Story By Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
They shared a common field Saturday in front of adoring fans.
But they arrived in Las Vegas via contrasting routes: one an expansion team with a roster of misfits conceived in Las Vegas in June 2017, the other a team that moved from California to Las Vegas thanks to a juicy $750 million stadium subsidy that allowed ground to be broken for the stadium in November 2017.
The NHL Vegas Golden Knights and the NFL Las Vegas Raiders don’t even have the same name of the city in their names, but they played softball for two hours on a snazzy minor league ballfield in Summerlin to raise money for an autism group and a baseball league for kids with physical or cognitive challenges. Two years ago, the VGK vs Raiders “Battle 4 Vegas” charity game raised about $136,000 and $175,000 was raised Saturday.
Both teams are financially stable thanks to sports brands embraced by loyal fan bases. Thousands of fans wore Golden Knights jerseys and branded shirts at Las Vegas Ballpark, while many others wore the silver and black of the Raiders. (The Golden Knights’ minor league team in Henderson has silver in its name, too — the Henderson Silver Knights.)
The first major league team in Las Vegas history, the Golden Knights won over a city that was emotionally jolted by a mass murder shooting on the Strip Oct. 1, 2017. There was also a VGK miracle-on-ice run to the Stanley Cup Final that first season.
The Raiders have not been consistent winners in more than two decades, but the team has an intense following thanks to Super Bowl wins in 1977, 1981 and 1984 and a cast of colorful fans who showed up Saturday at the suburban baseball yard where the Las Vegas Aviators play their home games.
Very few people in the large crowd wore masks in a county with increasing COVID-19 cases and a leveling of the number getting immunized against a virus that has killed more than 600,000 Americans. Most people being hospitalized these days for COVID-19 because they cannot breathe are unvaccinated people.
Only a small fraction of the fans at the ballpark wore masks Saturday.
They did enjoy seeing former VGKer and original Misfit Nate Schmidt smack the ball during the home run derby before the Raiders won the softball game. During the game. Schmidt jumped and made a spectacular outfield catch to rob the Raiders of a home run, with the Vancouver Canucks/former original Misfit tumbling over the outfield fence. The crowd went crazy and the catch went viral on social media.
Schmidt was so popular with VGK fans because he was such a regular guy who was so relatable. He, along with fellow original Misfit defensemen Jon Merrill and Brad Hunt, were among the most every day guys on the Vegas Season 1 squad. Schmidt also made a corny TV commercial for a local Hyundai dealership, which included the friendly defenseman referring to himself as “Schmidty.”
The Raiders’ home-opener is Monday Night Football on Sept. 13, while the Vegas Golden Knights open their fifth season Oct. 12 when the new Seattle Kraken come to T-Mobile Arena.