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In a few short years, a city that had long been sitting on the sidelines has emerged into the big time as the new hub of American sports, although it had already forged a reputation for the world's fight capital. Las Vegas, Nevada's place of being in the desert and as the epicenter of American gambling has long placed it on the outs for major sports outside of boxing, UFC, college sports and events ranging from rodeos to auto racing. But changing attitudes regarding one of its biggest draws -- sports betting, along with Southern Nevada being among the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in America and it being a top tourist destination, saw the flood-gates open to Sin City to finally join the big time.
While the pride of Canadian sport has been continuing its growth in the U.S. thanks to both the NHL's expansion in the last three decades and as a cornerstone of the Winter Olympics, ice hockey is trumped by the popularity of the National Football League. There's no denying the tremendous power of the most-popular sport in the world's most-coveted sporting & entertainment market... but until recently the NFL had somewhat different feelings about legal betting on its games -- after all, you wouldn't go to a casino on autumn Sundays seeing fans huddled around TV sets to watch every game like we do in our living rooms. But two things changed everything for the better.
In 2015, the Oakland Raiders began exploring the possibility to moving to Las Vegas when it was pondering whether to stay in the Bay Area or move elsewhere including back to Los Angeles where they called home in the '80s & early '90s. Two years later, the Raiders filed paperwork to eventually move to Nevada after long negotiations and legal work with their eyes on starting play there once a new stadium is built, and the NFL gave them approval. At the same time, a summer 2018 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court brought down a 25-year-old law that prohibited, outside of Nevada, legal sports betting in the U.S. and gave states the power of whether to allow gambling on pro and college games -- something frowned upon up until then.
Those two developments, along with the success of the Knights and WNBA franchise the Aces, at first created what would've been the perfect storm for the Las Vegas Raiders to make their debut in the fall of 2020. But there were other things that were waiting for them when they arrived in Southern Nevada: an NFL Draft that was slated to shut down the Las Vegas Strip had to be postponed by two years due to the mess that is the global pandemic. It also forced the Raiders to play their first season at their new home, Allegiant Stadium, in front of empty seats including their home opener against Drew Brees & the Saints, which they won 34-24 on the 50th anniversary of the first telecast of ABC & ESPN's Monday Night Football.
The domed stadium (with a roof to obviously shield everyone from the scorching heat) holds 65,000 for both the Raiders and the UNLV Rebels football program with retractable windows opening to views of the Strip, and has the world's largest 3D-printed object: a 85-foot high torch cauldron honoring late Raiders owner Al Davis. This summer, Allegiant opened full-fledged to patrons for a July 4th weekend concert with Illenium, then hosted the U.S. men's national team's win over Mexico in this summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup... and the coming year will see it host four additional annual college football games and next year's NFL Pro Bowl. It's also in the running to host the 2024 Super Bowl after original host New Orleans deferred to the following year due to both Mardi Gras and this year's expansion of the NFL schedule to seventeen regular season games.
Those events aside, the first actual event with spectators at Allegiant was a UNLV game last Halloween in front of a socially distanced 2,000 spectators against state rival University of Nevada-Reno. But it wouldn't be until almost a year later that the main tenant of this new gem of the NFL would be at capacity for a Raiders game: the place that's nicknamed "the Death Star" was packed to the rafters when the Raiders kicked off their season against Lamar Jackson. And also in front of the Monday Night Football spotlight and those who were masked & vaxxed, it was a thriller that went to overtime and saw the Silver & Black come away with the win which amazed even Eli and Peyton Manning.
Raider Nation has been part of the fabric of the NFL for six decades, just as much as Davis' slogan "Just Win, Baby." And a fixture of any Raiders home game -- at the Coliseum, in L.A. and now in Vegas -- has been the presence of their loyal fans who bleed silver & black and who took up residency in the north end zone of the Coliseum during their second stay in the East Bay. But often times, it's their behavior that's been captured virally for everyone to see on social media, including their confrontations with fans of their longtime Bay Area nemesis, the San Francisco 49ers... and there was one interested spectator to this latest case of bad behavior by Raiders fans -- a former competitor on our fifth major pro sport.
As MTV's The Challenge is into its second month of Season 37 of Spies, Lies & Allies, this season has already seen plenty go down in the nation of Croatia -- including this past week, Big Brother alumni getting into it at a pizza party just as their original show has been stealing its thunder by way of the Cookout alliance. The show's host, after all, is a proud native son of Las Vegas in T.J. Lavin... and at one time or another or presently, a few of those who've competed on the series with the retired BMX rider has called Southern Nevada their home. If one can handle everything this region has to offer that 2.5 million people call home -- vibrant nightlife, a desert climate, its way of life and beyond, then you'll know those like me loves this place... and one other person who calls the desert home got to witness that latest sorry case of Raider misbehavior.
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| IG @VinnyFoti |
Eleven years ago, Bostonian Vinny Foti made it to The Challenge: Fresh Meat II -- part of a prestigious Challenge draft class that made their debut on that second installment of that concept in Vancouver, Canada in 2010 that gave us Cara Maria, Laurel, Theresa, etc. It also included two other guys that, like Vinny, have called Vegas home in post-Challenge life: Brandon Nelson (who met up with a post-scandal O.J. Simpson many years removed from the Trial of the Century) and a finalist in B.C. Noor Jehangir, who competed on ABC game show Holey Moley last year and also made it to the season 2 finale at Stephen Curry's miniature golf course.
As a football enthusiast, Vinny has partaken in some prognostication and wagering on NFL games long before the Raiders came to Las Vegas. He was one of the 65,000 who spent three figures to nab those lucky tickets to watch that Monday night thriller and the unofficial grand opening of Allegiant to Raiders fans to cap off the opening week of the 2021 NFL regular season. And as it turns out, he also got to witness more than just the action on the field: there was also something else that took place in the stands as the game was going on with the Raiders and the Ravens.
Below, Vinny captured a couple instances where Las Vegas became a witness to how Raider fans do their gameday viewing experience: heckling opposing fans among other things amidst the deafening din of being the biggest new attraction in town. In fact, one of the two videos he posted on TikTok actually went viral with over 500,000 views before the big wigs decided that it was a bit too hot to them to handle. Needless to say, it was quite the opening act in Sin City, and after winning in Pittsburgh last week tomorrow the 2-0 Silver & Black host the Dolphins during a busy sports weekend as the NASCAR Playoffs take place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, plus the Ryder Cup and baseball rivalries.
@vinnyfoti Walking in the front door of Allegiant Stadium! Place is beautiful☠️🔥🏈
♬ original sound - VinnyMTV
- I AM DC
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