Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Raider fans get raucous at ‘Draft Day’, team’s first public event in Las Vegas

Gov. Sandoval reads name of fourth-round pick David Sharpe at party

Oakland Raiders Draft Welcome

L.E. Baskow

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval announces the Oakland Raiders third-day draft pick, David Sharpe from the University of Florida going 129th overall, from the Welcome to Las Vegas sign on Saturday, April 29, 2017.

Oakland Raiders Draft Welcome

Oakland Raiders fan Sebastian Bodden is all geared up and ready to hear their third-day draft picks announced from the Welcome to Las Vegas sign complete with Gov. Brian Sandoval and others on Saturday, April 29, 2017. Launch slideshow »

Motorists passing the Welcome to Las Vegas sign only needed to honk their horns or roll down a window to receive a morning salute on Saturday.

Thirty minutes before the final day of the NFL Draft began in Philadelphia, about 100 Raiders’ fans assembled on Las Vegas Blvd. at the site where the team announced its selections for the last four rounds. The fans were as rambunctious as their reputation, starting the famous “Raiders” chant for anyone who acknowledged them.

The chant turned to a boo at the smallest sign of an interloper.

“You’ve got a Saints’ sticker on your car!” someone in a Derek Carr jersey screamed at one driver.

The Raiders aren’t slated to play in Las Vegas for three more years, but the team has already started to make a local imprint. Saturday’s NFL Draft festivities figure to be the first of many events held in town before the kickoff of the 2020 season.

It wasn’t a bad start. The crowd was somewhat small, but also loyal and loud.

“And this is just the neighborhood,” yelled one person in a crowd of several fans posed for a picture around one of many Raiders’ signs. “The nation is comin’.”

Former Raiders such as Mike Haynes, Lincoln Kennedy and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila mingled and signed autographs. Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak tossed black and silver footballs into the crowd, but one fan who didn’t catch one accused him of throwing like departed Raiders backup quarterback Matt McGloin.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, who helped secure bringing the Raiders to Las Vegas, was subject to no such scrutiny. Even the “Raiders” chant broke momentarily for a “Sandoval” one as he took to a small stage flanked by Raiderette cheerleaders to reveal the team’s fourth-round pick live on television.

“It’s such an honor to be here and to have a team,” Sandoval said. “The fans realize that and have been great. We’re so excited for what’s to come.”

David Sharpe, an offensive tackle from the University of Florida, went down as the first Raider drafted from Las Vegas. Fans at the sign exploded as if Sharpe were a Heisman Trophy winner upon Sandoval’s announcement of the pick, and they only stopped to search on their phones for more information.

The reviews of Sharpe only seemed to improve from there.

“I’m happy we picked up a player like that,” said Michael Sarabyn, a local middle school teacher. “We needed an offensive lineman, and this guy is 6-foot-6, 340 pounds. He’s built like a house.”

Sarabyn said he had been a Raiders fan since the 1960s, and just got through the waiting list for season tickets at the Oakland Coliseum a few years ago. He plans to maintain them, and travel to every home game in the interim until the Raiders relocate.

When the Raiders come to Las Vegas, it will get much easier for Sarabyn — especially if they stick at the proposed stadium site on Russell Road just west of Interstate 15.

“I’m about a mile and a half away,” he said. “I could almost walk. Who would have thought 20 years ago when I bought my house that the Raiders would be moving into my backyard?”

A lot of local Raiders’ fan can relate to Sarabyn’s elation over the move. Los Angeles native Joe Gomez has traveled to an average of two or three Raiders’ games per year since moving to Las Vegas 22 years ago.

He plans to hold season tickets now that his favorite team is coming to his city.

“I’m so anxious, I want them here now,” said Gomez, an IT technician. “I’m like a kid waiting to open a present. I keep imagining walking into that stadium, the first game they have there, whether it’s preseason or regular season and watching it all go down. That’s going to be the highlight of my life, probably.”

Attitudes like that have kept Gbaja-Biamila, a former defensive end, involved with the Raiders despite only playing in Oakland for two years from 2003-2004. The current co-host of “American Ninja Warrior” feels a connection with the fan base.

Any apprehension he had about the team’s move to Las Vegas was washed away when he flew in Saturday morning. Gbaja-Biamila immediately started seeing people wearing Raiders’ gear when he stepped off the plane.

Gbaja-Biamila described that as a good start — much like the draft event itself.

“I’m not quite sure Las Vegas what Raider Nation means yet,” Gbaja said. “When you see a sea of silver and black coming into the city, it might look like a blackout but don’t worry. Vegas won’t lose their lights. We’re full of lights, and we’re full of life.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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