Pigeon Enjoys Visit To Allegiant Stadium Press Box During Raiders-Bills Game Sunday
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
You won’t find football fans at Las Vegas Raiders games at Allegiant Stadium.
But you will find a pigeon enjoying the fine palatial stadium ambiance in the press box at Raiders games.
At Sunday’s Raiders-Buffalo Bills game, a pigeon landed in the south press box, visited the laptop of a Raiders worker and had his or her run of the area reserved for credentialed media.
As Southern Nevada Sports Hall-of-Famer and Gaming Today Senior Editor Steve Carp wisely asked on Twitter, “Where’s his credential?”
Animals are hardly new to stadium press boxes.
I worked for The Denver Post in the mid-1990s when a raccoon cane crashing through the Mile High Stadium press box. The Broncos used the raccoon invasion as one of many examples of Mile High Stadium getting too old and need of replacement.
Here in Las Vegas, a pigeon or two has been known to visit Cashman Field’s press box in downtown Las Vegas.
But Cashman is an open-air sports venue, while the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium is a fix-domed building.
If the Raiders’ fancy new digs that cost $2 billion to build has a roof, how did the pigeon get in? (And will the Raiders hit the pigeon up for a personal seat license fee?)
A press box occupant at the Rasiders-Bills game theorized the pigeon entered the premises by coming through the stadium opening when the Raiders’ retractable grass playing field is rolled into the venue.
And don’t forget — the stadium has mammoth doors on the venue’s north side that opens. The bird could have easily zipped into the stadium when those doors behind the Al Davis memorial torch were open, as they are at times.
It’s not known where the Raiders stadium pigeon has a name.
Sports venue cameraman David Schlager on Facebook noted a bird entered T-Mobile Arena in Vegas Golden Knights’ Season One and was dubbed by the in-game entertainment staff as, “Cody Beakin.”
The LVSportsBiz.com suggestion for the pigeon’s name is “Derek Carrier,” named for the Raiders’ 30-year-old tight end from Beloit.
This from the NFL Thursday. The NFL announced today the following scheduling changes for Week 5:
The Denver Broncos at New England Patriots game will be played on Monday, October 12 at 5:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.
The Buffalo Bills at Tennessee Titans game will be played on Tuesday, October 13 at 7:00 p.m. ET on CBS.
These scheduling decisions were made to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel and in consultation with medical experts.
Should the Buffalo-Tennessee game be played on Tuesday night, the Week 6 Kansas City Chiefs at Buffalo Bills game scheduled for Thursday, October 15 will be moved to later in the weekend.
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