Stadium That People Thought Hosted Final College Football Game In Las Vegas Is Home For Five Games During COVID-19 Pandemic; San Jose State 34 Boise State 20 Saturday
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
At 50 years old, she’s not a glamorous, young beauty like new palatial Allegiant Stadium. But ol’ Sam Boyd Stadium near the Las Vegas Wash and Wetlands Park has come in handy during these unpredictable and frustrating COVID-19 pandemic times.
On a nice late-autumn afternoon in metro Las Vegas, two Mountain West Conference teams — “host” San Jose State led by quarterback Nick Starkel and traditional football powerhouse Boise State — were matched in the conference’s title game Saturday. San Jose State knocked off conference kingpin Boise State, 34-20, after the Spartans placekicker Matt Mecurio kicked four field goals in the second quarter, while Starkel sparkled. The San Jose State Spartans improved to 7-0 with the conference championship win.
UNLV thought it played the last game at Sam Boyd Stadium in 2019 against San Jose State of all teams when the Rebels staged a wild, topsy-turvy comeback to win 38-35.
UNLV moved to the Raiders’ luxurious Allegiant Stadium and played its first football game on Halloween, when 2,000 fans watched the Rebels lose to the Nevada, Reno Wolf Pack in the first game at Allegiant Stadium that had fans.
But while Allegiant Stadium drew all the attention and was used by UNLV for three Mountain West home games, Sam Boyd Stadium came off the bench to host no less than five games in the past two months, including today’s San Jose State-Boise State match-up. The stadium is not near the Strip, but the FOX Sports broadcast showed a nice sunset visual that included Las Vegas Boulevard and its famed hotel-casinos around 4:30 PM. No fans attended today’s game at Sam Boyd Stadium.
The University of New Mexico spent more than 40 days at Lake Las Vegas in a quasi-bubble and paid UNLV $30,000 a game to use Sam Boyd Stadium for three Mountain West Conference games because of COVID-19 problems back in New Mexico. The Lobos played three games at Sam Boyd, winning two and losing one.
And when Santa Clara County in California enacted coronavirus restrictions on sports teams, San Jose State moved out-of-state to Las Vegas to play Nevada last week and Boise State today.
Assuming San Jose State paid the same $30,000 per-game cost to use Sam Boyd Stadium on game day, UNLV generated $150,000 in revenue from renting out the 40,000-fan stadium for the three New Mexico games and the two San Jose State games.
Boise State hosted last year’s Mountain West championship game. There’s never been a Mountain West title game at Sam Boyd Stadium. For today’s game with San Jose State as the home team, stadium workers painted the Spartans logo at the 50 yard-lone and “San Jose State” in the end zones Thursday.
Sam Boyd Stadium is a utilitarian venue that has hosted concerts and motocross races throughout the years. It has bleachers for seating, with an open club level in a tower on the stadium’s west side that also includes the press box.
It’s surrounded by flat desert land and the wash, a large park and residential neighborhoods, nowhere near the glitz and sparkle of the Las Vegas Strip.
But during this COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed the lives of more than 300,000 Americans, the solid venue has come in handy for five college football games because of COVID-19 problems in other states.
It’s the final time Sam Boyd Stadium will be used for a college football game this season. The Las Vegas Bowl was moved from Sam Boyd Stadium to Allegiant Stadium, but the bowl game’s owner — ESPN Events — canceled the Las Vegas Bowl because of COVID-19 issues.
The future of Sam Boyd Stadium? No high school football.
