By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Jason Robinson walked inside Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to scope out the design layout for Saturday’s WWE SummerSlam event and took a look at the giant venue’s four levels behind the south end zone. It was a done deal — the multi-level configuration sold itself and will create a wall of fans ideal for the popular SummerSlam event.
Robinson, a 27-year WWE vet who is head of production design, is working with about 70 WWE lighting, carpentry and production staffers and another 200 local set workers to assemble the setting for WWE’s spectacle scheduled for a still-new stadium that began hosting big crowds only six weeks ago. It started with two concerts on July 3 and 10, an international soccer match on Aug. 1 and a Raiders preseason game Aug. 14.
While the Raiders fan vaccination policy at Allegiant Stadium has drawn national attention this week, the 250-300 workers have been working on a compressed schedule because of Saturday’s Raiders game to assemble the set for WWE’s SummerSlam, WWE’s second biggest event behind WrestleMania. In April, WrestleMania was at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, NFL home of the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Stamford, Conn.-based WWE provides TV-PG programming seen in more than 900 million homes worldwide in 28 languages through distribution partners including NBCUniversal, FOX Sports, BT Sport, Sony India and Rogers.
Wrestlemania operated at 36 percent capacity in Tampa four months ago, but SummerSlam is at 100 percent capacity at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Everyone in the building is required to wear a face covering to comply with Clark County’s indoor mask mandate.
Here’s a look at an empty, field-free Allegiant Stadium Sunday evening after Saturday’s Raiders game and before WWE moved in.
LVSportsBiz.com caught up with Robinson Wednesday. The production designer said the WWE event set is on schedule.
Robinson said he has worked in big NFL stadiums. But what struck him about Allegiant Stadium is that the domed venue had the feel of a giant arena that was more “intimate, inviting” than previous football stadiums he worked in where things were farther apart.
“Technically, it’s brand new and we’re fascinated with how squeaky clean it is,” Robinson said. “The newer technology has been a blessing. Some of the older stadiums have no ribbon boards . . . As we were walking through the stadium, it felt like an arena.”
The WWE cameras will be looking into the south end zone, where a giant vertical wall of fans will offer an entertaining backdrop for Saturday’s show.
“We walked into the building, saw the south end zone. They had the bleachers out. We were standing on the 20- or 30-yard line,” Robinson said. “Yeah, this is what we’re gonna do.”
An interesting challenge for the production crew is the stadium’s translucent roof, which allows natural light to go into the building. The 5 PM start time means the amount of natural light coming into the building will be changing as sundown approaches here in Las Vegas Saturday. So, the light meters will be out this week to get a handle on lighting.
“It’s harder for sure,” Robinson said of the changing natural light coming into the stadium. “We plan to turn off all the lights out see how dark it gets in the stadium.”
As we were walking through the stadium, it felt like an arena — Jason Robinson, WWE production design chief
The Raiders’ home stadium is run by the NFL franchise, which hired stadium management company ASM Global to operate the venue. The Southern Nevada public contributed $750 million to the $2 billion stadium project to help construct the 65,000-seat venue. Construction took 31 months after a November 2017 groundbreaking. The Raiders had no fans at any of their games in the inaugural season in Las Vegas in 2020.
“It’s a privilege to be part of the first shows,” Robinson said. “We’re excited to work in the stadium.”
Tickets are still available. Stars like John Cena and Goldberg are in Saturday’s lineup. SummerSlam is one of WWE’s biggest pay-per-view events. The event will be on Peacock in the U.S. and you can purchase a premium subscription for $4.99 per month. You can also order SummerSlam for pay-per-view through your cable provider for as little as $44.99.
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