Las Vegas, World’s So-Called Sports Capital, Sits Out World Cup Spectacle; Raiders Stadium Unable To Accommodate FIFA World Cup 2026 Games
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Las Vegas’ tourism and hotel industry officials never miss a chance to call Las Vegas the sports and entertainment capital of the world, but how can you be the world’s sports hub when your city is not even hosting a single World Cup game?
Las Vegas’ tourism resume includes a Super Bowl in 2024 with this market slated to host college football’s national championship game in 2027, college basketball’s Final Four in 2028 and another Super Bowl in 2029.
But as LVSportsBiz.com has reported for the past four years, Las Vegas is not among the 16 cities across Canada, Mexico and the United States hosting the 2026 World Cup because the playing field that sits on a tray in Allegiant Stadium was not wide enough to accommodate FIFA World Cup games, Steve Hill, Las Vegas stadium board chairman and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), told LVSportsBiz.com in 2022.
At the time, the NFL Raiders stadium considered taking out stands and growing grass on the sides to create more space outside of the stadium retractable tray, which holds the playing field. But it would have taken nine months to grow the grass, Hill said.
LVSportsBiz.com took photos of the soccer field for non-World Cup games played at the domed venue three years ago and you can see how close the field is to the stand.
Allegiant Stadium has hosted Concacaf’s championship Gold Cup soccer game as its first sold out sports event in summer 2021, while in 2023 about 50,000 soccer fans watched Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund play a friendly, while Milan vs Barcelona was another friendly as part of the Soccer Champions Tour three years ago.
But Las Vegas is losing out on valuable international visitors and their spending because the Raiders stadium playing field was not designed to comply with the FIFA World Cup standards.
PSA
