Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Zay Jones (7) removes his helmet after running in the game winning touchdown during overtime of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens at Allegiant Stadium Monday, Sept. 13, 2021.
Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021 | 2 a.m.
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When Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr hit receiver Zay Jones with a game-winning touchdown pass Monday, it was reason for an entire community to celebrate. And we’re not just talking about Raider Nation.
The night was a win for everyone in Las Vegas, football fan or not.
The Monday Night Football game put our community at the center of the sports universe, and we didn’t disappoint. In the first regular-season game featuring fans at Allegiant Stadium, our team and our city treated the world to a show that had Fabulous Las Vegas written all over it — dramatic action, celebrity performances, plenty of crazy costumes (in the stands instead of onstage) and three-plus hours of nonstop entertainment.
The Raiders’ 33-27 overtime win sent a message to the world that Las Vegas is back to doing big, deliriously fun things. Even better, we showed we could put on an event like this safely, thanks to the Raiders’ embrace of a vaccine requirement for attendance.
And none of it would have happened if not for our uniquely Las Vegas way of daring to be audacious and breaking the mold.
Our $750 million investment in tax funding for the stadium was the largest commitment of public money to an arena in history. Here and elsewhere, there were plenty of people who believed local taxpayers were being soaked — that the economic benefits of the stadium wouldn’t pencil out against the massive expense.
But Monday offered a taste of why the stadium was a smart play for Las Vegas.
Look at the crowd — almost 62,000, including a strong contingent of Baltimore Ravens fans and Raider fans from out of state. As also shown by the Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL, Las Vegas is unique among pro sports communities in that opposing fans make a vacation of coming here and watching their teams play. This phenomenon effectively makes the games of our local teams like adding conventions to our calendar, and fuels our economy accordingly. It’s important to remember, too, that the tax funding for the stadium is paid by those visitors in the form of a room tax.
Granted, we can’t guarantee that every game will be a sellout or close to one, but the Golden Knights have drawn excellent crowds for years and the Raiders are off to a phenomenal start in that regard. With eight more home games on the regular-season schedule, the stadium looks to be a gold mine during the NFL season. And that’s not to mention other events on the calendar, such as the Rolling Stones concert scheduled in November.
Then there’s the promotional value of games like Monday’s. The game amounted to a three-hour commercial to draw football fans to Las Vegas. The game action couldn’t have been scripted better for the city: It was a roller coaster ride in which what appeared to be a game-winning touchdown in overtime was called back because the receiver turned out to be just short of the goal line. The drama continued when the Raiders then turned the ball over — a disaster, since all the Ravens had to do was move down the field far enough to kick a field goal — but then got it back on a fumble and finally put the game away with Carr’s TD pass to Jones.
“I felt like I died and woke up ... and died again,” Las Vegas coach Jon Gruden said. “I was like a cat, I had multiple lives tonight.”
No doubt, plenty of Raider fans felt the same way.
At least, however, they didn’t have to deal with many problems getting to and from the stadium. This was another area where Las Vegas showed its best side to the world on a grand stage. Authorities said traffic moved smoothly — a testament to the event planning, given that kickoff happened during the evening rush hour — and our visitor hospitality was on display with an abundance of water stations set up for pedestrians around the stadium and a long line of fans getting vaccinations on-site so that they could enter the arena.
Quite a night for Las Vegas, no doubt. And just wait until the Super Bowl is played at Allegiant — a matter of when, not if. Imagine the boost Las Vegas will receive from weeks of international exposure and tens of thousands of football fans converging for the game.
All of this is worth remembering as our community sees other opportunities to brighten our future. Our willingness to think differently put us on the map and has kept us there — embracing legalized gaming, building lavish resorts and attractions that made us a global tourist destination, becoming a leading convention site through heavy investment in meeting spaces, enhancing our visitor economy with fine dining, retail and nightlife, etc.
Bringing in the Raiders and building Allegiant Stadium was one of our bold steps, and on Monday we saw it begin to pay dividends.
With our community also on the radar of Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and Major League Soccer as a potential home for new teams, we can make even more gains if we think Las Vegas-style big and don’t succumb to the notion that public investment is a nonstarter.
The same applies to public transportation, public education and other areas where our community will make strides if we choose to invest in it.
But for now, it’s worth another cheer for the Raiders on Monday night. Las Vegas and its NFL team are off to a beautiful relationship.
