Ol’ Sam Boyd Stadium Comes Out Of Mothballs To Host Three New Mexico Games and San Jose State vs Nevada Matchup Friday
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Don’t bury good ol’ Sam Boyd Stadium quite yet.
Sure, it’s not exactly an architectural gem and lacks the fancy amenities of new Allegiant Stadium. But the practical sports venue near the Las Vegas Wash and the county’s Wetlands Park has come off the bench to host four Mountain West Conference football games this year — two New Mexico “home” games and another two games scheduled back-to-back for Friday when San Jose State plays Nevada at Reno and Saturday night when New Mexico plays Fresno State.
New Mexico moved its football program to Las Vegas on Nov. 2 because of COVID-19 infection problems in its state, staying at the Hilton Lake Las Vegas and playing its “home” games at UNLV’s Sam Boyd Stadium.
New Mexico will play three games in Las Vegas during this pandemic Mountain West season — the same number of football games played by UNLV in its home city because the Rebels’ fourth game at Allegiant Stadium against Boise State scheduled for Friday four days ago was scrubbed because of novel coronavirus problems.
Sam Boyd Stadium is a 40,000-person capacity venue that has hosted other sports events like international rugby matches and motocross races. It has bleacher-style outdoor seating, but it does have a tower on one side of the stadium that does offer an open club-style level and a spacious media level.
New Mexico has not had a single positive COVID-19 case since moving to Las Vegas, showing that its bubble-style environment could be a good model for the National Football League to emulate.
The back-to-back football games at Sam Boyd on Friday and Saturday is only the second time the old stadium has hosted football games on two consecutive days. The stadium hosted a UNLV football game and UFL championship game back-to-back years ago.
New Mexico pays a fee to cover the costs of using the stadium, but UNLV Athletics spokesman Andy Grossman said he did not have a number on the cost. It’s also unclear what San Jose State is paying to host Nevada at Sam Boyd Stadium Friday. And Grossman said he doesn’t know what UNLV paid the Raiders to use Allegiant Stadium for its three football games at the new domed stadium three miles from campus.
The New Mexico Lobos’ sponsor signage and branding are in place at Sam Boyd Stadium and will stay that way through Friday’s non New Mexico game that matches San Jose State and Nevada. Interestingly enough, the Nevada football team has already played at Sam Boyd Stadium when it played New Mexico last month.
Nevada also played a third game in Las Vegas, defeating UNLV on the Rebels’ first game at Allegiant Stadium on Oct. 31. It was the first game at Allegiant Stadium with fans because the Las Vegas Raiders do not have fans at their NFL games at the new domed stadium.
