ADVERTISEMENT
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Getting to Allegiant Stadium for Raiders games and events doesn’t have to be a nightmare. LVSportsBiz.com is here to dole out some advice on getting inside this stadium without getting brain damage.
Right off the top: Las Vegas is a car-centric, car-first metro area where you might be used to driving your car to big oceans of asphalt at Thomas & Mack Center and Sam Boyd Stadium. You have to re-wire your brain and re-think the way you’re going to get to this stadium. For a 65,000-seat stadium, the number of parking spaces on the stadium footprint is ridiculously small. It’s the Raiders and the NFL, so Clark County being Clark County gave the Raiders a nice break by allowing the stadium to be built on a site that’s woefully short in parking spaces.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
So, you’re going to have to be creative: In this context, being creative means actually planning strategy to get to this stadium. The best advice is leave early and give yourself time. Think about getting to the venue at least two hours ahead of the event’s starting time. If you haven’t paid the $100 ahead of time to buy yourself a parking space on the site, you might want to consider . . .
Taking an RTC Raiders game bus: In lots of big cities like Chicago, New York or Washington, DC, taking public transportation is second nature to reach major league sports games. RTC has rolled out a special Raiders express bus service for game days and for the life of me I don’t understand why more people don’t take it. The roundtrip fare is a mere $4 and you let someone else take you to the game. And the bus lets you off on Dean Martin near a parking lot, so it’s a five-minute walk. Here’s team president Dan Ventrelle at one of the express buses that leave from five convenient locations around the Las Vegas valley.
Off and running: The buses served 3,250 round trips for the first preseason game when the Raiders hosted the Seattle Seahawks Aug. 14. The two most popular express routes came from the Red Rock hotel in Summerlin and Green Valley Ranch hotel in Henderson. Take a look at your routes:
- Route 605 – Summerlin Game Day Express: Red Rock Casino Resort Spa, 11011 W. Charleston Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89135
- Route 606 – Green Valley Game Day Express: Green Valley Ranch Resort Casino & Spa, 2300 Paseo Verde Parkway, Henderson 89052
- Route 607 – Centennial Hills Game Day Express: Santa Fe Station Hotel & Casino, 4949 N. Rancho Dr., Las Vegas, NV 89130
- Route 609 – East Side Game Day Express: Boulder Station Hotel & Casino, 4111 Boulder Highway, Las Vegas, NV 89121
- Route 612 – West Henderson Game Day Express: M Resort Spa Casino, 12300 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Henderson 89044
Walking on Hacienda Avenue to stadium: It’s going to be 100 degrees again Monday for Raiders vs Ravens and it’s even hotter in the sun when you walk Hacienda to the stadium. But it’s about a 15-minute walk from the Strip and you can cut through Mandalay Bay or the Luxor to reach Hacienda and hoof it on the pavement spanning I-15. Once over the bridge, you turn left into the stadium site. It will be a lot more pleasant come November and December. It’s a hardship and even potentially a threat to your health to walk in this intense heat, but enjoy the road that’s closed to cars. How often does this area close roads to cars so that walkers and bicyclists can safely use the road? Pretty much never.
The Strip can be your conduit: There are all types of ways to move along the Strip to reach Hacienda. You can take the MGM Resorts tram, the monorail or the RTC deuce bus and walk your way to Hacienda and then to the stadium. There are lots of hotel parking lots, too, though they will cost you more than that RTC Raiders express bus.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Pedal to the stadium: You don’t have to ride your bicycle the whole way to the stadium from your home. Just find a quiet street west of the stadium, park your car with your bike, pop your bicycle off the vehicle and pedal five minutes to the stadium. It’s amazingly easy. I recall writing a story about the Seattle Mariners’ special bike-parking area in its parking garage next to the team’s ballpark in downtown Seattle. I remember biking to Coors Field in Denver and locking my bike on racks that were monitored by a security usher. Even good ol’ Wrigley Field had a small bicycle garage for people to park and lock their bikes. The stadium was not designed to handle a lot of bicycles. There are only two sets of bike racks for 10 total racks near two entrances. But bike racks are easy to install and if Clark County and the Raiders want to promote bicycling to the stadium, that would help.
Hop a ride share: There’s always Uber and Lyft. Here’s a map showing the ride share lots. Keep in mind the stadium could sometimes switch the rideshare locations through the season.
Oh, by the way: And if you’re attending the Raiders MNF game, make sure you’re vaccinated. It’s a Raiders requirement to get inside the big domed stadium. But once inside, you don’t have to wear masks though you can if you’d like. The Raiders will have a tent on the north side of the stadium if you have issues with the CLEAR app that you have to use to show your proof of COVID vaccination.
Buy the official book of LVSportsBiz.com, Bicycle Man: Life of Journeys