By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Mark Davis has been inside Allegiant Stadium before, but this time it’s for a Raiders game.
The Raiders owner did not watch the eight Raiders home games in person in 2020 when the NFL team inaugurated the domed, 65,000-seat venue that drew $750 million in construction money from the Southern Nevada public for the $2 billion stadium project.
But at 3 PM Saturday, Davis is scheduled to cut a ribbon and officially christen the Raiders’ palatial stadium that took less than three years to build after the Raiders uprooted the franchise from Oakland (for a second time) and moved it to metro Las Vegas.
“It may be a preseason game,” Davis was quoted in the Raiders press release, “but it’s going to be our party as well because it’s the first time, No. 1, a vast majority of Raiders fans will be in the stadium, but it will also be the first time I’ll be in there for an event.”
Davis said if all fans were not allowed inside Allegiant Stadium for games in 2020, then none would, including himself. He watched the Raiders home games from the team’s headquarters in Henderson during the team’s first season in las Vegas.
Davis will finally see his Raiders play inside the domed stadium amid some interesting circumstances. In New Orleans where another domed stadium hosts the NFL Saints, the mayor has mandated that all stadium attendees be vaccinated for COVID-19 or show proof of a negative COVID test within 72 hours of the event.
More and more concert promoters are following the same COVID-19 attendance strategy.
And Davis will be stepping inside the stadium for a Raiders game just about a month after his former team president — Marc Badain — stepped away from his job July 19. The timing of Badain’s resignation seemed strange when the stadium that he worked so hard to build was going to host its first Raiders game with fans only about a month later.
LVSportsBiz.com will be at Saturday’s historic Raiders game with fans. Look for our coverage throughout the day tomorrow.