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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher/Writer
It was 12:45 PM in Las Vegas just off the Strip and a line of cars filled with college football fans, beers and tailgating grub stood still outside Allegiant Stadium, hungry to dive into some serious tailgating.
If you live in metro Las Vegas, you’re hoping these visitors here for the Notre Dame vs Brigham Young University college football game are staying overnight in Southern Nevada hotels. Every $100 spent on a hotel room means another 88 cents goes to the pay-off-the-Raiders-stadium fund to cover the bonds sold for the $750 million public share of the stadium’s construction bill.
This stadium is not about football. It’s about tourism and about tourists spending money to keep Las Vegas’ one-trick pony economy moving forward. Nearly 63,000 fans packed the Raiders-run domed stadium a 15-minute walk from the Strip.
The crowd had thousands of visitors from both fan bases, including many green-clad faithful from Notre Dame, one of college football’s storied brands that was playing the number 16 ranked BYU Cougars.
“This truly felt like a home game. It was a unique experience. Happy for our players,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said after the game.
“This stadium is amazing. This environment, I can’t speak highly enough of it,” he said. “Those fans were strong.”
About 2 1/2 hours before kickoff, the cheapest ticket on the secondary market (Vivid Seats) was $102.
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There was an impressive crowd in the stadium. It was a full house, perhaps 60 percent Irish fans and 40 percent BYU fans.
Former Raiders star Tim Brown, who won the Heisman with Irish in 1987, drew a big hand from the Allegiant crowd.
Another Notre Dame product, the Las Vegas Aces’ Jackie Young, also came on the field during a break and she enjoyed a huge cheer as well. Young won a national championship with Notre Dame in 2018, a Gold Medal in the 2020 Olympics and a WNBA title with the Aces in 2022.
Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer enjoyed a big first half. He caught a TD from Irish quarterback Drew Pyne and became Notre Dame’s all-time leading receiver for a tight end.
Notre Dame led 10-6 during a fiercely-played first half.
Throw in a safety and the Irish were 12-6.
Notre Dame padded their lead with a touchdown, though the two-point conversion failed.
Halftime: Notre Dame 18 Brigham Young 6.
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Then things got interesting in the second half. Notre Dame increased its lead to 25-6 with a third quarter touchdown.
But the Cougars came back.
They scored two touchdowns and we had a ballgame with the Irish leading, 25-20 in the fourth quarter.
After Notre Dame tacked on a short field goal to lead, 28-20, BYU marched into Irish territory only to be stymied on forth down with less than four minutes left in regulation.
A couple of first downs by the Irish and that was your final in an entertaining college football game: Notre Dame 28 BYU 20.