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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
Most people look at the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium as a place for football games and concerts.
But in the most recent reported second quarter of 2023, 39 of the 42 total events at the domed stadium were “private events” like local corporate gatherings and parties.
In fact, attendance from these 39 private events accounted for 39,585 attendees — about 25 percent of the stadium’s total attendance of 160,278 during the months of April, May and June. Naturally, these are months when the Raiders and UNLV’s football team are not playing games in the stadium that was subsidized with a public contribution of $750 million from Southern Nevada. The stadium construction budget was $1.4 billion, the biggest cost of the overall $2 billion stadium project.
It is newsworthy to note the high percentage of private events for Q2 2023 in a stadium that was created from a state governor’s tourism infrastructure committee and is routinely hyped as a tourism driver, not a local upscale catering hall for company events and social gatherings. The Q2 attendance was reported in the Raiders’ report to the Las Vegas Stadium Authority board for the public panel’s stadium meeting last month.
It’s not unusual for stadiums and sports venues to be marketed as tony gathering places. Formula One organizers who are building the “Paddock” building for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, for example, have mentioned the road race building at Koval Lane and Harmon Avenue east of the Strip will also seek clients who want to rent space for meetings and gatherings.
Q2’s 160,278 stadium attendees included 37,102 for a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert April 1 and fans for Nations League soccer games (57,188 on June 15 and 26,403 on June 18).
Local corporations have gatherings at Allegiant Stadium’s attractive club areas, which are decorated with Raiders photos and historical images.
The second quarter of this year also accounted for the smallest attendance numbers for a fiscal quarter since attendance was tracked in early 2021 when Allegiant Stadium was first open to fans. Technically, Allegiant Stadium opened in 2020, but fans were not allowed in the building because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Raiders reported nearly 3.2 million attendees in Allegiant Stadium since people were allowed to attend events in the venue in the west side of I-15 across from Mandalay Bay.
Out of 423 overall events since the numbers were tracked, 348 were “private events.”
Tourists staying at local hotels and attending events at the stadium are helping pay off Southern Nevada’s debt on the venue’s construction. A hotel room tax generates about $4 million a month for Clark County to help pay off the stadium’s bonds’ debt.
The Raiders reported that 54 percent of the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert goers were from out of town Apr. 1. As for the soccer games, 62 percent of the attendees June 15 were out of town, while 58 percent were out of town for the June 18 game, according to the Raiders numbers.
The Raiders have a current spot on the local NPR radio station, KNPR, inviting local companies to have their holiday parties at their stadium.