By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
It began with the Nevada Legislature and former Gov. Brian Sandoval approving a hotel room stadium tax in 2016 to help build a new venue for the Raiders in Las Vegas near the Strip.
And today, the day after Christmas 2020, the Las Vegas Raiders marked another milestone by playing the final home game in their inaugural season at the palatial 65,000-seat domed stadium.
The joy of inaugurating this stunning domed $2 billion football stadium with an impressive Monday Night Football win over New Orleans Saints way back in September was replaced with an ugly, painful loss to the Miami Dolphins, 26-25, Saturday night.
With no fans in the stadium, the cheers of the Dolphins players when Miami placekicker Jason Sanders booted a game-winning field goal with a second left in the game were clearly heard way up here in the press box.
Raiders coach Jon Gruden’s voice dripped with disappointment after the game when he talked with the media. Gruden said he had no regrets about his decisions in the last few minutes.
“I just regret the results,” Gruden said.
It’s hard to swallow right now. It’s a terrible way to lose a game. I really admired the way we compete, but until we start closing out games we will continue to be disappointed. That’s a reflection on me obviously. I don’t regret taking a knee. We wanted to give the Dolphins the ball with as little time left as possible with no timeouts. I thought we did that, 19 seconds left on our 25-yard line. They made a desperation play, and we had a penalty on top of that. It’s inexcusable. I’ll be happy to answer any questions I can. — Raiders coach Jon Gruden
It was a Shoots-and-Ladders four years with local casino tycoon and billionaire Sheldon Adelson dropping out of the Raiders stadium funding deal to more than 1,000 construction workers assembling this stadium during a pandemic to the Raiders christening this subsidized venue with a jubilant win over the playoff-bound Saints on Monday Night Football in September. Southern Nevada contributed $750 million in public dollars to help build the stadium.
But the Raiders’ 6-3 start, which included wins over the Saints, world champion Chiefs and postseason-bound Cleveland Browns fizzled into a mediocre 7-8 record as the Las Vegas franchise lost five of the last six games. The only win in the last half-dozen games was a miracle victory over the hapless New York Jets in the swamps of north New Jersey Dec. 6.
The Raiders are officially eliminated from the playoffs and probably enraged the Baltimore Ravens with tonight’s loss to the Miami Dolphins, which entered this weekend tied with the Ravens for the final playoff spot in the AFC but held the tie-breaker over the Ravens to play in the postseason.
Tonight’s Raiders loss mirrored the Raiders’ rollercoaster season, a back-and-forth game that involved lulls of action punctuated with several WTH plays that challenged the imagination in the final four minutes. An 85-yard touchdown pass from Raiders quarterback Derek Carr to receiver Nelson Agholor followed by a missed extra point. A massive Raiders’ defensive breakdown on a Miami 59-yard touchdown pass late in the game. A dumb facemask penalty by the Raiders on the Dolphins backup quarterback with seconds to go in the game. It all added up to a difficult loss to swallow for the Las Vegas Raiders thanks to an opposition quarterback with the nickname, “FitzMagic.”
While TV viewers hear the canned crowd noise, here in the stadium it’s relatively quiet with the exception of players’ cheers and the PA announcer’s words that tend to reverberate around the indoor, fan-free building.
The product on the field may look familiar on TV but the product in the venue is completely different creature without the screaming fans because of the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 Americans. Raiders owner Mark Davis said if all fans could not attend home games because of the novel coronavirus then none would.
Some Raiders fans do come to the stadium to be outside and be as physically as close as they can to the football field that slides in and out of the stadium on a retractable tray on rollers.
The Raiders had the stadium doors open four hours before the 5:20 PM game in Las Vegas. From inside the stadium, it offered a direct view of I-15 and the Strip on the east side of the interstate. But the doors were closed about two hours before the game.
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, who injured his groin in a loss against the LA Chargers last week last week, is on the field and stretching with team during pregame warmups.
Raiders stadium personal license holders representing the fans in all 50 state and six foreign countries who bought a PSL light the Al Davis torch before Raiders-Dolphins game.
Halftime: Raiders 13 Dolphins 6