LAS VEGAS – As the Raiders celebrate their five-year anniversary in Las Vegas, it\u2019s safe to say the move has been a rousing success for the franchise, the NFL and Southern Nevada.<\/p>\n
The idea to relocate from Oakland, Calif., was conceived almost 10 years ago, when Raiders owner Mark Davis and the late Sheldon Adelson began working together on a plan to build a state-of-the art stadium that they thought would transform Las Vegas into a preeminent sports and entertainment hub.<\/p>\n
Now, a city once considered too taboo and too small to be the home for an NFL franchise has emerged as one of the league\u2019s most prominent markets.<\/p>\n
\u201cVegas has been a home run for the NFL,\u201d Stephen Jones, the Dallas Cowboys\u2019 chief operating officer and co-owner, said recently at the league\u2019s spring meetings. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing but pluses.\u201d<\/p>\n
One could even say it has been a grand slam. Within four years of the Raiders\u2019 move, Las Vegas and Allegiant Stadium have hosted a Super Bowl, an NFL draft and two Pro Bowls – the top three events on the league\u2019s yearly calendar.<\/p>\n
Super Bowl 58, played Feb. 11, 2024, was so well-received that the NFL wants to return for a second one, perhaps as soon as 2029. The game, in which the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in overtime for their second straight championship, was the most-watched program in American TV history.<\/p>\n
The backdrop of the Strip provided worldwide invaluable advertising for the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure we\u2019ll be back,\u201d NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said at the spring meetings.<\/p>\n
An announcement could come this year.<\/p>\n
The franchise\u2019s value also has soared since it changed addresses in 2020. One year before NFL owners approved the move to Las Vegas, Forbes\u2019 valuation for the franchise was $1.8 billion, ranking 31st in the NFL. Last year, the Raiders ranked seventh with a valuation of $6.7 billion.<\/p>\n
Ticket brokers have thrived, too. On the secondary market, Raiders tickets have been among the hottest-selling in the NFL the past five years, as fans plan weekend trips to the entertainment capital of the world.<\/p>\n
The rest of the sports and entertainment world is also tapping in. Allegiant Stadium and Las Vegas recently produced the most successful WrestleMania weekend of all time, and there is talk of professional wrestling\u2019s signature event returning next year.<\/p>\n
College football will play its national championship game in January 2027 at Allegiant Stadium. The NCAA men\u2019s basketball Final Four will be played in April 2028 at Allegiant.<\/p>\n
It all has created a financial windfall for the valley.<\/p>\n
According to Jeremy Aguero of Applied Analysis, 5.4 million people have attended 134 events at Allegiant Stadium since the venue opened to fans in 2021 through the end of 2024. Half of those attendees were from out of town, of which 2.3 million were visitors who traveled to Las Vegas primarily to attend the stadium event. Local residents make up the other 2.7 million attendees.<\/p>\n
The incremental visitors spent an estimated $3.4 billion on rooms, food, beverages, entertainment and other tourism-related activities. When the impact of tourism-related vendors and tourism employees\u2019 spending in the community are combined, the economic impact of Allegiant Stadium totals $5.7 billion.<\/p>\n
Part of the pledge from state and local leaders upon approving the $750 million in public funding for Allegiant Stadium, which was raised by Clark County bond proceeds and room-tax revenue, was the financial impact the stadium would create.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis not only exceeds the project\u2019s expectations, but places Allegiant Stadium in the top tier of major event centers in the United States,\u201d Aguero said. \u201cThat\u2019s a credit to the fulfilled promises of the Raiders\u2019 organization and the vision of state and local leaders that made it possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO Steve Hill said: \u201cIt\u2019s been an absolute game changer for this city.\u201d<\/p>\n
The seeds of a deal<\/p>\n
The NHL\u2019s Golden Knights will forever deserve credit for being the first team to prove Las Vegas could house a major professional sports franchise.<\/p>\n
Since first taking the ice in 2017, they have become one of the league\u2019s best teams and one of the hottest tickets in town. The 41 regular-season games they play each season at packed T-Mobile Arena showed that Southern Nevada and its nearly 3 million residents could support a professional team.<\/p>\n
But Las Vegas always aspired to be a sports and entertainment capital that could attract the biggest events in the world. There was just one hang-up: A stadium large enough to accommodate those events.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d had conversations about building a stadium and hoping someone would see the merits of moving here,\u201d Hill said. \u201cBut that didn\u2019t seem like a path that was going to materialize.\u201d<\/p>\n
Few could have forecast it, but in early 2016, a door was about to crack open that would alter the landscape and perception of Las Vegas forever.<\/p>\n
The Raiders were running out of options after failing in their decades-long quest to build a state-of-the-art stadium in Oakland and in their relocation bid to Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
The failed Los Angeles pursuit did not leave Davis empty-handed, though. As part of the process, he proved to the NFL the dysfunction and dead ends he was dealing with in the Bay Area. The league granted Davis permission to relocate as a result. That gave him the right to approach any market with a pledge that the franchise would move there if a stadium was built.<\/p>\n
Around that same time, Davis had a conversation with former Raiders running back Napoleon McCallum about his frustration with the team\u2019s stadium plight. McCallum, who was working with the Adelson-owned Las Vegas Sands Corp., one of the most powerful entities in Nevada, immediately had a thought: What if the company devised a plan to bring the Raiders to Las Vegas?<\/p>\n
The idea was eventually broached to Adelson and the Sands investment committee, and the consensus was to move forward on the project.<\/p>\n
Always had eye on Las Vegas<\/p>\n
Las Vegas had always been an intriguing possibility for Davis and then-Raiders president Marc Badain. They had charted the city\u2019s longstanding ability to reinvent itself while also weaving in big-time sporting events. (Las Vegas has long been considered the boxing capital of the world.)<\/p>\n
In some ways, the seed of bringing the Raiders to Las Vegas had already been planted.<\/p>\n
\u201cMark deserves all the credit for that,\u201d said Badain, now overseeing the Las Vegas relocation of MLB\u2019s Athletics. \u201cHe was always bullish on Las Vegas. If you just came here on a week-to-week basis, and you saw what the city was capable of in terms of its chameleon-like ability to become the host for any particular event for a week and then change the next week, you just saw the potential for what that could do for any sports brand.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two major hurdles were the gambling implications and convincing Nevada leaders of the merits of cofinancing a state-of-the-art facility. But on the Raiders\u2019 side was Adelson, who had the juice to facilitate such a deal, and he and Davis formed an investment partnership to bring the franchise to Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
Adelson eventually pulled out of the deal over a disagreement with the Raiders\u2019 proposed lease agreement, but not before he and his team had completed most of the work with Nevada leaders to secure the $750 million in public funding for the $1.9 billion Allegiant Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ability and mindset to get things done in Las Vegas is second to none,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n
Not long after Adelson backed out, Davis reached an investment deal with Bank of America to help fill the funding gap. NFL owners unanimously approved the relocation in March 2017.<\/p>\n
The Raiders landed in Las Vegas three years later, and the valley has been host to marquee events since then.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of that happens without the Raiders and Allegiant Stadium leading the way,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n
Building a local fan base<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s a negative with the Raiders playing in Las Vegas, it\u2019s that the team doesn\u2019t always have a home-field advantage.<\/p>\n
Davis mentioned at the time of the move that it could be a problem because of the allure of Las Vegas for fans of opposing teams. Plus, the Raiders have produced just one winning season and one playoff appearance since moving, giving fans of the Silver and Black all the more reason to sell their tickets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho doesn\u2019t want to go to Vegas?\u201d said Jones, whose Cowboys will make their first regular-season visit to Allegiant Stadium this season.<\/p>\n
Said NFL vice president Peter O\u2019Reilly: \u201cIt\u2019s a testament to the city. And I hear this from fans all over the place, a testament to how great the Allegiant Stadium experience is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis is hopeful of a day when Allegiant Stadium is packed primarily with Raiders fans. He understands the onus is on him to build a winning team that compels Raiders fans to keep their tickets.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to take time to build the local fan base, and I think really what we need to do is (reach the youth) and make the Raiders their team,\u201d Davis said. \u201cAnd then in 10 to 20 years, we will be fully invested in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Disclosure<\/p>\n
The Review-Journal is owned by the Adelson family, including Dr. Miriam Adelson, majority shareholder of Las Vegas Sands Corp., and Las Vegas Sands President and COO Patrick Dumont.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS – As the Raiders celebrate their five-year anniversary in Las Vegas, it\u2019s safe to say the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2065],"tags":[5686,265,7,1744,393,2455,2454,122,634,6,4917,25403,525,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-97374","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-las-vegas-raiders","8":"tag-allegiant-stadium","9":"tag-american-football","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-las-vegas","12":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","13":"tag-lasvegas","14":"tag-lasvegasraiders","15":"tag-national-football-league","16":"tag-national-football-league-teams","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-oakland-raiders","19":"tag-oakland-raiders-relocation-to-las-vegas","20":"tag-raiders","21":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114612177762675166","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}