Raiders Chief Operations and Analytics Officer Jeremy Aguero poses for a photo inside Allegiant Stadium Friday, April 1, 2022.
Wednesday, April 6, 2022 | 2 a.m.
When Allegiant Stadium finished in the top spot in a recent National Football League fan experience survey, even executives with the Las Vegas Raiders were surprised.
It’s not that it wasn’t warranted, but it’s a competitive field.
The NFL is an organization that features 30 stadiums, including the recently-opened $5 billion SoFi Stadium in greater Los Angeles, which played host to this year’s Super Bowl.
Plus, Allegiant Stadium’s location, next to Interstate 15 just west of the Strip, puts parking spaces at a premium.
Still, the 65,000-seat venue which opened to fans for the first time in the 2021 season, was ranked the top stadium in the league last year for “overall game-day satisfaction” by those who took part in the NFL’s “Voice of the Fan” weekly independent survey.
“Look, I have to say that it was beyond surprising,” said Jeremy Aguero, chief operations and analytics officer for the Raiders. “During the first events that took place at Allegiant Stadium, there were challenges. That’s what happens when you open a new facility, but we heard what folks said and immediately took action.”
The final two years the team was in Oakland, it finished 31st and 30th, respectively, in the survey.
The survey asks fans about their day-of-game experiences relating to parking, security screenings, food and beverage quality and service, video production, and other categories.
Full survey results were not released by the NFL, according to a league spokeswoman.
Many of the changes made on the fly at Allegiant had to do with the speed of how people were able to arrive at and enter the stadium, and the rules surrounding ride-share pick ups and drop offs.
The first big events to be hosted at Allegiant Stadium were concerts by EDM artist Illenium and country music star Garth Brooks in July. Reviews of the logistics surrounding trips to and from that stadium — and the process of entering it — were mostly mixed following those events, but things seemed to improve quickly after that.
Aguero said the team gave much of the credit for those fixes to the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, which enacted a bus service called the “Raiders Game Day Express” that delivered football fans from five locations across the Las Vegas Valley.
Throughout the season — a total of 10 preseason and regular season games — the RTC estimated that about 65,000 people took advantage of the service, which helped to remove nearly 40,000 vehicles from area roads over those 10 dates.
“They did an incredible job of helping us address what was an acute challenge,” Aguero said. “We were getting calls from fans and from elected officials. People were concerned. It turned into something where we got to the point where we were among the best in the NFL in terms of fan experience.”
A Raiders season ticket holder from Burbank, Calif., Randy LeDuc wasn’t sure what the best plan of attack would be regarding where to park leading up to the season. He was eligible to purchase a parking pass, but he discovered that his designated lot was a significant walk from the stadium.
What he eventually found was that it was easier to park at the Luxor — where he stays most Raiders weekends — and walk across the Hacienda Bridge to games.
In addition to the shorter walk being more convenient, LeDuc said he enjoyed being around other fans before and after games, though more so after a Raiders victory, of course.
“It’s kind of fun, it’s not bad at all walking across the bridge,” LeDuc said. “That’s absolutely what our plan is for the upcoming season.”
Before the NFL season, LeDuc and his stepson attended the Concacaf Gold Cup Final soccer match at Allegiant Stadium on Aug. 1.
“That was a disaster,” LeDuc said. “We were out in the sun getting just baked for an hour trying to get in the stadium. It was a mess, but they really smoothed things out by the time football season came. We didn’t have to wait long to get into Raiders games.”
Treyvon Crayton of Henderson is a Philadelphia Eagles fan. His girlfriend secured tickets for the Raiders game versus the Eagles on Oct. 24, which Las Vegas won 33-22.
Crayton and his girlfriend arrived at the stadium via a ride share, which he said was quick and easy. Leaving Allegiant Stadium that day, however, took close to two hours, he said.
It was the first time Crayton had been to an NFL game in person, but likely won’t be the last, despite the long ride share wait.
“It was a great experience,” he said. “It was a great atmosphere. The stadium was very clean. There wasn’t a whole lot I didn’t like. I’d definitely go back.”
Along with the highest overall ranking in the survey, Allegiant Stadium also finished tops for safety, mobile ticketing, and security and game-day staff.
Opening in 2020, the stadium had a price of about $2 billion, including $750 million in public money.
“So much about Las Vegas is not just about the brand, but about delivering on the brand,” Aguero said. “We want Allegiant Stadium to be a great experience. (The Raiders) have the highest percentage of visiting fans in the NFL, so we know there’s a lot of people coming here to watch games, stay in our hotels and eat at our restaurants. We feel like that’s part of a promise to this community for the investment that was made.”
At the end of the day, Aguero said there was a top-down insistence — starting with team owner Mark Davis — that fans have positive experiences at the stadium, whether that be at an NFL or college football game, a concert or pro wrestling event.
“Mark Davis is incredibly committed to the experience fans have from the minute they walk in,” Aguero said. “This town does hospitality better than anywhere else in the United States, so we better do a good job. Last season was our first year. We have every intention of working hard to sustain our success.”
Just like franchises compete on the field for the coveted Lombardi Trophy, awarded to the NFL’s top team each season, Aguero said they will compete to try to knock the Raiders from their stadium experience perch in 2022.
“There are incredible venues all over the NFL,” Aguero said. “We do not take that for granted. Being number one in that group is an honor. Everybody is going to be seeking to elevate their game to take that number one spot.”
Dates for 2022-23 NFL games have yet to be released, but the Raiders do know they will play host to the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Chargers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers this season in Las Vegas.
