Goodell calls Las Vegas a ‘Super Bowl city’ on tour of Allegiant Stadium

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell dubbed Las Vegas a “Super Bowl” city Thursday during a tour of Allegiant Stadium.

Joined by Raiders owner Mark Davis, team president Marc Badain and Tom Blanda, Raiders senior vice president, stadium development and operations, Goodell was shown the progress of the under construction $2 billion, 65,000 fan capacity stadium scheduled to be completed this summer.

The Raiders’ new home already is attracting big events like the Las Vegas Bowl and the Pac-12 championship game, but Goodell hinted the big game could land in Sin City.

“Obviously this city, I expect it’s going to be a Super Bowl city,” Goodell said, while wearing a hard hat near the retractable doors on the north end of the stadium. “This stadium is obviously the jewel that will be part of that.

”But so is the city and that is a big part of the experience that people want to enjoy when they come to the Super Bowl. They’re not just coming to a game anymore, they’re coming for days of events.”

Goodell praised Las Vegas as being perfectly situated to handle the sport’s biggest event, highlighting the city’s history of handling large-scale events.

“This city has that. It has the infrastructure, it knows how to do big events like no other city.”

The earliest Las Vegas could net the Super Bowl is 2025 and the Raiders are actively pursuing that.

“We’ve had conversations with the NFL and when that process starts, we’ll be very aggressive in going after it,” Badain said at a Stadium Authority board meeting in January.

Las Vegas will get its first shot at a major NFL event in April when it hosts the 2020 NFL Draft.

“The draft already now is well over $100 million in economic impact,” he said. “And the number of people that are coming in and creating activity and excitement. Not to mention the platform. So, I think that will be great here.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.