After spending almost their entire 60-year existence sharing stadiums that were sometimes old and out of date, the Raiders are set to open their $2 billion palace in the Las Vegas desert.
The Raiders (1-0) will host New Orleans (1-0) on Monday night when they get to show off Allegiant Stadium to the world more than three years after getting approval to move from Oakland to Las Vegas.
“It’s got everything you could imagine, and I can’t wait to share it with our fans,” head coach Jon Gruden said. “People around the world, entertainers, are going to be here. It’s going to be the hot spot, if you ask me. It’s the coolest place I’ve seen.”
Unfortunately for the fans in Las Vegas who have been waiting for an NFL team and Raiders die-hards in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, they’ll have to wait another year to get to see it in person.
With the COVID-19 pandemic making large crowds unsafe and owner Mark Davis insistent that either all the season-ticket holders or none would be allowed in the stadium, the Raiders are playing this season without fans.
“We wish they could experience it with us,” quarterback Derek Carr said. “I’m sure they will be around somewhere. I’m sure there is a certain street or strip that they’ll be on that our fans will be at.”
When the team held its first practice at the new digs last month, Davis read a prepared statement to the players that said that his father’s mantra that the “greatness of the Raiders is in their future” had come to fruition and that day had arrived with the opening of the team’s “Field of Dreams.”
Ignoring the fact that the Death Star was destroyed twice in the “Star Wars” movies, the Raiders now have a stadium worthy of the team’s rich history.
The 65,000-seat domed stadium, with the sliding lanai doors, translucent roof and modern amenities, is a far cry from the Coliseum.
That stadium that the Raiders shared with the A’s featured infield dirt for early-season games, occasional sewage spills and few of the revenue-generating features that teams desire.
“I had guys from other teams come in and be like, ‘This is kind of like mediocre a little bit,’” Raiders running back Jalen Richard said. “To now and seeing what we have now, I definitely won’t take any of this for granted.”
Attempts to build a football-only stadium in Oakland didn’t come to fruition and the Raiders then looked to leave, first getting turned down by the NFL in a bid to go to Los Angeles before getting approval in 2017 to come to Las Vegas.
“This place definitely feels like home,” defensive tackle Maurice Hurst said. “I really hope we can do some great things here.”
It all starts on a Monday night that will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first “Monday Night Football” game with a simulcast on ABC and a halftime concert by the Las Vegas band the Killers that was recorded on the roof of Caesar’s Palace.
“It’s absolutely a historic moment, right?” quarterback Drew Brees said. “First professional football team in Vegas, the opening of this new stadium, which I’m sure is tremendous. So, yeah, there’s a lot of unique things to it, and obviously the game itself.”
