Allegiant Stadium helped spotlight Las Vegas, tourism official says

Despite not being able to host fans for the 2020 NFL season, Allegiant Stadium played a vital role in advertising Las Vegas in a rocky year.

Steve Hill, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and chairman of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, on Thursday noted the marketing power of the stadium when it is featured on prime-time national television.

“It’s been a great representation of Las Vegas,” Hill said in a stadium authority board meeting. “We’ve all seen games on television where you get that great backdrop of Las Vegas, both during the day and at night. It’s a spectacular shot from the stadium and of the stadium.”

With the Raiders getting multiple prime-time games to showcase their new $2 billion home, Hill noted the popularity of the NFL and its dominance of television ratings in the U.S. He referenced a list of the top-100 most-watched shows in the country in 2020, with the NFL accounting for 72 of those.

“A couple were teams here in Las Vegas, and I’m sure that will continue to be the case as we move forward,” Hill said. “When we looked at the justification for the stadium, it was solely based on the visitors that would come specifically for events that are being held at the stadium, not visitors that would already be here. The marketing aspect, or benefit that the stadium brings to Las Vegas, was a little bit of the part of the conversation, but certainly not part of the calculation in justifying the expense of the stadium.”

With that said, Hill is looking forward to the 2021 NFL season, when he hopes that fans will be able to fill the stands.

“We obviously have a world-class, premier stadium that has brought a great deal of attention to Las Vegas,” Hill said. “We’re really looking forward to being able to open the stadium properly in September for the first game of next season and have 65,000 people in the stands.”

Meanwhile, the Garth Brooks concert at Allegiant Stadium that was rescheduled from Aug. 22 to Feb. 27 is still up in the air.

It is still listed on the stadium’s calendar of events online. However, the country singer’s spokeswoman Nancy Seltzer didn’t have any new information on the show’s status when reached for comment Thursday.

When the concert went on sale in March for the August date, advertised as the first event at Allegiant Stadium, the 65,000 tickets sold out in 75 minutes.

Since current COVID-19 regulations in Nevada do not allow events with large crowds to take place, it appears unlikely the concert will occur as planned.

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