Monday, Sept. 21, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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It’s really happening.
Las Vegas will play host to its first NFL game tonight when the Raiders take on the New Orleans Saints at Allegiant Stadium. After years of planning and waiting, our team will play in our stadium.
The script is almost perfect: “Monday Night Football.” Prime time. Millions of eyes focused on a new sports palace in the shadow of the Strip — a sleek and shiny 65,000-seat venue that fans and owner Mark Davis are calling “The Death Star.”
Even without fans in the seats because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s a historic day worth celebrating for Southern Nevada.
“This is one of the few buildings in the league, I think, where the outside and the inside feel like the same building,” said David Manica, an architect who helped design the stadium. “It’s all the same brand, all the same theme. It’s all obviously Raiders.”
And UNLV football.
By sharing the nearly $2 billion stadium with the Raiders, the status of the UNLV program is immediately enhanced. Allegiant gives UNLV arguably the best home venue in the nation, including access to its own ultramodern locker room. Plus, playing in a domed setting sure beats those hot August and September nights at open-air Sam Boyd Stadium.
“There simply is no equal to our new stadium — and we are working hard now, so that we build a lasting legacy of success worthy of our new home,” UNLV football coach Marcus Arroyo said.
“Monday Night Football” will be the first event at Allegiant, a facility we’ve marveled at through the past few years as it inched skyward off Interstate 15 and Russell Road. The black exterior and gigantic video boards have surely caught people’s eyes over the final months of construction.
Fans won’t be in the stadium tonight or all season. But we will be glued to the television as the Raiders take the field.
Much went into the nearly three years of construction. Here’s a look at the stadium by the numbers, as provided by the Las Vegas Stadium Authority:
• 1,750,000: Square footage of the stadium.
• $1,126: Construction cost per square foot.
• 65,000: Capacity seating for a Raiders game.
• 72,000: Capacity seating for a concert with the stage at midfield.
• 53,000: Capacity seating for a full end stage.
• 127: Suites.
• 46: Escalators.
• 2,200: On-site parking spaces (most parking will be off-site, with shuttle buses to the stadium).
• 412,500: Square footage of the roof. It has 107 panels, each 15 feet by 233 feet.
• 226: Height of the stadium in feet from ground to roof.
• 52,008: Feet of wire to support the roof.
• 800,000: Cubic yards of earth removed during stadium excavation.
• 28,000: Tons of steels used.
• 19 million pounds: Weight of the venue’s retractable field tray, which can provide a layout of either natural grass or turf playing surfaces. The tray is operated by 540 electrically powered wheels, which takes about an hour to move in or out of the stadium. It has a built-in irrigation system.
• 21,000: Light fixtures throughout the stadium.
• 425: Trees planted outside the facility.
• 2,200: Doors in the stadium.
• 1,111: Toilets in the stadium.
• 2,220: Televisions throughout the facility.
• 20: Gallons of paint needed to mark the field for an NFL game.
• 93: The height in feet of the Al Davis Memorial Torch outside.
• 4: Lanai doors on the north concourse, which are 80 feet by 200 feet and take 10 minutes to open.
