Las Vegas and Raiders Officially Make Their Mark As One Phrase This Week With NFL Draft Merchandise; New Stadium Getting All Lit Up
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The Las Vegas Raiders made their presence known in their new market on several fronts this week.
Veteran photographer Tom Donoghue documented the Raiders’ new Allegiant Stadium all lit up this week. Here are some of his photos.
The Raiders stadium has been in the news because two construction workers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus that has claimed the lives of 206 Nevadans and infected 4,539 state residents as of Friday.
While the 65,000-seat domed stadium gets a lot of attention, the Raiders are also making strides in building its headquarters and training center based in Henderson near the Henderson executive airport. Tom also captured some photos there. The Raiders received a break in the land price from the city of Henderson and then turned around and sold the headquarters to a company that is leasing the building back to the NFL team.
The Raiders also made a big splash with their draft picks, including wide receiver Henry Ruggs III who put on the first ever hat bearing the words, “Las Vegas Raiders.” The official 2020 Las Vegas Raiders Draft hat — which is the first merchandise showing Las Vegas and Raiders together — is not available to fans. Here’s Ruggs with the Las Vegas Raiders cap Thursday night when the Raiders made him the 12th pick on the first round of the NFL Draft, which was held in virtual reality form instead of being staged on the Strip in Las Vegas. The Draft will come to Las Vegas in 2022.
Here’s local Las Vegas Raiders fan, Joey, sporting the new cap with the Welcome to Las Vegas sign logo on the side this week.
The Raiders’ first draft as a Las Vegas-based NFL franchise:
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said metro Las Vegas deserved to host the draft after it was scrubbed from the Strip this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic: “This was an easy decision. We had a hole in the (draft) schedule,” he told ESPN. Cleveland will host the NFL Draft in 2021 before Las Vegas will get its crack at playing host to the event in two years.
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