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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Seven years after the Raiders scored a $750 million stadium subsidy deal in Nevada, it was 2023 when the speaker of the Nevada Assembly, Steve Yeager, made his famed statement about Las Vegas people not tolerating a team losing when the A’s wanted $380 million in government assistance from Nevada and Clark County for their own stadium on the Strip.
Well, it turns out Las Vegas people are coping with the Raiders and the losses they have piled up in their five seasons here in Southern Nevada.
Since 2020 when the Raiders opened Allegiant Stadium, the team has won 40 games while losing 61. And that’s including a 10-7 record in 2021 when the Raiders made the playoffs, but lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round.
The Raiders won their 41st game in Las Vegas Sunday when kicker Daniel Carlson boomed a 60-yard field goal with eight seconds left to defeat the Chiefs, 14-12, at Allegiant Stadium. Harrison Butker kicked a 41-yarder with a mere minute and a second left in the fourth quarter for a Chief’s 12-11 lead before Carlson delivered the Raiders’ third win of the season against 14 losses.
The Raiders have been atrocious the last two seasons, winning four of 17 games in 2024 and losing 14 of 17 games in 2025. In both seasons, the Raiders have struggled with 10-game losing streaks.
With the New York Giants beating the Cowboys, the Raiders clinched the first overall pick in the NFL Draft in April.
The consensus opinion is the Raiders will pick Heisman-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza of Indiana with the first selection and begin the process of trying to turn around two horrendous seasons of double-digit losses.
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The crowd inside Allegiant Stadium was filled with Chiefs fans in red jerseys with lots of empty seats scattered in the domed stadium.
The Chiefs-Raiders game had an exhibition match feel with Kenny Pickett starting at quarterback for the Raiders and the Chiefs using a third-string quarterback by the name of Chris Oladokun. The Raiders’ Maxx Crosby, Brock Bowers and quarterback Geno Smith were all out for the Raiders.
The Chiefs opened the scoring with a Butker 36-yard field goal. It was Chiefs 3 Raiders 0 after the first quarter.
The Raiders put quarterback Aidan O’Connell into the lineup in the second quarter. Former Raiders coach Antonio Pierce had O’Connell as the Raiders’ starting quarterback when Pierce was named interim coach in 2023.
Midway through the second quarter, Carlson booted a 32-yard field goal to tie the game at three each. Carlson then chipped home a 23-yarder before the half, so the Raiders held a halftime lead at 6-3 for the first time in weeks.
The Chiefs’ Butker booted a 40-yarder and the game was tied at six apiece in the third quarter.
The Raiders pulled out the win in what could be coach Pete Carroll’s final game as a Raider head coach.
Stay tuned for owner Mark Davis’ next move.
PSA
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