ALLEGIANT STADIUM
STADIUM DUDE’S NFL STADIUM RANK: #6
STADIUM INFORMATION
- Location: Paradise, NV
- Opened: 2020
- Capacity: 65,000
- Weather: n/a (indoors)
- Games attended: 2
- Last visited: 2022
STADIUM REVIEW
We are now officially in the “Wow” stadiums. And Allegiant may be one of the showiest of the bunch.
Allegiant Stadium, with its glossy-black exterior, is the meanest-looking stadium in football, befitting the meanest-looking fanbase in football. Sitting in easy walking distance from the south Strip, it is also the most perfectly-located stadium in the NFL.
Cool Features Aplenty
Compared to the team’s dilapidated old home in Oakland, the Death Star is a monster upgrade. Mark Davis and the taxpayers of Nevada built it for a princely $1.9 billion. That sounds incredibly expensive, but it is about one-third the price of the other stadium that opened in 2020.
The huge sliding glass lanai doors behind the Al Davis torch open the stadium up to the Vegas strip and offer an immediate “sense of place” despite being a dome. The natural grass field slides in on a track a la the stadium in Arizona (which is just plain neat). Fans are protected from UV rays while still getting an “outdoor feel” thanks to the EFTE roof. The sight lines are great. Club areas looked Vegas cool. And there are plenty of social areas with views of the field for those who prefer a little more flexibility.
Concessions were good, albeit pricy. Staff was solid. The Raider color scheme is amazing. But the scoreboards were just “fine”, which is odd for a new stadium.
Long lines and muffled sound
We’ve somehow entered a stage where stadium designers get so concerned with cutting down the wait for the ladies’ room, they don’t build enough men’s rooms. It was disconcerting to hear female Raiders fans cackle at the length of men’s rooms queues throughout the game.
If there was one serious flaw, it was sound quality. I sat in a 30-yard-line upper bowl seat and everything was seriously muffled. Unless the P.A. announcer actually spoke like an NYC transit employee per this classic SNL skit, this is unacceptable and should be fixed.
A (slightly) gentler Raider fan
A game at the Coliseum felt like a visit to the Mos Eisley Cantina. Allegiant Stadium attracted some burly, hairy, foul-mouthed tattooed beasts –––– and some scary-looking men as well –––– but it seemed much less threatening than a game in Oakland. That was to be expected (given the move to a nicer, more expensive place). But in a perverse way, I kind of missed the fear factor.
Allegiant Stadium is a cool stadium in a fun city. I can see a lot of fan bases making their “one road trip” to see their team in Vegas. While I feel for the people in Oakland, Mark Davis made the right move.
