Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Buzz around Raiders game days keeps cash registers humming along the Strip

Raiders Fans at Luxor

Wade Vandervort

Raiders fans play table games at the Luxor before a game against the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022.

Raiders Fans at Luxor

A Raiders fan poses for a photo at the Luxor before a game against the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022. Launch slideshow »

Before Raiders home games, the beer garden outside the Luxor is packed with football fans.

The casino is also full of people decked out in team jerseys and caps pumping cash into slot machines, rolling dice and getting their bets in at the sportsbook.

It’s a similar scene at Mandalay Bay, another of the south Strip resorts in the shadow of the 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium, home of the Raiders.

“There’s not a single cash register at any of our properties that hasn’t seen an uptick on game days,” said Chuck Bowling, president and chief operating officer of Mandalay Bay.

The first season with fans in attendance — the inaugural season was played with empty seats because of COVID — has not only been a success for the playoff-bound Raiders but for the casinos and businesses around the stadium.

Before and after games, a sea of people can be seen walking across the Hacienda Avenue bridge between the stadium and the Strip.

“Sometimes I walked across the bridge before games even if I’m not going to the game, just to be around the fans and take in the excitement,” Bowling said. “To have Allegiant Stadium next door and connected by a bridge, I might be the luckiest guy in all of Las Vegas.”

Raiders season ticket holders Ed and Lori Martinez of Henderson parked on the Strip for a recent home game and enjoyed the scene at the beer garden for a few hours before kickoff.

“It’s been a fun season,” Ed Martinez said. “There are always a lot of visiting fans and people all get along.”

Sherwin Villanueva, a longtime bartender at Mandalay Bay, said business typically picked up as game day approached.

“The energy starts to pick up Friday and it lasts all weekend,” Villanueva said. “Games and concerts at the stadium give us a big boost in business.”

Allegiant is also home to UNLV football and hosts other big events and concerts, such as the Rolling Stones and Garth Brooks.

One of the busiest weekends at Mandalay Bay was that of the Iowa State-UNLV football game in September, Villanueva said. The casino was a “sea of rad and yellow,” the Iowa State colors, as visiting fans packed the property, he said.

Bowling said MGM Resorts International would gather data from this football season to help brainstorm ways to make fan experiences even better for the next one.

“It’s been a game-changer for us, and we’re still learning a lot about what the effects are from those game weekends,” Bowling said. “If you’re a Chiefs or Eagles or Dolphins fan, what’s the one away game that you’re going to want to go to? It’s going to be the game in Vegas.”

“It’s a really fun jigsaw puzzle to try to figure out,” he said. “The cash register for the entire city rings a couple days before and a couple days after these events, especially the Raiders games.”

Before construction was completed on the stadium in 2020, local research firm Applied Analysis estimated it would welcome about 450,000 visitors annually and have an economic impact of about $620 million.

Bowling said Las Vegas was also getting a boost from TV coverage of the games.

Views of different landmarks in host cities get air time coming in and out of commercial breaks several times per broadcast. In Las Vegas, that often includes video of the Strip, the Bellagio Fountains, Caesars Palace and Mandalay Bay.

Sunday night’s NBC broadcast of the Raiders-Chargers game drew at least 14 million viewers. And the most-watched program each year is the Super Bowl, which Las Vegas will host in 2024.

“There’s never a time when my phone is not getting blown up on an Allegiant Stadium event day,” Bowling said. “People are reminding me constantly about the publicity that the properties I oversee are getting.”