By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The first week in September will be a busy college football week at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas because BYU is playing Arizona on Sept. 4 only two days after UNLV’s football team is scheduled to host the Eastern Washington Eagles on a rare Thursday night game Sept. 2.
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted Raiders owner Mark Davis to not have any fans at the stadium for the Raiders’ inaugural season ion 2020, and the UNLV football team had two home games there with 2,000 fans at each game under a very limited capacity scenario approved by local Clark County health officials.
College sports will be big in Las Vegas in the autumn.
In college basketball, Michigan is scheduled to play in a four-team event at T-Mobile Arena. The Roman Main Event is set for Nov. 19-21, featuring hometown team UNLV, Arizona and Wichita State in addition to Michigan.
“We are always looking to challenge ourselves during the non-conference to prepare us for the Big Ten,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard said. “The Roman Main Event is not only going to be a fun and exciting environment; it is going to give all four teams the opportunity to really test themselves early on in November.”
In addition, a college basketball heavyweight battle in Las Vegas matches brand-name powerhouses Duke and Gonzaga. The two programs will meet for a 2021 – 2022 season matchup on Nov. 26, 2021 at T-Mobile Arena.
Gonzaga is annual visitor to Las Vegas during the West Coast Conference tournament at Orleans Arena. The Zags, in fact, defeated BYU just last night to go 26-0 and enter the Big Dance as a very likely number one seed.
The Raiders run the $2 billion stadium project, which included $750 million in public dollars to build. The 65,000-seat domed stadium was completed in late July during the pandemic.