. Roof was set to be raised and completed by October.