By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The Las Vegas Raiders’ arrival has not only skyrocketed the franchise’s value thanks to a subsidized stadium and a new lucrative portfolio of stadium sponsors but also triggered beefed-up media coverage in the Las Vegas market.
Sheldon Adelson’s Review-Journal has certainly increased personnel resources for Raiders coverage.
On the radio front, Lotus Broadcasting is a Raiders partner with its 920-AM committed big-time to chatting about the NFL team.
And it seems like every local TV station has some kind of partnership with the Raiders as Channel 8 (CBS), Channel 3 (NBC), Channel 5 (Fox) and Channel 13 (ABC/ESPN) all have pumped up the Raiders content.
Channel 8 is debuting a new Sunday morning show at 8 a.m., “Raiders Pregame Live,” with sports director Chris Maathuis enlisting two local Las Vegas products — former NFL linebacker Brandon Marshall and broadcaster Molly Sullivan — as part of the pregame talent team.
LVSportsBiz.com spoke with Maathuis about the new Sunday morning pregame show:
Marshall attended Cimarron-Memorial High School and the University of Nevada, Reno before he was drafted in 2012 by the Jacksonville Jaguars. He later played for the Denver Broncos and ended his career with the Raiders. Maathuis said Marshall is expected to add lots of insider analysis to the Raiders pregame show.
Meanwhile, Molly Sullivan — who interned at KLAS 19 years ago, Maathuis said — will also be part of the pregame team. She spent eight years in Philadelphia covering the NFL and NBA.
Marshall and Sullivan will join Channel 8’s sports staffers Jon Tritsch, Kevaney Martin and Ron Futrell and sports director Maathuis on the Sunday morning Raiders show.
The Raiders play the Carolina Panthers Sunday, then will inaugurate its new palatial domed stadium — Allegiant Stadium — on Monday Night Football Sept. 21 when the New Orleans Saints come to Las Vegas.
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