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Story by Alan Snel Photos by Hugh Byrne
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Bears fans Chuck and Jim (wearing the Jim McMahon jersey) were sitting side-by-side behind an end zone before the Chicago Bears-Las Vegas Raiders game today.
Jim is staying at the Suncoast hotel-casino off Alta Drive in the Summerlin west of the Strip. And Chuck patted him on the back and said, “Thanks, Jim,” when informed that his hotel bill has a room tax being collected to help Southern Nevada pay off its more than $1 billion debt on the $750 million it contributed to help the Raiders build their palatial domed stadium here in Las Vegas in 2020.
From the looks of the hundreds of number 18 Caleb Williams jerseys and many orange-clad Bears fans, Las Vegas locals are drawing some financial help this weekend from Bears-rooting visitors who are staying in Southern Nevada hotels and chipping in to help pay the public debt on the Raiders stadium construction bill. The much-publicized decline in Las Vegas tourism also means a drop in hotel room tax revenues, though.
It’s a scene played out every season here at Allegiant Stadium, where visiting fans of teams from Kansas City, San Francisco, Denver, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. fill many seats in this venue while padding the monthly hotel toom tax revenues reported to the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board.
Such is life in this strange outlier market of Las Vegas, where Raiders games are NFL events inside a luxurious publicly-subsidized stadium that has enriched Raiders owner Mark Davis thanks to a franchise now valued at more than $7 billion. The Raiders were valued at $1.5 billion a decade ago in Oakland where the team played in the Coliseum, the last of the dual NFL-MLB stadiums in the U.S.
Davis has made billions of dollars thanks to the stadium and move to Las Vegas. But there is no Raiders mystique that was legendary in Oakland. That was the price to be paid for a franchise valued at more than $7 billion.
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The Raiders’ quarterback, Geno Smith, enjoyed a solid performance in the team’s season-opening win in New England.
But he struggled in double-digit losses to the Chargers and Commanders.
And he threw an interception on the Raiders’ first possession that was converted into a Bears 46-year-old field goal by Cairo Santos. Chicago, coming off a win against Dallas, jumped out to a 3-0 lead.
The Raiders’ second possession ended with Ashton Jeanty, the sixth overall pick in the NFL draft and the Heisman runnerup in 2024, fumbling a fourth down handoff that led to a Bears recovery.
But the Raiders’ Maxx Crosby bailed out the team with an interception and, remarkably, a Raiders interception throw and a fumble had led to only three Chicago points so far.
After a slow start, Smith ran for a first down to set up his eight-yard TD pass to Jeanty.
After the first quarter: Raiders 7 Bears 3.
In the second quarter, Jeanty showed why he might need to have the ball in his hands more.
After Smith threw his second pick and the Bears’ Santos booted a 43-yard field goal, Jeanty took a handoff and ran 64 yards for a touchdown to give the Raiders a 14-6 lead.
Santos blasted a 52-yard field goal and Raiders led, 14-9.
Halftime: Raiders 14 Bears 9 thanks to Las Vegas’ superb defense led by Crosby.
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And another one.
Smith was picked off again by the Bears in the third quarter. And this time, the Bears converted a Smith mistake into a TD, with Caleb Williams connecting with Rome Odunze on a 27-yard scoring strike.
After the Bears assumed a 16-14 lead, the Raiders marched down the field to a first and goal to go. And that man, Jeanty, caught his second TD pass of the day for a Raiders 21-16 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Santos banged home a 51-yarder before Raiders placekicker Daniel Carlson matched it with a short 29-yard FG for a 24-19 Las Vegas lead. Jeanty was enjoying a breakout game with 135 yards on 19 carries so far — and there’s still 6:45 to go in the fourth quarter.
The Bears countered with a TD on a short run and a missed two-point conversion before Chicago blocked Carlson’s 54-yard field goal attempt with less than a minute to go.
A roar erupted inside Allegiant Stadium on the block and the Bears and their fans left with a 25-24 win. The Bears are now 2-2, while the Raiders lost their third straight.