By Alan Snel
LVSportsBiz.com
The top act in Las Vegas is neither Bruno Mars, Bark-Andre Furry nor Cher. It’s a $1.9 billion football stadium construction project that is luring all types of photographers, from the pros with high-powered camera equipment to amateurs who park their Hyundais with flashers on Hacienda Avenue and break out their iPhones from the Hacienda bridge.
Las Vegan Dennis Drzyzga carefully spelled out his last name for LVSportsBiz.com Saturday morning before explaining that he drives to the Raiders stadium site every Saturday at 8 a.m. to take photos of the construction work from five perimeter locations on the west side of Interstate 15 across from Mandalay Bay casino-hotel.
Drzyzga, a 62-year-old card dealer and artist, has been making this weekly pilgrimage since the stadium’s groundbreaking on Nov. 13, 2017. He showed thousands of photos of the construction scenes that are stored in his cell phone.
This morning, one of the five stadium photo spots was at the Hacienda Avenue bridge spanning Interstate 15, where he parked his car and snapped photos from the sidewalk. It’s a popular location for many photographers, including local newspaper photographers who join dozens of others during the week to document the massive stadium project that is projected to be completed by July 31, 2020. Many fans will walk the Hacienda Avenue bridge from the Strip to reach the stadium after it opens next year.
In fact, photos of the stadium construction site have even been popping up on social media sites, the handiwork of I-15 motorists who are snapping photos as they cruise the interstate.
Then, there are the drone operators like Brett Gentry, who calls himself a “master video mechanic” and has his own business, Video Hot Rod.
Gentry was also in action Saturday morning shortly after 8 a.m., shooting footage from a new drone. He said his drone footage is used by a video company contracted by the Raiders to document the stadium construction story.
The stadium authority board has a meeting at 11:30 a.m. Monday. LVSportsBiz.com will be there to hear the Raiders’ update on the stadium project.
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