By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
It’s about ten minutes before 7 AM Sunday and the three middle-aged guys on electric bikes with fat tires pull up to the security post at Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium.
The 18-wheelers are already inside the giant domed stadium standing ready to haul the music set of all-world country music entertainer Garth Brooks, who 12 hours earlier brought more than 65,000 people together under one roof at the NFL stadium that hosted not a single fan during last season’s eight Las Vegas Raiders home games.
The trio were bringing their e-bikes into the stadium because they find that the electric-powered bikes that look like scooters with their smaller fat tires are the best way to get around the stadium to break down the set and send Brooks’ gear and crew packing to the next stop on the tour.
They waited patiently as the security guard contacted folks on the inside of the stadium to give the green light to the e-bike guys.
It was a hectic night in Las Vegas as T-Mobile Arena also hosted hosted UFC 264 a mile to the north on the other side of the interstate.
By daybreak, work crews were cleaning up the water bottles and debris from the parking lots surrounding the stadium.
The stadium’s bag policy caught a lot of people off-guard.
I saw husbands and boyfriends walking women’s purses back to their cars. And the stadium made lots of money with a bag check-in program, which cost $20 per bag to check in.
It was after the show when tens of thousands of Garth Brooks fans spilled into the Las Vegas night as the temperatures were smoldering in the mid-100s.
Lots of people walked along a closed Hacienda Avenue that spanned Interstate 15 and led them back to their cars parked in Mandalay Bay and other hotel property garages along the Strip.
Jason Dinant: “I left early and it was a breeze. Thank goodness. My friends told me it was a nightmare trying to leave.”
Kristina Swallow: “We parked at Mandalay Bay and had no issues arriving or leaving…”
Some called Ubers to whisk them away.
Others who prepaid $100 for on-site stadium parking reported it worked effectively after the concert ended.
April Hiett: “We parked in the stadium parking and was pretty easy entering and exiting the event.”
It was a mixed bag of reactions.