Aces owner Mark Davis and Aces team president Nikki Fargas before Thursday's Aces home game in Las Vegas. Photo credit: J. Tyge O'Donnell/LVSportsBiz.com

Even With Raiders Generating High Ticket Revenues, Owner Davis Says, ‘We Probably Underprice Our Tickets’

By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com

The Las Vegas Raiders generated the most ticket revenue of any team n the National Football League in 2021 and Raiders owner Mark Davis told LVSportsBiz.com Thursday night that tickets for Raiders home games at Allegiant Stadium “are not priced high enough.”

Davis said he reached that conclusion because Raiders home tickets are the most expensive on the secondary ticket market in the NFL.

“That’s OK. I’m OK with that. Once fans buy their tickets, it’s theirs to do what they wish with them,” Davis said, chatting before the Las Vegas Aces’ win over the Indiana Fever at Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay hotel-casino. Davis also owns the WNBA Aces.

“We probably underprice our tickets. A lot of fans are under the misconception that the Raiders set the secondary market price. That’s not true. That’s market-driven,” Davis said.

Raiders owner Mark Davis at the first Raiders game with fans at Allegiant Stadium in August 2021. Photo credit: Daniel Clark/LVSportsBiz.com

Davis said the Raiders generated $119 million in ticket revenue last season from nine regular season home games plus one preseason game.

Davis also noted the Raiders will not engage in dynamic ticket pricing where pro teams charge various prices for tickets for fans to attend games based on the visiting opponent.

“Every team is a professional team and should be treated as such. We charge the same game price for every team,” Davis said. “We don’t charge one price for the Chiefs and one price for Arizona.”

Mark Davis at Allegiant Stadium ribbon-cutting Aug. 14 when Raiders hosted Seattle Seahawks for the first Raiders game with fans at Allegiant Stadium. Photo: Daniel Clark/LVSportsBiz.com

LVSportsBiz.com has reported that the Raiders have the most expensive average ticket price of any NFL team at $153.47, according to Chicago-based Team Marketing Report, which tracks the costs of attending major league sports teams.

That’s why even though Allegiant Stadium has only 62,500 fixed seats for Raiders games, the high ticket prices allow Davis to generate the highest ticket revenue in the league.

The Raiders sell their tickets to fans who live in diverse geographic areas.

Davis estimated that 12-15 percent of Raiders season ticket holders live in the Bay area in Northern California and another 12-15 percent live in Southern California. He also said that the local Las Vegas market accounts for about 50-55 percent of season ticketholders. And the balance of season ticketholders is split across the country, Davis said.

Raiders owner Mark Davis

The Raiders were the first NFL team to report for training camp when the veteran players checked in at the team’s Henderson headquarters Wednesday.

The Raiders’ first regular season game is Sept. 18 when the Arizona Cardinals visit Allegiant Stadium.


 

Alan Snel

Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.