By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Garth Brooks fan Kassie Griffith loves the country singer.
But she doesn’t love the prospect of finding reasonably-priced parking near Allegiant Stadium, where 65,000 Garth fans, including Griffith and her pals, are expected to visit Saturday.
It’s the first true test of the parking and traffic infrastructure serving the Las Vegas Raiders’ domed NFL stadium on the west side of I-15 off the Strip and across the interstate from Mandalay Bay. Stadium workers are looking at the Garth Brooks concert at the venue as a test run for a Las Vegas Raiders preseason game and nine Raiders regular season games.
LVSportsBiz reported from inside Allegiant Stadium at last Saturday’s Illenium concert event. But the techno electronic music concert attracted about 35,000 people — not 65,000 — and most of the 35K fans were people in the 18-25 age group who were out-of-towners and who did not use their cars to get to the stadium.
Stadium observers believe a little more than half of the 65,000 Garth Brooks fans will be Vegas visitors and will rely on all means of transportation to reach the stadium — from hoofing it along a closed Hacienda Avenue from the Strip to using the Raiders’ array of satellite parking lots to calling Uber.
Many fans are not keen on paying the $100 parking charge for the spaces in the lots that immediately border the stadium. Here’s a look at the prices from a recent Raiders parking media event.
The parking issue has weighed on Griffith’s mind: “As soon as they announced parking prices my group of friends has been trying to figure out a game plan to park.”
Here is the Las Vegas Metro Police traffic bureau message:
Raiders President Marc Badain outlined the parking game plan at a June 3 media event outside the stadium. There are about 2,500 parking spaces on the stadium site, so the NFL team is relying on what Badain believes are 35,000 parking spaces within a mile of the stadium. With both Raiders games and the Garth Brooks event drawing thousands of visitors, the Raiders also believe 22,000 fans will walk from the Strip along Hacienda Avenue that spans I-15 to the stadium.
For the record, here’s the Allegiant Stadium directions and parking link.
What’s up with these 35,000 parking spaces within a mile of the stadium? Well, 13,000 of those spaces will be at multiple lots controlled by the Raiders and priced based on distance to the venue.
Badain mentioned the other 22,000 spaces are located at Strip corridor hotels and properties and the neighboring businesses on the west side of Interstate 15. Some property owners will be selling parking spaces on their lots near the stadium for Saturday’s Garth event.
But with temperatures expected to soar to the 115 range Saturday, will people be willing to park in hotel garages on the Strip and walk the mile or so along the closed Hacienda Avenue to reach the stadium Saturday?
And on Saturday, consider there are a lot more than 65,000 Garth Brooks fans trying to reach the Raiders’ stadium, which opened to neither fans nor fanfare last July 31 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Another 20,000 UFC fans are in Las Vegas for UFC 264 at T-Mobile Arena, about a mile or so away on the east side of I-15 and just west of the Strip. That UFC crowd of 20,000 is expected to include President Donald Trump, so that means more traffic issues.
How did Griffith handle her parking dilemma. Let her explain in her own words. Her thoughts are important ones for stadium staffers and parking planners to consider:
As an avid country music fan, I was excited to see Garth Brooks playing Allegiant Stadium. I spent over an hour in the cue to get my tickets! After postponing the concert a few times, it’s finally here. Then came the parking announcement — $100 to park on-site! It was so disappointing. I think I could hear the groan from every ticket holder as they read that email. It was a shock to everyone. When casinos started to charge for parking it was upsetting. However, a $30 fee is easier to stomach than $100.So the planning began: How to park for the cheapest and include the most people? One plan includes parking at a casino and walking over using a players card to get free parking. Another plan includes getting a Lyft or an Uber. The concern is, will they be readily available after the concert with the nearby UFC fight taking place and with other concert goers having the same plan? Parking on-site isn’t as costly if you can split the cost of the parking between six people, but the idea of getting out of the parking lot after the concert causes a headache.In the end, one group of friends paid the $100 to park on-site, while the five people attending with me will be utilizing players cards to attempt to park at casinos and then walking over in the 117-degree heat. I feel like there should have been a disclaimer about parking when the concert was announced. The tickets were very affordable for an A-lister like Garth. Unless the artist is someone I really want to see, the parking fees/parking game will make me think twice about attending another concert at Allegiant.
No fans attended Raiders games in 2020 after the NFL team played its first home game in September — a Monday Night Football upset of the New Orleans Saints.
That will change for the 2021 season — unless COVID-19 and the pandemic create problems for a local population base in Southern Nevada that is not even completely half vaccinated against a virus that has killed more than 600,000 Americans. Test positivity rates in Southern Nevada are increasing.
Parking vs virus — there’s always a potential challenge for a stadium event planner.
LVSPORTSBIZ.COM: We are a daily digital magazine providing market-leading news, intelligence, enterprise and breaking info on sports-business news on the dynamic Las Vegas sports and stadium industry. Our stories are linked and quoted nationally and we set the sportsbiz news agenda locally here in Las Vegas. Advertise with us by contacting asnel@LVSportsBiz.com.