Raiders Prez to Vegas Stadium Board: NFL Team Will Address Local Road Traffic Problems On Event Days After Garth Brooks Concert Issues July 10
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The Raiders and their stadium manager will focus on improving traffic flow on Dean Martin Drive on Allegiant Stadium’s east side and Russell Road on the stadium’s south side for stadium events, Raider president Marc Badain told the public stadium panel that oversees the Raiders stadium.
Badain acknowledged, “There were some challenges,” after more than 60,000 people attended the Garth Brooks concert at a packed stadium July 10. That followed an Illenium electronic music concert that attracted 30,000 on July 3 at the 65,000-seat stadium that opened a year ago.
The majority of music fans at the first two concerts were out-of-town visitors, Badain told the Clark County/Las Vegas stadium board Thursday. The stadium brought visitors, which did help the stadium’s hotel room tax revenue funds that are paying the public’s $750 million contribution toward the $2 billion stadium project on the west side of I-15 across from Mandalay Bay.
Badain said 95 percent of the crowd were inside the stadium when the Garth Brooks concert started and there were no back-ups on Interstate 15, even with a UFC 264 fight show at T-Mobile Arena a mile to the north on the other side of the highway the same day on July 10.
He noted the stadium parking lots were cleared in about an hour after the Garth Brooks show ended. The stadium site only has about 2,500 parking spaces, which might be a reason why the site’s parking lots emptied so well after the event.
Badain’s report to the stadium board also included that some stadium staff working the Garth event had “heat-related issues” in light of the record-tying 117-degree heat on July 10. He noted there will be more misters, more tents and more water stations for future events.
Thousands of Garth Brooks concert attendees parked on the east side of Interstate 15 in hotel garages and in other facilities and walked about a half-mile to a mile and a half depending on where they parked to reach the domed stadium that will host an international soccer match Aug. 1 as its next event.
Garth Brooks fan Kassie Griffith snapped this photo as she and friends walked on Hacienda Avenue over the interstate to reach their cars on the east side of I-15. Hacienda was closed to motorized traffic, and open for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Badain said the Raiders talked with Las Vegas Metro Police, Clark County and fire officials about improving the traffic after the recent events at the stadium.
The stadium board members did not ask questions to Badain about the event-related traffic. In fact, a board member mentioned he was impressed that stadium workers had smiles for attendees of the first two music events this month.
But a resident wrote to the stadium board about the Garth Brooks event and the letter raised more concerns that the stadium board members did.
The Raiders collected $551 million for personal seat licenses from season ticket holders, who had to pay for these licenses in order to buy season tickets.
Here are visits to the Raiders stadium from April to June 2021:
And here’s a summary of the jobs at the stadium:
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