SportsBiz Roundup: First Week Of 2023 Brings An End To Raiders’ Disappointing Season; VGK Biz Blurbs; Dana White’s New Year’s Eve Slap
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher/Writer
A disappointing season for the Las Vegas Raiders ends Saturday afternoon.
The Raiders have won only six of 16 games this season after making the playoffs one season ago when both on-field and off-field turbulence plagued the NFL franchise. Even with a volatile season last year, Las Vegas still finished with a 10-7 record before losing to the Bengals in the postseason.
The 6-10 Raiders play the Kansas City Chiefs in Las Vegas at 1:30 PM when red-clad visiting fans are expected to fill the Raiders’ home schedule just like 49ers fans did on Sunday.
Back in October, the Chiefs fell behind the Raiders on a Monday Night Football game in Kansas City. But they rallied to defeat Las Vegas for a 30-29 win.
In that game in Kansas City, the Raiders blew a 17-0 lead and fell to 1-4 at the time. Blowing double-digit leads would prove to be an overriding theme for the Raiders this season. LVSportsBiz.com will be reporting at Allegiant Stadium Saturday afternoon for the Raiders’ final game of their dismal season.
After the Vegas Golden Knights play the Los Angeles Kings Saturday night, they will turn around and stage a “fanfest” event in downtown Las Vegas at the Fremont Street Experience on Sunday.
It’s the first VGK fanfest since 2020.
Sunday’s fan event starts at 2 PM and will close at 4 PM.
Back in 2018, a Golden Knights fanfest drew thousands of fans, including former Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak before he was elected governor later that year. And there’s VGK owner Bill Foley with Sisolak at that 2018 fanfest.
UNLV’s football team said hello and then goodbye to nomadic college football coach Bobby Petrino, who was hired by new Rebels coach Barry Odom as the offensive coordinator Dec. 15 But then news broke Wednesday that Petrino quit his UNLV OC job of less than three weeks to take the offensive coordinator job at Texas A&M.
It’s unknown whether Petrino left Las Vegas on a motorcycle.
UFC’s parent company, Endeavor, has not issued any statement about whether there will be consequences for UFC President Dana White, who went on the TMZ TV show to say he struck his wife at a New Year’s Eve party in Mexico.
The video shows White and his wife slapping each other.
White told TMZ, “You don’t put your hands on a woman.”
White said he and his wife have known each other since they were each 12 years old and that he’s not making any excuses.
“I’m embarrassed and more concerned about our (three) kids,” White told TMZ Monday.
In more VGK news, the Golden Knights will play on New Year’s Day in 2024 at the MLB Seattle Mariners ballpark in the NHL’s Winter Classic against the Seattle Kraken.
The Jan. 1, 2024 outdoor game will match the NHL’s two newest teams at T-Mobile Park, the Mariners’ home ballpark. T-Mobile has the naming rights deal at both the MLB ball yard in downtown Seattle and at the Golden Knights’ arena in Las Vegas. I covered the opening of the Mariners’ ballpark on July 15, 1999 for the old Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper. It’s a beautiful baseball park that cost $517 million and has a retractable roof.
The most recent Winter Classic on Jan. 1 featured the Boston Bruins beating the Pittsburgh Penguins at Fenway Park in Boston.
The Golden Knights, which are owned by Foley, offer other cross-promotional deals because Foley also owns wineries in California and Oregon. The Knights contacted their fans to let them know about these deals.
