By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
This week, Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis told Raiders season ticket holders that no fans would attend team games at new Allegiant Stadium because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
It was not necessarily surprising news, but to see the words in black and white from the team owner in an email was still sobering Monday.
Davis went on Raider Nation radio 920AM to elaborate on the email that the Raiders sent to season ticket holders. Here are his comments.
“Well, early on, about three weeks ago, the NFL made the decision that the first eight rows of fans wouldn’t be able to attend the games. They disregarded our option of putting up hockey glass in the front rows to protect the players from the fans, and just felt that the eight rows of fans were going to be excluded from going.
It just didn’t seem safe to put fans in the stadium at this time. There’s so many variables involved.
“That meant 8,000 Raider PSL holders for the inaugural season wouldn’t be able to attend the first game. That hit me really hard, and I felt at that time that if one fan couldn’t go, then I don’t know if any fan should be able to go. What really sealed it though was the health aspect of this and the uncertainty created by the Coronavirus, and how vicious it’s been — especially in our valley here; it’s growing. It just didn’t seem safe to put fans in the stadium at this time. There’s so many variables involved.”
A big issue is that so many fans would be visitors from other parts of the U.S. In fact, the Raiders and the Las Vegas Stadium Authority believed at least 40 percent of the fans would be people fro outside the market. Davis addressed that issue on 920AM.
“It would’ve been tough to have 65,000 fans, 20,000 fans, or whomever because if they came into that stadium and they left — because we’re going to be having fans fly in from Oakland and Los Angeles — they would be bringing [the virus] back to their home places as well. We just didn’t feel that at this time it’s safe, so we made a very, very tough decision, but it’s a decision that we made.”
Davis told the radio station he didn’t believe he would be going on the road to watch Raiders games.
“In our desire to keep fans engaged this season, we’ve got potential ways of doing things on game days that may include them. That may be potential tailgate parties on a smaller scale, we may even have watch parties or viewing parties. One of the things I was thinking about was, if we did have viewing parties, I would host maybe 25 people who would donate to watch the game with me. If they donated, we could possibly give back to the community, such as the Lupo Center or Opportunity Village.”
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr chatted with the media and answered questions with a friendly tone Tuesday. Here was Carr’s takes on the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact.
Question: After seeing what has happened with the MLB, as a leader on this team have you taken control and expressed to the team to stay safe?
Carr: With football it’s hard to put the 80 guys on a roster in one place. That would be tough. We’re trying to do it the best that we can. This is what our CBA, the owners and the PA, this is what we’ve come up with. We’re doing our best. We’re trying to make the best out of a very tough situation. We know that football can bring some hope to people. I know that when basketball games started, baseball, I’ve been watching Aaron Judge hit bombs every day. When sports are on, it’s a good feeling to be able to watch something and cheer for somebody. We understood that we’re going to do our best to play and all of those things, but we have to be able to be as safe as possible. I have a pregnant wife. A lot of these guys have family members who have high risk conditions, as do I. There are some family members I won’t be able to see until after the season. That’s tough. This is a weird situation never seen before. We’re trying our best. Every chance that I get, I have hand sanitizer, I’m washing my hands, I got my mask on. Whatever they’re telling us to do, we’re just trying to do our best at it.
We understood that we’re going to do our best to play and all of those things, but we have to be able to be as safe as possible. I have a pregnant wife. A lot of these guys have family members who have high risk conditions, as do I. There are some family members I won’t be able to see until after the season. That’s tough.
Question: What are your thoughts on playing in front of an empty stadium? Were you at all thinking about opting out this year?
Carr: So, two part there. One was the fans. [Owner] Mr. Davis came out yesterday and said there won’t be any fans, and I think he said before, a couple weeks ago, it would be all or none. So, I don’t know what the discussions were. I just stick to my job. I don’t know what those discussions were, but I know that if he couldn’t have everybody, he probably didn’t feel right saying you guys can come but you guys can’t. And I think he’s just trying to be as fair and keep everyone as safe as possible. It’s a tough position. I mean, I don’t think we can fault anybody if they opt out, or they don’t opt out. If they say fans, or if they don’t say fans. Everyone is trying to do their best and obviously we’re human and we’re going to see mistakes along the way. But I think Mr. Davis is trying to do his very best to protect our fans, protect the workers at the stadium, protect the players. He’s trying to do the best for everybody, so I commend him. I have a lot to prove to myself. I have a lot to prove to my organization. I am going to be completely honest with you, I’m tired of being disrespected, so there was no question I was going to play this year.
I’m tired of being disrespected, so there was no question I was going to play this year.
Question: What changes are you making on the field due to COVID-19? I saw Drew Brees stopped licking his finger before touching the football.
Carr: Yeah, it’s tough. So, there’s different things you can do. Obviously, some habits are bad. You do that, some centers do it and they have little wipes, these little deals that you can put on the ball every play and that kind of stuff. We’re honestly going through that right now, ‘What’s that look like? What does that wipe do? What if it’s raining and you try that wipe? Does it make the ball just fly out of your hand? Because if that’s the case, then we can’t do that. What if it’s in the runners hand, does it make it slick in his arms?’ Again, this is unseen things. I guess we’re the Guinea Pigs trying to figure this out. We’re trying to figure that out, we all have these little monitors on our arm that as soon as it starts blinking red, you’re too close to somebody. So, everyone sees it and they start backing away from each other.
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